FoA: Hi Alex! Happy belated birthday on behalf of your fans. Did you have a good time?

Alex: Yes! It was great - thanks! I was in Scotland shooting and then flew back to London that night. Unfortunately British Air doesn’t have birthday cake…

FoA: We have some video clips of your old movies and television appearances like Nash Bridges, Melrose Place, LA Firefighters on the site. We want people to see that you have been around a long time and you're not just a pretty face. Are you okay with that?

Alex: That’s great. I mean, I forget I was in most of those.

FoA: Can you share with us some details of you new project?

Alex: I’m going to be having an opening in London UK on the 2^nd of October. It will be at Shoreditch Town Hall in the East End of London.

FoA: Are you going to be there?

Alex: Yes, for sure, I’m going to be at the opening.

FoA: Anywhere else in the world you will be exhibiting?

Alex: It will go to New York after that and then Los Angeles but I’m not sure of the details yet or the exact dates.

FoA: Is there a theme or name for your project?

Alex: The show is titled Ithaka.

Alex: It comes from the poem by C.P. Cavafy of the same name. The poem is about journeys and about travelling from a known place to one that is unfamiliar. The poem really encapsulates what the work is, and what the process was for me to produce the work itself.

Alex: Yes, you will. I have actually taken the whole site down at the moment and there is just a holding page with one of the pieces from the new show.

Alex: I did. I went to Thailand, I went all over. It felt like it took me a long time to find a way to shoot trees, I guess. The theme of the work is about a kind of journey within, so it was like something specific I was looking for and while I was doing it I was also trying to formulate what the show was about. I knew it wasn’t just about trees, or about going all over the world finding different trees to shoot. It wasn’t. And even though the photographs are mainly of trees, the work itself is about much more than the literal subject of the woods. The challenge for me was more about finding an environment that was going to best describe this inner journey. I was able to find it, finally, in the rainforest in the Pacific Northwest. I shot the work in Washington State, in the largest temperate rainforest in North America. It was perfect. Very lush and green and complicated, and much more than just beautiful. The photo that’s up on my holding page on my new website is taken in that forest.

Alex: Sure.

Alex: The show has had a really good run, and I’m really happy to be part of the last season, actually.

Alex: Yeah. I don’t know what’s going to happen with them.

Alex: We’ll see what will happen with Helena. I’ve just shot my first scene with her last week. Let’s just put it this way, she gets very angry.

Alex: Helena.

FoA: Oh. Wow. And then you two make up?

Alex: Well, I think that might happen. I’m not exactly sure yet.

Alex: This season everyone’s only doing 8 episodes, because it is a short season. I’ve signed for five. Possibly I’ll do six. It’s a little bit difficult with my schedule so I’m not exactly sure yet.

Alex: I don’t know…

FoA: Would you like them to?

Alex: Yeah. I personally would like to see Helena and Dylan make up and be really nice to each other.

FoA: You have great chemistry with Rachel. You know, at the Dinah shore Be Scene, you two gave the fans a taste of what’s to come, didn’t you?

Alex: We did.

FoA: Or were you trying to convince Ilene that you two have great chemistry?

Alex: No, no, that was actually Ilene’s idea.

FoA: It was great to see the fan’s reaction.

Alex: Yeah, it was.

FoA: You did a great job hosting 'Be Scene' at Dinah Shore 2 years running. Did you enjoy hosting it?

Alex: I did enjoy it. It's a great thing to see so many women come together - women who have all experienced feelings of shame and isolation as a result of being gay. It's amazing to see these women celebrating who they are. Although it can get a little crazy at those events, I feel really privileged to be a part of that and to be in a position where I can get up on stage and help everyone have a good time. It's hard though - if you've just seen the video of it I'm sure it looks like me shouting at the audience non-stop. I saw a clip of it for a second and I thought I seemed really brash and loud, but what you might not see is that there are a thousand women out there and that it is literally my job as MC to keep the energy up. So that means I end up talking really loudly into the mic- constantly!

FoA: What was your favourite moment?

Alex: Definitely when Rachel came out on stage. Seeing the audience's reaction was great. 

FoA: Have you heard about The L Word spin off?

Alex: You know what? I’ve heard little things about it. I mean I’m really not trying to be secretive. I have no idea. I heard there is a spin off.

