Who says it’s hard to get artists to talk about their work? In our very first installment of Coffee with an Art Star your auntie m. interviews Ryan Schierling, a local music photographer very close to the imaginary hearts.

m.
so ryan, let’s tell the fine folks a little bit about what it is exactly that you do out there in the world…

Ryan
I’ve been a freelance photographer since 2002. Prior to that I was the staff photographer for the Bainbridge Island Review, so I’ve been doing photography professionally for about six years. Music photography has just come into play the last couple of years.

m.
ahh yes, the music connection, which is what makes you such a fine candidate to be our very first imaginary art star!! what brought you to music as a core subject? do you play an instrument other than the camera?

Ryan
I’m not musically inclined in the least. But music is a core part of my life and has been since high school. Music as an in-depth subject for photography came on the tail end of being laid-off from the newspaper job and subsequently divorced. I moved to Seattle from Kitsap County and started going to shows seven nights a week. I brought the camera along…

“Adoration” Ryan Schierling

m.
…and our eyes are all the better for it!! so of course you know your work is technically fabulous…did you study somewhere, or under someone, or on your own, or some combination?

Ryan
I’ve been interested in photojournalism since high school, but never studied formally. Photography is an ongoing learning experience, and I’ve tried to absorb everything I could about every style imaginable. I might not like the work some other photographers are doing, but there’s always something to take away from it. Visually, I enjoy Walter Iooss, Jr., who’s a sports photographer, Steve Gullick, who’s a music shooter, Christopher Morris, who is a fabulously gifted photojournalist. There are far too many influences to name…

m.
having seen a lot of your work, that is simply amazing. so what draws you to one particular subject to photograph? talent? passion? good looks? i see, for instance, that you have a totally excellent picture of david bos of the jeunes on your home page today…as well as a coupla other handsome people i don’t seem to know…

Ryan
I’m just a visual person, I guess. There’s a photograph in just about every situation you’ll ever come across. Sometimes it’s just a matter of stopping and looking a little harder. In some photos there are stories that need to be told, in others there might just be a feeling. One quote I remember from a photographer named Windy Osborne really stuck with me, and it’s been probably 15 years. “Fill the frame with exactly what you want to see.” I try to get all of the important elements in there, without making anything cluttered. And that tends to be my style in whatever I shoot, whether it’s music or portraits or landscapes or whatever.

m.
interesting…i guess i’ve mostly just seen your pictures of people…are you generally more drawn to faces than to other subjects or do you tend to just shoot what there is to shoot be that a musician or a microphone or the gum that sticks to your shoe?

Ryan
I do prefer to photograph people. Faces interest me, body language interests me. How people relate to their environments is a big draw as well. If I do come across a great landscape, I usually don’t shoot it unless there’s a person in there. Otherwise it just seems to be a little stale. Gum on the shoe, not sure. But that sounds like it could be a good shot for an ad campaign for a footwear company, so maybe I’ll explore that a bit further…

“Kuma” Ryan Schierling

m.
gee, now i don’t know whether to ask you about how the resulting picture of a musician relating to their environment relates to the music they were playing at the time OR whether to take a little side trip and explore the difference between art and advertising…i guess i’ll let you pick where to go with that….

Ryan
When I’m shooting music a lot of the time, and it depends on the type of music, the musician is bringing something out of themself for the audience. I try to get that – the emotion, the feeling, the little things that someone standing behind the tall guy or in the back of the venue might not see. The environment (the stage) plays little in that, but I’m always very conscious of the lighting, the background, what’s to the left and right. Portraiture and editorial photos are different. Advertising, done properly, can be art. But you don’t see that very often. Artists are usually not entirely happy with the way their image/graphic/painting/music is used in a commercial context, unless the art director is really, really good and has a handle on what the image means to the artist.

m.
wow!! two in one, very impressive ::grin:: so gosh, focusing on the actual photography for a minute, just how hard IS it to take pictures of mu
sicians in the act? i mean, it’s dark, they’re moving around, there’s all kindsa crazy lighting…

Ryan
It’s one of the hardest types of photography I’ve ever done. The lighting is always a tough variable, you’ve got to be able to balance between natural light and strobe (if you’re going that route) on the fly, and still be able to capture what you’re going for within the frame. It takes practice. Luckily, I go to lots and lots of shows…

m.
do you prefer a particular genre of music or are you more of a renaissance dabbler? and gosh, this seems silly, but who’s your favorite band?

Ryan
I’ll shoot everything. I tend to gravitate toward indie rock because that’s what I really enjoy. It’s more fun to photograph the people that you like and would want to hang out with. And Seattle is overflowing with good music, so there’s no shortage of things to do. My favorite band… locally, there are so many. Some of the first shows I shot were The Long Winters, and that came out of being a Harvey Danger fan. John and Sean and all of those guys are all fantastic, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for them. Visqueen, The Divorce, The Pale, The Lashes, Kane Hodder, Math and Physics Club, I could go on and on and on (apologies to all the favorites I’ve left out). Non-local bands, I’ve been listening to Unbunny, The Weakerthans, Maritime, The Arcade Fire, Snow Patrol, Lockgroove. Again, I could go on for days listing off things I like. It’s a very good time to be a music fan right now…

“Cex” Ryan Schierling

m.
agreed!! it’s not too shabby being a fan of music photography, either, which reminds me, you have a show coming up here at vain…anything to relate about the work that will be on hand? new stuff? old stuff? favorite stuff?

Ryan
It’s all favorite stuff. The majority of it is local, with one or two that aren’t. I really enjoy shooting the bands from the Pacific Northwest because there just aren’t that many photographers paying attention to it. And these bands deserve to be recognized. There are some great music photographers around here though – William Anthony is one of them. Wonderful guy, very talented.

m.
that’s very magnanimous of you to mention…

Ryan
There’s a lot of competition, and not much collaboration. Bill and Brad Hanson and I have a project that we’re working on that will culminate in a show next year sometime. It’s such a pleasure to be involved with talented photographers, and not have to worry about the cutthroat business side of things. They’ve got different styles of shooting, but we all really love the Seattle music scene. I think this project will be something that no one’s done before… it should be an eye-opener.

m.
how exciting…can’t wait to see it!! in the meantime i also can’t wait to see what’s going on the wall at vain…