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INFO: Daniel Gaskin.20.Melbourne, AU.
http://www.flickr.com/danielgaskin
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The Photo Coterie: What’s the deal with the glowing hand?
Daniel Gaskin: I originally took this photo for a school assignment. I had somebody holding a shard of mirror with a studio flash reflecting from it straight into the lens of my camera.
This was for Studio Lighting class and the brief was to photograph a reflective object, after I had come up with the final image my teacher didn’t feel that it was commercial enough to be submitted for the assignment. It all ended well though and I used the photo, along with a couple others I shot that fit in with it, for a group exhibition I just had called “Mindscapes”
TPC: Who is the man in the raincoat and is there a story about him or a reason why you took this photo?
DG: A couple of months ago I decided I wanted to get used to approaching complete strangers and asking to take their photographs, I’m actually surprised how many people really don’t want their picture taken.
So, there was this photo I had wanted to take for a while just near where I found this guy, it was raining really heavily but even after getting what I came for I was still in the mood to wander around and see if anything else took my interest. I came to a street where there was this man dressed in a bright yellow raincoat; straight away I knew I had to ask him for his picture. I started walking towards him but he got into his ute and drove away, I turned around thinking I had lost a great photo opportunity. He only drove about four houses up the road before he got out of the car again, when I finally got to ask him for his picture we had a 30 minute conversation about art. He painted Picasso works as a hobby, and he was more than happy for me to take a quick photo of him.
TPC: Do you feel the younger generation of photographers are underestimated by the older genereation?
DG: With how cheap dslr’s are now and with how simple they are to use every second 14-year-old girl on myspace is an “arty photographer” now. So in a way I feel the younger generation would defiantly be underestimated by the older generation. God, there are some amazing young photographers out there though.
TPC: Other than photography, what else is part of your everyday life?
DG: Usually I’m in my school routine of going there 5 days a week and I’ve recently been employed so I’ve had to fit that into my everyday routine. I’m currently trying to start a new series of photographs but I’m not in any rush at the moment.
TPC: Is there anything going on in your life right now that you want to talk about?
DG: Well, I’ve just finished school for the year so now it’s just relaxing, I guess. I’ll be at the beach for a while in two weeks which I can’t wait for. I’m going to take my p&s with me everywhere over the holidays and just have fun.