Alex: I don’t know why it’s such a big secret. I don’t even know.

Alex: I know it’s not me.

Alex: I don’t know.

Alex: I’ll tell Ilene about it. That would be great, right?

Alex: How do you feel about The L Word ending?

Alex: Hopefully there will be other ‘L Words’ to come in the future. You know, other series. This is really the first.

Alex: I don’t know. If you had asked me a year ago, I probably would have said yes.

Alex: I’m too busy now and I just did this episode with Rose Troche who’s the director. She’s so good and there’s so much to think about. Such a big task directing a show like that. It would probably give me more anxiety at this point than pleasure.

Alex: Maybe. I think I’m just happy at this point. I’m so busy with my photography, I feel right now directing is not what I’m thinking about. It is really possible that I will do that again. But I probably wouldn’t want to go into an environment (like a TV show) where everything is so set with a huge crew that relies on director working proficiently within a well-oiled machine.

Alex: I see myself as an artist who likes to convey something with certain material. Film is the medium that I choose to work in. I understand it. I love the way it works, and what I can do with it. For me, going from film to digital would be like going from being a sculptor who uses clay to being a graphic designer who uses a computer. It’s just a different art. For example, the camera I used for the upcoming show is a 4x5 camera. That’s large format. With a digital camera you can shoot a hundred pictures in about four minutes. With a large format camera, you shoot about four pictures in a hundred minutes. I liked how long it took me to work out each shot. It was very deliberate and there’s very little waste when you work like that.

FoA: Having such a busy schedule, do you manage to take some time off to travel?

Alex: I love to travel. But travelling these days has been my work. I’ve been to London 4 times for weeks at a time, Scotland, New York 3-4 times, Thailand, Vancouver, New Orleans…I loved it in New Orleans. I was there for V-Day to the 10^th. It was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. I really encourage people to go online and look up that V-Day event and see what Eve Ensler did for the women of New Orleans.

FoA: Yes. We saw that on the internet.

Alex: If anyone ever wanted to donate to a charity on my behalf, this is the charity I support whole-heartedly. V-Day.

FoA: We will put a link on the site

Alex: Thank you

FoA: Your mother is Italian. Do you speak Italian?

Alex: No, I don’t speak Italian.

Alex: Shelby Lynne. I love her music

Alex: Oh really? Well, Shelby and I are not together. We’re great friends and have been for a long time. She’ll get a kick out of that - that’s funny.

Alex: Yes. Is there any possibility you could get that for the site? I love it and I think it’s really her, too.

Alex: Thank you

Alex: I love reading. I have lots of favourites. John Irving, A.M. Homes, Jeannette Winterson. There are so many- I’m reading a book right now that I love by Roger Deakin.

Alex: I’m an early riser, definitely.

Alex: I like that quote- "the greatest fear is fear itself." For me that would be fear of losing sight of what is real. I fear of going somewhere in my mind that is horribly negative and self-destructive. Everything is about perception, really. It’s not so much about the reality of where you are physically, or what you have or don’t have. Look at Mandela. He was in prison for 30 years. Look at what he did. My biggest fears lie inside my own head. My biggest fears are always worse than what is actually happening.

Alex: I would eradicate violence especially violence to women and children. And poverty. Unnecessary, politically-induced poverty. The kind where people no longer have a choice. When Mothers actually have no means in which to feed their children because they’re the victims of governmental and global neglect.

Alex: A perfect day for me would be… I would wake up very early appreciating the day, go for a swim perhaps (which is a funny thought because I don’t actually have a pool), have some friends over for breakfast, which I would cook, then go to a fantastic exhibit somewhere like at the Tate Modern in London, or it doesn’t actually have to be an exhibit, just some activity where I felt stimulated and immersed in art. Have a delicious lunch, again with friends (a perfect day involves delicious food + great company) and then get a plane somewhere, check into a fabulous place, still with friends, and then before we go to bed we’ve figured out, in real terms, how to save the world.

Alex: Yes I do! I just want to say again, thank you. Thank you for this site- I’ve said from the beginning that I feel very lucky to have so much support and care from people. I’m not someone who takes for granted the enormous gift it is to have so many people interested in what I’m doing and be so incredibly supportive about my work. I am very lucky, truly.

Alex: You’re welcome. You have a nice day too!