Anthony Van Schmus
English 122
Prof. Cryer
9/18/18
Life through the lens of the photography community. Shelby Steck Profile
For Shelby to develop an interest in the arts was practically inevitable. As a young girl growing up Shelby’s house was full of life and vibrant art, her mother often kept the walls adorned with various kinds of wall art, and her father and brothers were both also artists with her father working in the profession of “glazing” or glass working, and her brothers involved in Music, Skating, and Art.
Shelby eventually gravitated toward photography and although nobody else in her family shares that specific interest an overall appreciation of art in the household has made it easy for her parents and brother to “tolerate it” in her words and support the interest in her hobby (though her mother takes a more active interest than others.) When asked if she had any advice for any new up-and-coming photographers who are looking to get into the hobby but aren’t sure where to begin she said, “go out and buy yourself a cheap, basic camera and just go start shooting…and look up other artists too” she Immediately began to explain the works of “Gordon Parks” and how he is one of the fellow photographers who helps to inspire her. After a brief pause to allow me to catch up with my writing, she began excitedly talking about a new work recently done by another photographer by the name of “Phillip Brookman” and as she spoke it was clear that had I been more equipped to carry on a conversation revolving around photography and photographers she had the knowledge and passion in her community to continue the conversation all day.
“Photography” as a whole is a HUGE genre in which to make art with almost infinite sub-genres and different styles of shooting and so when asked if she specialized in any specific type of photography or if there were a style that she prefers over others (even if it’s not the style she specializes in) understandably she had to pause and think. After what looked like an attempt to try and think of a way to put it in terms that I would understand she started to describe an almost “candid camera” style of photography, where she will find a spot, generally somewhere in public, and proceed to pull out her 35 MM film Canon and take photographs of strangers out in the world just being themselves. She traced her initial interest in this style of photography back to a specific time she was out shooting and her having a feeling of being able to connect to the rest of the world through a medium she hadn’t previously experienced. The way she described the feeling was “It was just sort of like…this is what I was feeling this day, and so was that person.” It seems like this would be an ideal style of shooting for anyone with an active imagination, creating entire personas and storylines based entirely on assumptions and information gathered by a single anonymous photograph, the possibilities are endless as with most things involved in photography.
Many people often wonder what they look like to strangers when they are out, how they are presenting themselves to the world etc. and because the people she shoots are generally strangers Shelby’s work can encompass the answers to that question in the purest sense. One of the questions I was most excited to ask was one that by this point I assumed I already had an answer to, but out of curiosity I asked, “If you could have your ideal career in photography what would you be doing?” Her answer was the complete opposite of what I had assumed it would be based on her answers so far, she thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up and she said “Film Fashion Photographer.” still a style where the primary focus is the subject and the subject is usually a person, but with a vastly different context. In this case the subject is not just a human, unaware they are being photographed but the complete opposite, a model who is usually wearing something for a specific reason and posed a specific way to convey a specific message so I was very surprised. However it really shows the limitless options available within the photography community and the versatility of some photographers to be able to work in multiple fields.
While we were on the subject of the near infinite styles of photography I was reminded of a question I had meant to ask earlier but had forgotten but this was the perfect segway into the question, “What do you think about new apps like Instagram and Tumblr that have seemed to cause a rise in amateur photographers and have created a new platform centered around photos and photography giving companies more incentive to get involved thus generating more interest in photography?” and while it is a broad, open-ended question her answer was surprisingly short and to the point, it was not a question she had expected but she didn’t have to think very long to come up with an answer. Because Shelby works primarily with film photography and using darkrooms to develop her photographs anything using a digital platform is mostly irrelevant and therefore out of mind for her. She did remark that anything that gets people more involved in photography could be viewed as a positive but overall the situation doesn’t seem to have an effect on her work one way or another which at the very least also shows that film photography is still alive and thriving in an increasingly digital age.
I feel lucky to have had Shelby as a partner. I have a cousin who once had a passion for photography which he later lost after going to school to pursue a career in it and so to meet another person with the same general interest in photography but who has a vastly different opinion of it now and vastly different experiences than what I had heard about prior was a welcome opportunity. Talking to Shelby helped illuminate how truly diverse and impressive the photography community is.
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