Eleven questions with… BRYAN SHEFFIELD
1. Name, age, zodiac sign, favorite food & favorite member of The Beatles?
Bryan C. Sheffield, 31, Sagittarius, Salt, Paul
2. When did you start taking photos and what first made you pick up a camera?
When I was a teenager, I enjoyed taking photos for fun. I really started seriously taking pictures in college though. I was a graphic design major and needed to take Photo I and Photo II as prerequisites. I enjoyed photography a lot more than graphic design, and changed my major soon after. I was attracted to the simple way of capturing a split second of time and all the chemicals and process and tangible details that went into that.
3. Digital or film? And why?
I shoot both film and digital. I wish I could only shoot film, but people need things fast and cheap these days.
I learned photography with film. It has a simple and inherently beautiful tangible quality to it that will never be replicated with digi. Shooting film makes you think more while you are shooting. It makes you think about the colors, the exposure, the lighting, and the right moment to press the shutter. Digital is easy and lazy and makes one rely on post processing to get a good photo, instead of just taking a good photo. I shoot very differently when i am shooting digital. I have never liked the look of the images and the process as much as film.
4. What is your favorite image you’ve ever shot of?
Jesus Christ that is a very hard question Travis. God… If I have to choose, I will to say it is an image of The Mars Volta that I shot about a year ago for a magazine. The guys are laughing and relazed, and not trying to pose like a band. Their style, the candid-ness, and the location we shot at, make a pretty picture. It is currently the first image on my site.
5. Where can people see your work?
The best place to see my work is at http://www.bryansheffield.com/
Currently, I have new work in the on-stands issues of Nylon, Arena, Neon and Nylon Guys, as well as in the new Busdriver album coming out this Spring on Anti-.
6. What keeps you sane?
Laughing at myself constantly, espresso, and bike riding.
7. Favorite band/album of all time?
Dinosaur Jr. “You’re Living All Over Me” 1987, SST Records
8. Dogs or cats?
Dogs. Dogs. Definitely dogs.
9. David Lee Roth Or Sammy Hagar?
Can I say Gary Cherone? I have zero Van Halen songs in my iTunes.
10. What do you have planned for 2009?
I would love to travel more. Alaska is the only state I have not been to, I have been trying to find the time to get there for years. Maybe this Summer?
11. Got any last words?
Thank you very much for this Travis.
Click here to see a gallery of Bryan’s photography.
