FAQ – Ann Street Studio

We got such a wonderful response to our original 20 Questions post that we’re continuing it into a series! Thank you again for your curiosity, your kindness, and most of all your support. Hope you enjoy this next round of questions and answers…

1. How did you get to where you are now in your career?

My path has come full circle from where I started. When I was 13 and got my first Mac I started creating digital art and animation, but through school I pursued traditional mediums of art, then graphic design which I did professionally for a few years. My real passion has always been animation so it’s not a surprise that I’m doing that as my career, but the path there wasn’t direct.

2. Where do you find inspiration?

I’m inspired when I see something that gives me a deep visceral feeling that I wished I had created it. I recently felt that with Starshift by Santiago and Mauricio. Inspiration comes in waves, but for me personally it’s not something I can just decide to go do, it happens when it happens and it may be from an art book or the dog eared corner of a subway ad blowing in the breeze. It’s also from free association. (Note: as I was writing this answer on our back patio a butterfly flew by and I caught it in a bell jar, and Jamie and I shot this.)

3. How has your life changed since the Cinemagraph?

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For the past few years, we have been incredibly lucky to not only do what we love, but also to have such wonderful peers here to share our work with. We appreciate so deeply all the sweet things that are sent to us, whether it’s a comment on the site, a message via our social media pages, or art inspired by what we do.

With that in mind, today’s post is about you! We rounded up some of the most popular questions asked and attempted to answer as truthfully and eloquently as possible. Hope you enjoy…

1. How did you get to where you are now in your career?

Shooting as much as possible. After I graduated from college, I worked for almost two years for free, shooting non-stop, building up my contacts and clients. Eventually the clients and opportunities became a career where I could sustain a living and start investing back into my work by buying new equipment and things like that. It is also really important to get your work out there. Everything changed when I started my tumblr back in 2009 as a place to share old photographs I had taken.

2. How did your education prepare you for the future?

I studied fashion photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology back when it was all on film. College taught me a lot about lighting, producing shoots, and how to execute your vision, which I was already doing naturally since I started shooting at an early age. Mostly, college got me to New York City, which was where I wanted to be and around the people I wanted to be working with.

3. What person has been your inspiration in life? Who is your hero?

On a personal level, I think we all know how important my Grandmother is to me. On a professional level I idolize Annie Leibovitz, Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh, Patrick Demarchelier, Herb Ritts, Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon.

4. Do you feel like you’ve met your goals and are successful?

Of course not! Every day I’m looking toward the future: the next photograph I will take. How I can make my images stronger. Who I want to shoot for. I’m constantly setting new goals and the only way I relate to success is if I feel a photograph has achieved what I was trying to create. And then I start the process all over again.

5. How have things changed for you since the invention of the Cinemagraph?

Continue reading “20 Questions” →