Hamburger Eyes Photo Epicentre

The Hamburger Eyes tale is one that has been told time and time again. Moving from a cheaply made Kinkos Xerox zine to transforming into a epicenter of the awesome, the trippy and the just plain weird, the influence Hamburger Eyes has had over the years is undeniable. Hailing from San Francisco, this is the first official studio tour of the mystical Photo Epicenter.

The man behind the mag, Ray Potes.
All photos by Oscar Mendoza

Arriving at The Hamburger Eyes Photo Epicenter is really intimidating. There’s so much history to the magazine and the photographers involved, it’s almost daunting. I figured I’d work for maybe a week and not really make the cut, but the Hamburger Eyes collective is one of the warmest, most welcoming and supporting crews I’ve ever had the pleasure of considering myself a part of. Everyone involved is genuinely excited about any and all forms of photography and art, on top of just being a generally down group of dudes.

The space itself is amazing and inspiring. There’s always somebody working on something, be it a show, a book or the magazine itself. There’s tons of books and magazine to browse through while waiting for a print to come out of the Kreonite, if you’ve got money to burn, there’s a convenient shop area with zines, books, shirts, and other art related paraphernalia. The work table is huge, convenient for organizing lay-outs, there’s a great amount of natural light, something I have never come across in a color darkroom and makes color correcting a lot easier. You get two enlargers per room, one of which allows for printing up to 30” x 40”.
The black and white darkroom is a one person private room with your choice of a processor that spits dry rc prints in about 60 seconds or wet trays that allow for 30” x 40” rc and fiber prints.

Working for Hamburger Eyes was awesome. Half the time we just brainstormed on how to make our first million, the rest of the time was spent critiquing our own work, the work of our colleagues, setting up shows. It was an exciting and humbling experience. We met a lot of people we never thought we’d meet when the space was still running shows, got to pretend we were big shot dudes showing up at openings all over the place, known as “the guys who work for Ray.”

Ray Potes himself is quite possibly the best boss you could ever have. It’s as if everything you’ve done for him is some huge favor he’ll never have the means of paying you back for, no matter how simple the task. Incredibly forgiving and able to think on his feet and is completely open to whatever suggestions you may have. Super passionate about photography and has a distinctly unique way with words when speaking of the work he does and promotes.

(Clockwise from left to right)

1. Community bulletin board, postcards for shows, etc. There’s a ton of copies of Vice in those newspaper vending machines, but no one really knows… till now

2. Black and white chemistry for diy film and print processing. We usually ask you bring your own and write your name on the bottle you use.

3. Various art books, mags, etc for wasting time or maybe inspiration? You decide.