Right now, when people ask me what kind of photography I do, that's just like the question
what kind of music do you like.
You even ask it yourself, but it's a stupid question because it's just like, I take baby
portraits, you know, it's like, no, I'm all over the place and I always have been.
I've got several projects I'm working on, playing around with mediums has always been
something I've been interested in trying to find a way to get a certain vision across.
At the moment, I'm working for the last two or three years, I've been working and developing
my style with Super 8 movie film and what I like about, I mean, it's, you know, 30 anywhere
from 12 to 32 frames per second, so I started working with it just for the still imagery.
My name is Samuel Quinn, and I'm a photographer living in the Boston area.
I've been photographing for a bit over six years, about four years seriously.
I grew up on the East Coast in Philadelphia, moved around and I've been in the Boston
area for about six years.
I would carry the Super 8 camera around with me and I learned over time what kind of works
and what kind of doesn't.
I mean, I would shoot standing still, you know, what I thought was a good picture and
all it was was a good picture over and over and over and over again, kind of like advertising
or something, it just drew the imagery into the viewer.
Then I, you know, I thought more of what the film was intended for to capture movement
and in such, so I started trying to utilize like the many frames repeating and shoot what
made good moving imagery.
One thing I noticed really early on with the Super 8 is how much happens in a second.
For certain projects, I shoot 4x5 because it gives me the whole process for certain projects
calls for the 4x5, the slowing down that this camera demands, you know, the image quality
that it produces.
Certain portraits, I'll use the 4x5, but it's not always necessary for that, but current
project of the abandoned house work I did and continue to do, you know, where I'm setting
up the environment, creating my own story, which can take an hour or so, and then setting
up the camera in just the right spot, paying attention to every corner of the frame and
taking my time is something that you just can't get out of a digital camera.
I mean, you can try to treat the digital camera like a 4x5, but you know, for me, it doesn't
work like that.
I picked up at a summer camp type of thing at the Art Institute of Philadelphia.
I had a class that was Polaroid as well as traditional SLR photography, in addition to
painting and drawing classes and such, but that's when I got my first 35mm and my first
my own Polaroid camera, and as much as I was drawn to the magic of the darkroom, Polaroid
really grabbed the hold of me, and from there, I was kind of bit, I got my first medium format
camera, a cheap little Holga, and loved that for the same reason I loved Polaroid because
of the light leaks and the strange effects that this cheap plastic lens would have.
Polaroid really dragged me in, really grabbed me because being into painting more so, Polaroid
had this soft kind of feel to it, like paint, and some happy mistakes would happen, a defect
of the camera or the film was very, I know it's a term that's used a lot about painterly.
You can manipulate the images to a certain extent with Polaroid and kind of destroy them
and turn them into something else, so there was a, you know, at least illustrative quality
to them.
My Polaroid work has also gotten a lot of attention, one show in particular, I had two
pieces and sold both of the pieces, and it just blew my mind that someone would pay such
a high amount for this work I'm creating, but I mean, with the Polaroid, you're getting
the one and only, I mean, you can scan a Polaroid, but it's going to be a scan with, you know,
with 35 millimeter or any kind of negative, you can make a print, and yes, it will be
like maybe an addition of a print, but with a Polaroid, that's the one and only.
I got into the modeling work because actually I joined this social kind of network for models
and photographers against my better judgment, but I did it because I was just open, trying
to keep every option open because I needed to photograph, and this one model contacted
me, and I really liked her style and her look.
She's from New Orleans, her name is Nettie R. Harris, and I really liked her style and
I would love to photograph her, but I couldn't pay her, and I told her this, and I said that,
you know, because I was working some bullshit job, I think, at the time, and really couldn't
afford to pay her, but said I would love to photograph you, I mean, you're welcome to
stay with me as kind of a barter, and back and forth, back and forth, and then she ended
up staying with me for a couple days, and it was all new to me, I mean, I approached
it just as I was taking a portrait, as I approached any other portrait, just this person would
take their clothes off without any hang-ups, which was very exciting, but, you know, so
she came again later that summer, this was last summer, and we worked some more and then
another model contacted me, and she stayed with me, and then it was dry during the winter,
but you know, now it's picking up again, and it's weird, from those first two models,
Nettie R. Harris and Caitlyn Lacoste, I produced a lot of work, but Nettie R. Harris really
opened the door, and she's my favorite model to work with, and we'll be working with her
next week, so, one doesn't do, like, I don't want to ever fall into a place where I'm
doing work with a gallery in mind, because I mean, I do photography because I have to,
my mind's so busy, and it's the only thing I have really that doesn't get me into trouble,
I mean, maybe financially sometimes, but I've got to, I've always got to have a camera,
and if I don't have a camera, there's going to be a picture, and even if I had my camera
and somehow I blew it, it sucks, blowing it in regret is one of the worst things about
photography, the worst feelings you can get from photography, but at least I had my camera
and I was prepared, but if I don't have my camera, there's going to be an amazing picture,
so I always have my camera, you know, my heart will always belong to film, got the show coming
up at the lily pad with my close and dear and talented friend Eddie Pula, that bad dudes
are putting on, and that should be pretty exciting, especially since I just went to
their first show here in Boston with Chris Coulon and Steve Reed, and I mean, the turnout
was amazing, and you know, I'm pretty excited about that, Eddie's a very talented photographer,
and I mean, I don't say that just because he's my friend, but I really like his photos,
but he shoots very differently than I do, so it should be pretty interesting how our
work blends together.
