Interview with Bryan Schutmaat

Can you tell me about how photography started for you? Was part of your education part of your path towards photography?

I started taking photos in August of 2003 when I enrolled in a black and white photography course in college for an art credit. Things just kind of took off from there. I thought it was a wonderful process and medium. Taking pictures got me excited, not just about photography, but about living. I then got really serious about photography and wanted to make a career out of it. In 2004 I went to art school, but that only lasted a couple semesters until I went back down the liberal arts path I had initially intended. I majored in history, which I think is in a lot of regards helpful to the education of a photographer. So yes, my education—both the brief art education as well as all the history I’ve taken—has made my work what it is now, and though it’s been filled with detours, I still consider it a path toward photography in many respects.

And a little about your background beyond photography… I noticed you teach world history to 10th graders?

My background is filled with all sorts of stuff and my interests are pretty broad. I’ve played in several of bands, traveled a lot, worked in schools, reviewed films. Much of this has had an impact on the way I see things and photograph. And yeah, I just wrapped up a semester student teaching high school history. I don’t actually have a full time teaching job, but teaching will likely be my future profession unless something else brings in the big bucks. It’s a really fun job.

What has most influenced your work? I noticed that you mentioned reviewing films and music on your site.

There are some obvious photographers that influence my work—Shore, Eggleston, Evans, Robert Adams, and many other household names whose photos have a rather visible impact on mine. But there are also some lesser-known photographers that have influenced me just as much, if not more. For instance, there’s this photo book called “Truck Stop” by Mark Wise (not Wyse) that was one of the first photo books I ever owned. My mom got it for me at a half-price bookstore thinking I’d like it, and she was right. Before I knew anything about photography, that book changed how I saw subjects, and it challenged my perception of what makes photographs good. It really stuck with me. Also, a Houston-based photographer named Peter Brown does amazing work and has had a big influence on my newer photos. His book, “Seasons of Light,” which is really difficult to find, is another photo book that reached my eyes at an early age. It’s full of interior shots alongside Brown’s writings—really beautiful stuff. Yet it’s Brown’s pictures of plains that hit me the most. When you look at the pictures you get a sense about his relationship with the land. I think photography is sometimes more about a photographer’s relationship with world than actual aesthetics.

And yes, other areas of art influence me to a great extent. Painters like Edward Hopper and Vermeer really getting me thinking about light and simplicity. Cinema too has made an incredible impact on me. My favorites movies unsurprisingly tend to be more photographic than cinematic, like movies by Wim Wenders, Lynne Ramsey, David Gordon Green, Antonioni, Terrence Malick, and so on. I think my pictures got better after seeing the film “Days of Heaven,” which helped me understand the behavior of light and its possibilities, probably more so than the work of most still photographers. Music also informs my photos. Someone once told me that one of my photos looked how Townes Van Zandt music sounds. That was one of the better compliments I’ve received. And literature influences me too. When I visualize what I read I think of it as practicing photography. I could really go on at some length about influence.

How did your different themes or series come to be? Did you have the series in mind already or did the framework evolve after some of the photos?

My series develop over time. I never go into a project with unwavering dedication to a particular concept. I shoot what moves me and go on from there. I tend to work with geography in mind, depicting a vast area or my interpretation of it by means of themes and aesthetic continuity. After a little while of shooting in the same place, or shooting with the same body of work in mind, I just kind of know what will and won’t work, so I choose what to photograph based on that intuition. But I never have really stringent rules for myself. If I’m really touched by a scene, I’ll shoot it, whether it’s suited for my series or not. In that case, what helps a lot is narrowing down the photos with a meticulous edit. That plays a huge role in creating the series and atmosphere I strive for, and it’s amazing what kind of mood you can build by omission and sequence.

How do you find the content for the photos you create? Is there planning that occurs or do you have a “just a go out and find it approach”?

It’s a “just go out and find it approach.” I think of myself as a better picture finder than a picture taker. I just keep my eyes open for photo ops while driving and go places where I think I’ll find good stuff.

As you’re hunting for your photos what do you tend to look for?

I look for big, vacant landscapes, buildings and interiors that seem aged (or timeless), and places without brand names and where light functions well. Places that seem devoid of distraction facilitate my process, which is often times an effort to simplify what I see.

Can you tell me a little about your choice or use of tools as part of the photo capture process as well as post processing?

Depending on what I’m going for, I either use an old Rolleiflex, a Mamiya RZ67, or a few different 35mm cameras, though I hope to start dabbling in large format some time soon. I typically use Kodak Portra NC. In post, I scan on an Epson scanner, or if I know I’ll need to print really large, I’ll have drum scans done by a specialist. And for prints, I have a local lab do digital c-prints.

Your photos have been presented in a number of galleries. How was your work discovered by these galleries? What had this done for your work?

I’m usually approached via email after galleries or curators see my work on line. That’s really all there is too it. I’m a pretty bad sales person, so I don’t go out marketing myself heavily trying to get shows. I’ve attempted to set up a couple exhibitions, but I always screw it up some how and things fall through.

What has been the main factor to your working getting visibility?

The internet has definitely been the main thing to get people looking at my photos. It’s really changing how people get exposure and I think that’s great.

And last question…. if you had to recommend other photographers or art work in general for others to look at what would that be? Or asked a different way what art are you looking at now?

I recently came across a book by Laura McPhee called “River of No return.” It’s probably old news to the photo aficionados, but it really blew my mind. On the more emerging side, Daniel Shea and Will Steacy both have new series that are really good. But I look at art all the time so this question is tough for me to narrow down to a concise answer. I could ramble on like in our third question, but we’ll end it here. Thanks Darrius.

Thanks to Bryan for participating.  Please visit Bryan’s site where you can see more of his work .   All work copyright Bryan Schutmaat.