Interview by Jimon
1.How would you describe Sean Gallagher? It changes depending on the day, to be honest. Generally I’m pretty curious and focused on the things that I’m really into. Lately I’d say driven, because I’m working pretty much constantly on any of the projects I’ve got going at the moment. The past six months have been pretty hectic. I’m also told I’m “dark” fairly often, but I’d like to think there’s a sense of humor behind it. Finally, I have excellent cholesterol. Just throwing that in there.
2.What inspired you to become a photographer? Ever since the first time as a kid I looked through a camera I’ve wanted to at least be shooting very often. I was very quiet, always kind of on the periphery. There was something about how the world looks through a camera that felt like it matched up with my situation as that outside kid who was always watching. It took a long while of me kind of putzing around before I actually got serious, and once I got serious I’ve never wanted to stop.
3.When and how did you get your first camera, and what was it? The first camera I ever used was an Olympus OM10 camera that my mother had acquired for a night class she took when I was a kid. I’m not sure if she ever used it after that one class, but at some point I liberated it and used it when I first started taking classes. I put a ton of film through that thing until the winder broke, then I spent what felt like all the money in the world on a Nikon F100.
Did you study photography or is it self-taught? I Studied for a little bit at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. I think the most valuable part of a formal education in the arts is to sit in a room while everyone in there with you absolutely tears it to shreds, to your face. It teaches you to be pretty humble, detached and objective about your work. I still think quite often about one of my first photo teachers almost every time I pick up a camera.
How did you get your first job? My first ever photo jobs were assisting for my cousin’s husband, who at the time was shooting tabletop product and corporate work on medium format film. He taught me a ton, and ultimately very much shaped how I am as a photographer.
You shoot for The Daily Show on Comedy Central. Should we anticipate a book with this theme? I have no idea! That’s up to the show. That’s a dream of mine, though, for sure.
What has been your most challenging shoot to date, and why? Last year when I decided I wanted to try to shoot portraits of everyone who worked for the show. Over 100 people. Nothing I really ever do can interrupt the normal goings-on for the day, so I’d show up early, set up my light and apple box and then wander around the building to try to find my day’s subjects. Everyone is generally really busy actually writing, editing, taping, researching, or in some way servicing the show; so I told them all “five minutes and you’ll be done.” Everything was on the fly, no one prepped, I never knew who my subjects would be until they said “yes.” It took me a few months to finally get almost everyone. In the meantime, I was still doing all the normal things I had to do for my job, so I really had to squeeze it in the hour or half-hour a day I could manage, usually bothering people during lunch. And finally, as a fairly quiet, introverted person it really dragged me well out of my comfort zone. I actually wound up formally meeting people I’d kind of nodded at in the halls forever, so it was a good thing on multiple levels.
What was the most disappointing shoot you’ve ever had? Nothing stands out apart from the many days I set out early in the morning to shoot landscapes only to have the weather not work with me, or in my own studio working on some personal project or other when I have everything set up and just don’t feel like anything was working out, or if for some reason the tech was failing and I didn’t have the energy to fix it. Sometimes when I’m tired and uninspired I can’t rise above it. Generally I wind up looking at other peoples’ work on those days, or I go watch a movie. I’ve found that time away from photography can be very important to how I shoot, as well.
Do you shoot film at all? Not for quite a while, but I’ve had my eye on a couple Mamiya and Hasselblad medium format systems now that the prices have come down so much, but I need to do a lot more research. It’s interesting how it’s come around. When digital started getting to a point when it could replace film, so many of us were excited to not have to carry film around, run to the lab, scan film, store it. Now I know lots of photographers who are starting to eye it again, at least for personal work. On days when I think nothing of shooting 20 frames to get one good one in any given moment, I think back on that discipline that film forced us to have, to really wait for that “decisive moment.” It’s really difficult to learn to wait for it.
What inspires you? It depends on the day, my mood. Sometimes it’s the light outside or in a room, sometimes it’s someone’s face or outfit, and sometimes it’s just lazily poking around photo sites.
Your biggest aspiration? I’ve got a few bigger projects in mind that require me to take 6 to 9 months to go travel and shoot portraits, but those are a little ways off in the future. For right now, I’m working on getting a book together of my father’s tools. He was a carpenter and is an antique tool collector. In addition to his own tools he used every day at work, his father’s as well as those that belonged to the master carpenter under whom he apprenticed, all in boxes that were hand built. Once I’m done retouching and laying it out, if I could get it published I think it would knock my father out.
Your biggest fear? That I’ll be facing south while something amazing will be behind me to the north, I’ll have no idea, and I’ll miss it completely. I don’t just mean that photographically, just in general.
Whose work do you admire? I really love Pete Souza’s ability to catch awesome moments, Chuck Close’s portraiture work and Richard Avedon in general. Sally Mann, Mary Ellen Mark, Joel Peter Witkin and Robert Frank for their everything. Joseph Rodriguez for his rawness and his balls.
Three people dead/alive you would like to shoot? Kind of dark, but I think I’d like to shoot some dead people. They’d be pretty cooperative and perhaps a little less fussy about the results, although maybe a little stiff. Other than that I wish I had been able to photograph those of my family that have passed away – just simple portraits.
Give me three things you can’t live without? Cameras, cats, and quiet.
What is next for Sean Gallagher? I’m just going to keep banging away at everything I’ve got going on until I feel ready to move on. And meanwhile I’m always on the lookout for the next project. Hopefully a book of tools, or a hotel full of feather prints. At some point I’d really like to exclusively do portraiture work for a year or so.
How would someone find you on social media? I’ve tried to be consistent using “@ruminasean” (pronounced “rumination,” like when your brain is in overdrive while you’re trying to sleep) everywhere…Twitter, Instagram, my website is ruminasean.com. My project on my father’s tools is on Instagram as @gallaghertools, and my feather prints are at @featherphotographer.
