DANIEL SHEA, 25, CHICAGO

I’m interested in your daily routine when you’re on the road. Can you describe your typical day?

There’s no real routine. I usually spend the first few days in a new location scouting out photographs I want to take and making note of the ideal time of day to photograph there. A loose schedule builds from that point, and as I start to meet people and call people, I also start scheduling portrait sessions. I’m usually out of the house from 5 AM - 10/11 PM. I sleep a few hours at night and take short naps in my car throughout the day. I make sure I have plenty of time to drive endlessly for hours.

You recently completed Arthur, IL, a series on a traditional Amish community for Chicago Magazine. How was your presence perceived within the community and how did you collaborate with the people of Arthur?

I was there very briefly, as I was working within a magazine’s budget. Often when illustrating stories for magazines, editors (and presumably the audience) like to see a human presence in the photographs. Working in an Amish community was tricky, because religious and ideological convictions prevented me from photographing people directly (other than children, oddly enough). So I had to be respectful of their desire not to be represented in this way, while still figuring out how to photograph them. I’ve spent a lot of time photographing in rural America, and I’m continually amazed at how generous people are with their time, and how sincerely receptive they are to me hanging around and photographing.

Of all the people you met and photographed, who impressed you most, and why?

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this question and it seems that I can’t answer it directly. I think that as a “narrative” photographer, I realize that most people view their fellow humans as unremarkable and average, and I use that common perception to my advantage. Most of the people I meet and photograph while working on my projects are these people; seemingly unremarkable folks living out the day-to-day. I don’t intend to elevate anyone above or below this through the act of photographing them, but to revel in the overall absurdity of it all, which is the larger reality we all exist in. At any given moment, a person is defined by a series of relationships to their surroundings…cultural, environmental, social, and in the case of the work I do, specifically industrial/work/power. I think what makes human gesture and “perceivability” so interesting is the supporting context, and photographs frame the world as specific instances that can prioritize these relationships in structurally interesting ways.

Yet, in the end, we’re all completely boring and subject to the conditions of the world. That’s kind of why it’s hard for me to highlight a single encounter. Although, that being said, I have a lot of interesting stories about some of the people I meet. While photographing Pickles while making Removing Mountains, he drove me around abandoned and active coal sites, bringing me close to death (actually) a couple times in less than an hour. Bill Jones, the man on the river in Plume, worked with me for a long time to arrange that scene, we spent the afternoon working on that photograph.

When he was working on American Power, Mitch Epstein was often confronted to the security surrounding the factories. While working on Removing Mountains, did you sometimes fear you were going to get in trouble?

Yes, and I had a few run-ins with the law and coal security that were very intense. A lot of the access to these sites is contingent on navigating old logging roads and hidden trails to vantage points, all of which constitutes trespassing. It’s sensitive material. Ultimately I was able to find a loophole, tagging along with West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection on tours of these coal sites. The access I received through them was remarkable and largely unprecedented.

Along with Proechel, Leavenworth and Golfer, you are part of the Dreamboats Collective. How does working with the Collective affect your own work?

Originally DBC was started as a blog to keep the 4 of us communicating and posting new work. We decided to launch it as a more comprehensive website with portfolios and projects as an experiment. We are just now starting to see that it’s working on some level. For example, an editor that one of us is working at a magazine will call one of the other photographers in the collective. We still maintain that our intention with the group is to promote the disambiguation of working editorially and working and funding personal projects. It’s not something we’ve figured out wholly by any means, but we are starting to make it work for us. 

You graduated from MICA in 2007. What is the best piece of advice you’d give to recent or future photography graduates?

Probably what anyone else might say. It doesn’t help to continually compare yourself to other people, it’s a self-defeating cycle. I can only speak for what I do personally. I continually measure where I am in my work (and work ethic) and figure out how to take it to the next level. I’m never completely satisfied with anything I do, which is profoundly important in keeping me motivated. Accept financial destitution and lack of civilian comforts/desires as part of the equation. Yadda yadda yadda, if you work hard and hustle, things will happen.

What is next for you?

I’ve been trying to clock more studio time and work on more sculptural work. I’m in the middle of applying to grad school, it’s stressful and exciting. I have a couple of upcoming shows I’m preparing for. I’m also flirting with the idea of starting a small zine/book press and an apartment gallery-styled project. Never enough time in the day.

www.dsheaphoto.net

www.photodreamboats.com