This week in my blog about Vancouver artists, I bring you Daniel Elstone. You can get a small taste of his fine work in our premiere issue; Dan photographed the Radio Station Cafe at 101 East Hastings.
Dan graduated from Langara’s Professional Photo Program and is currently getting his BFA at UBC. He is a killer surfer and he spends some of his summer nights rock climbing, photographing Vancouver at night, feeding raccoons, and jumping into Lynn Canyon.
His work speaks both very high and low of the west coast. He documents the green beauty around around him and his eye is dead on.
I chatted him about his work, summer 2009, and his take on photography today.
Sad Mag: Why are trees such a prominent subject in your photos?
Daniel Elstone: I shoot trees because there are endless variations of shapes, forms, patterns and sizes, even between the same types of trees. I don’t shoot exclusively tree’s though, I’ve been shooting more shrubs and thickets lately. I can get bored fairly quickly shooting the same type of things, but I always go back to trees.
Sad: What’s it like to make a name for yourself as a photographer today?
DE: I have mixed feelings about it. In commercial photography, digital technology is making it harder to make a living as a photographer. The cost of equipment, workload, and image standards are going up disproportionately to income, but at the same time digital cameras make life a lot easier. Photography as an art is possibly better than ever. There are so many great photographers out there, so many magazines and ‘zines, so much on the internet—it’s almost too much. Some of my favourite photographers are just people from flickr. (You can find Dan on flickr here)
Sad: What’s do you think is missing from Vancouver’s art scene right now?
DE: There’s a shortage of studio space in Vancouver. I think the city is also lacking galleries that are willing to display interesting photography.
Sad: What drew you to working with Sad Mag?
DE: The photography scene in Vancouver is fairly close minded, many galleries just seem to focus on fine art work, which usually isn’t very innovative. Sad Mag is a good way to get your work out there, discover local artists, and find out what’s going on around the city.
A Cabin by Daniel Elstone
Sad: Who are some of your favourite visual artists?
DE: Some of my favourite photographers are Jeff Wall, Stephen Shore, Matthew Genitempo, Tokihiro Sato, there are too many to list. My favourite artists are William Schaff, Eric Fischl, Martin Creed, and whoever did the Roxy Music Covers.
Sad: Summer has escaped us. What are you looking forward to this season in the arts?
DE: I’m looking forward to the Where the Wild Things Are movie and The Malcolmson Collection, which is a bunch of 19th- and early 20th-century photographs to be shown at The Presentation House [Gallery in North Vancouver].
Sad: What’s next from Dan Elstone?
DE: I have a couple series which I’ve been putting together, both of them tentatively named. I hope to complete those by next summer, although they’ll never really be complete. I’ll tell you later.
——BG
Check out Daniel Elstone’s online portfolio here.
Keep coming back to sadmag.ca for interviews, blog posts and sneak peaks at our Winter Issue.