{bazima.com}

I've admired this lady's photographs and artistic endeavors ever since finding the Mirror Project a few years ago. I wasn't the only one. Oprah loves that site.

It appears that Heather Powazek Champ is a whirling dervish. She writes, designs, photographs, creates, and curates. And she still finds time to get up and go to things like Dance Along Nutcrackers and other crazy San Francisco-style socials. Me, I need to go lie down after reading Heather's bio. She's certainly built up an impressive career. How does she do it, you ask. (I know, I asked that too!) Well, love, it seems. (She keeps mentioning some guy named Darren? Derek?) And practice. Also, maybe painkillers help?

Blaise K: Where does the name Champ come from?
Heather Powazek Champ: It's French and was anglicized at some point from the "chomp" pronunciation to "champ" (rhymes with damp). My father was crazy for genealogy (even discovering a brother of my mothers "lost" during the war) and felt that the Champs had been Huguenots (French protestants) who'd be tossed out of France in the 1700s and fled to Ireland. In the intervening years a Champ must have made his way to England. I only have female cousins so our branch of the family name is dying out with this generation.

Blaise K: While many of us are considering fleeing this country, you left Canada for San Francisco. What prompted that move?
Heather Powazek Champ: Love. Derek [Powazek] and I met at SXSW in 2000. I was living in Montreal working remotely for a Bay Area company and decided to take a leap of faith. The big decisions seem so easy -- I have trouble with the small, silly stuff like remembering where I parked my car.

BK: What would you say is the mission behind hchamp.com and is it primarily a personal one?
HPC: To keep myself sane? The various incarnations of my personal publishing on the web over the last 10 years have been my attempts to turn html, design, photography, etc., into my medium (as in art and not speaking with the dead) having turned away from life as an artist post education. It's very personal though not in a way that you could tell what I had for breakfast (tea from Starbucks and a slice of lemon pound cake) or what colour underwear I chose today (GAP blue briefs with multi-coloured polka dots).

BK: How has your photography evolved over the years?
HPC: I don't know that it's evolved so much has been formed by the camera I happen to have in hand. These days (I had to write that -- "these days" is verboten chez nous for some inexplicable reason. You'd have to ask Derek) I'm madly in love with my digital SLR and depth of field (or lack thereof). 2003 was all about a Lomo and previous to that macro photography with a Nikon 990 and a fabulous macro lens.

BK: What advice do you have for those of us who want to be better photographers and documentarians... and is documentarian even a word?
HPC: Take pictures. All the time. Buy the biggest flash card you can afford and fill that puppy as often as you can.

Though some consider cropping evil, I find it a helpful tool in determining how I can take better photographs in the future. There are so many interesting moments around us. Look up, look down, look closely -- there's beauty in even the most mundane urban environment.

And documentarian? My spell check pooped out on that. I think it's a fine word worthy of use.

BK: You've produced several popular projects, not the least of which is the Mirror Project. Now you're getting ready to launch JPG Magazine. What's next for Heather Champ?

HPC: A month in Hawaii? 2004 has been a weird year of illness. I was diagnosed with Graves' disease in May and recently experienced the thrilling adventure that is shingles. Here's hoping that 2005 is all about good health (knocks on wood). Otherwise, the Mirror Project and JPG will keep me pretty well occupied. If anything, I'm trying to figure out how I can make holiday ornaments with all the leftover Percocet.

BK: In a recent email to me you wrote, "if only I were your favorite bartender!" So my final question is, what poison would you concoct for me if I sat down at a bar, provided you actually worked there?
HPC: Hmmmmmm. I'm all about the girly drink drunk. My current passion is a fine Lemon Drop. A well made one is like a small dose of sunshine in a glass. For you... I think a Rosemary Martini mad with Level vodka

(http://www.cocktailtimes.com/original/level_herb.shtml). Lance [Arthur] introduced me to Level. Have you tried it? It's sublime:

1 part Level vodka
dash of dry vermouth
1 spring of rosemary

Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass without ice for a few seconds. Add lots of ice cubs and stir more and strain into a well chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a spring of rosemary.

It's too bad it's so early in the morning. I'm ready for a drink.

Lucky for us, hchamp.com is updated with a new photo daily. I'll be trying a Rosemary Level Martini tonight at Nowhere Bar (and I've already requested from Heather her leftover percocet so don't even think about it).