His photography fits perfectly within the ScrantonMade ethos: celebrating the artists and landscape that make the place we call home so beloved to us. Meet Sam Watson of
Sam Watson Photography...and definitely stop by and talk photography with him at
Arts on the Square.
Hi Sam!
Tell us
a little about your company and what inspired you to start it.
I wish I could tell you I stole an invitation to a
Grateful Dead press reception, grabbed my camera, and the rest is history, but
that just isn't the case. I guess the story goes (so far) is when I was
in my teens my uncle Wes gave me a book of Linda Mccartney’s “sixties:
portraits of an era.” Her photographs of many of the musical genius’s that
defined that generation; Dylan, Hendrix, Joplin, the Stones, the Grateful Dead,
and of course the Beatles, inspired me, even though, at the time, I didn't even
own a camera. In time I acquired an old 35mm film camera and just started shooting,
simple as that. No formal training, no workshops or classes, just a roll of
film and my eyes. My parents grew up in the 60-70s so I think it’s only natural
that I'm attracted to the music and certainly the organic and natural “free
form” aesthetic of the time period. Very spontaneous and improvisational but
with a clear direction. That organic foundation and essentially “learning how
to learn” has made all the difference in my line of photography whether it be
shooting landscapes or portraiture. It’s really been a grassroots experience,
having mainly displayed and sold work at First Fridays and through social
media. I've been in the business since the day I picked up a camera, and I don’t plan
on putting it down anytime soon.
Have
you always known you were an artist? What led you to photography?
I think the arts were something that just came natural
to me as opposed to anything else. My mum was always very creatively
sound so I think that’s really where it originates. But what really lead me to
photography specifically was the power of the still image, most notably the
work of Robert Frank. His images are raw, gritty, off-kilter and simple, yet
are also complex; full of truth, and beauty and emotion. My college professor
at
Ursinus College, Don Camp, really stressed the importance of the narrative
or “the story” within the still image. Once you have a solid narrative of what
you want to tell the viewer, everything else will fall into place. It doesn't
matter if you have the greatest equipment, if there is no real ethos
intertwined into the still image, it falls apart. Being inundated with so many
more images than ever before, where everyone is a “photographer” it’s hard to
distinguish yourself from all of the white noise. There’s a lot of really great
stuff photographically out there, there’s also a ton of crap, and it’s harder
now more than ever to break through and really get your work noticed.
Tell us
a little about your photography aesthetic and areas of interest.
Robert Frank once said in an interview “When people look
at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a
line of a poem twice.” The aesthetic I try to capture is one of truth and
beauty and the organic relationship between the two. Establishing a visceral
dialogue that pulls the audience into the photograph. Even if some of my images
are not necessarily deemed “beautiful” like ducks on a pond, I still try and
capture the truth, which in my mind in turn makes it beautiful. For example, I
created a body of work in which the narrative was documenting abandon spaces.
These were desolate man made spaces run down and forgotten about that were being
transformed and overtaken by Mother Nature. To some the pictures are raw,
gritty, and off kilter but with correct use of light, and space, and time the
images are just as beautiful as the concept which completes the narrative.
In tandem with the more fine art documentary side of my work, music has
also always been an area of interest that has shaped my aesthetic. I try to blend
the two together. Having interned at music magazine Relix, gave me the firsthand
experience of photographing the organic chemistry that musicians create on and
off stage.
What
will you be featuring at the Arts on the Square festival?
A mixed bag of my documentary fine art photography as
well as images of local and national musicians at play including
Coal TownRounders,
Cabinet,
Miz, A Fire With Friends, G. Love, Allman Brothers,
Galactic, Lotus and many more.
How do
you make your workplace an inspiring place to be?
We all know any artistic venture isn’t created in a
vacuum so I try and surround my work space with as much different outlets for
creativity as possible whether it be in literature, the sciences, music, or
theology. I went to Ursinus College, a small liberal arts college, near
Philadelphia as opposed to a strictly art school because I wanted to experience
other avenues and platforms that I could bounce off of to find inspiration
from. I’ve also collected a lot of vinyl records over the years and have a
record player set up beside where I do most of my editing, so the turntable’s
constantly spinning.
Is
there any other information you would like us to share/highlight about you or
your work?
Follow Sam Watson Photography:
Website: greysquirrelphoto.com
Facebook: facebook.com/grey.squirrel.photo
Instagram: @therealgreysquirrel
