- You were born in Montreal, Canada and grew up in Detroit, United States. Then you graduated from Rhode Island School of Design, went to New York for starting your professional photography career and now, you live and work in Los Angeles. Why did you move to Los Angeles? If United States suddenly disappears from the world map, in which country and city would you prefer continuing your life?

I lived in NYC for about 12 years and suddenly, it did not make sense for me to stay there. As I approached my mid 30's I was not going out as much and in between photo jobs, it was not easy to get out of the city to enjoy nature. The lifestyle is so great in LA. I have a big backyard and the kids can play outside year-round. Also I didn't even really plan on moving. I was just putting in hard wood floors and taking out my cyclorama from my ny photo studio and was renting a house in LA with my dog. He and I loved spending January and February in LA, hiking in the canyons. And so we never moved back.

If the US as obliterated i would move to Montreal or Vancouver. I just got my Canadian passport so i am very happy about that. I am often tempted to simply secede from American culture, let alone the absurd politics.

- You have got so many complaints about your outstanding "End Times" series with dramatically crying little children. Surely, this question is not being asked to you for the first time but, would you please tell us about the main idea behind those photographs?

I loved the raw and intense emotion of the children, I have always been intrigued by pictures of children crying. While I was in art school I photographed my cousin's son crying and used the image for a poster for my DJ poster at the school bar. It said "jill's night the only night" all over the print.

The concept is that the children are crying as if its the end of the world-they are being overly dramatic, as they tend to be. But if they really knew how bad we adults are allowing things to get, and how bad it will be when they are older in terms of the environment they would really be crying. End times is a term used by religious fundamentalists in the US who believe in the rapture: that there will be a day of reckoning and all of the good people will just float up to heaven, leaving their clothes and cars behind (there are seriously bumperstickers saying " beware, this car may be unattended if this rapture comes") and all the sinners will be stuck on earth to endure a fiery hell.

The problem is that some of those people believe that the worse things get, the closer we are to these "end times" and that is a good thing for them. They just want to get to heaven. So there is literally a website called the rapture index where every time a major catastrophe happens the number goes up and these people cheer and anxiously await their naked trip to heaven. To make matters worse our idiotic president was listening to these religious types and so also pushed the environmental agenda aside, for their votes and because he is also a religious numb nut. So to recap: the title of the series being "end times" has a circular logic-where the children are crying as if its end times, but of course, having their candy taken is NOT the end of the world, but it really is the end of the world since the people who BELIEVE in end times are trying to make it so.

- Your cute little daughter Violet was also in the series. (We hope she never cries like that again in her life.) What kind of future do you imagine for your children Violet and Zed, in such a dangerous and dark world? When you close your eyes and think about 2030s, where do you see those little kids?

A charred hellscape? Yes it's very sad. We are building a house and are very tempted to put gun turrets on the roof... But seriously, I can't really imagine what it will be like. There are just too many people for this planet. And we are all too selfish so its not looking good. So sad since procreating is really our main directive as humans and I don't know if my son and daughter will have it as good as me, when they want to have their own family.

- Your monkey portraits are incredibly beautiful. It's really difficult to find an appropriate word to define them. How did the idea come up and what makes you work with those hairy cuties?

I like that they are so similar to humans and I love human expressions and emotions. Growing up i always drew people as well as animals, somewhat interchangeably with funny expressions. I think we are all varying degrees of animals.

- Some of your photographs look like realistic paintings. What kind of retouching methods do you mostly use and in what ways does your Wacom graphic tablet change your way of working?

Strangely I used to retouch with a mouse until just about 4 or 5 years ago. I don't know what was wrong with me. I have been retouching for about 18 years, and drawing and painting since I was very young. Taking photos and printing in the darkroom since I was 8 or 9 years old. It's all really drawing and seeing light and color and working with it to the best effect, the look that makes me happy (which changes quite often).

- Most of the visual artists have some dream projects. If you have the power and rights to do everything you want in any place in the world, what kind of photography project would you create? No boundaries, no rules, nothing! Just imagine!

I would just love to have an unlimited budget to build amazing sets in a huge studio and hire the most interesting models and characters and have the luxury of 2 or 3 days to light each picture to make it immaculately perfect. I love the simplicity and elegance of shooting people on seamless paper but I really would prefer to design a set with amazing props. I have a million ideas for projects and I am working on some of them. But it can be frustrating that time and money constrains the image making process. It's just the way it is.

- Now, please take this ticket for Bak Magazine's time machine. You have one chance to go back in time for a dinner with a person you choose, in the history. What period of the history would you travel to and who would you have a dinner with?

Francis Bacon and Salvador Dali.

- Theme of the current issue of Bak Magazine is "Fear". What does this word mean to you? Would you please share you fears with us?

My fears are for the future. I hope my children can enjoy the world, like i have. I hope there is still the possibility of clean water, food and air, affordable air travel. Scuba diving to see coral reefs... Eating fish that is not polluted with mercury or other chemicals... But it seems all that might be ending very soon.