21 Dec Shawn Duffield Photography
Shawn Duffield by Sarah Fox.
Shawn Duffield’s name has come up quite a bit lately on this site. We’ve posted videos he’s filmed, random photos shot by him, and he even submitted a great shot for our Fall Photo contest. It was only after more closely examining his work and browsing his Flickr account that I wanted to ask him a few questions and give him a chance to showcase more of his photos. He’s a hard working young talent from the west coast with a refreshing view of BMX and it comes through in his photos and videos. Click below for some more images from Shawn, a quick interview about his photography, and expect to see his name come up more and more with great work like this.
How old are you, and how long have you been shooting for?
I am 22 years old, and I’ve been shooting for about 5 years I think.
You clearly primarily shoot digital. Is film vs. digital a debate for you, or where do you stand on the rather touchy subject?
No, they’re definitely not a debate for me, I’ve started to bring a film camera with me wherever I go now. But I love film. I only recently started shooting with it within the past year, but it’s starting to take over a little bit. I find myself wanting to shoot it more than digital a lot of the time. I feel like shooting film has helped with shooting digital as well.
Kyle Lee – Lookback at Poco
Evin Reed – Footjam during sunset at Chuck Bailey
What is your typical camera kit that you carry with you?
Uhh, it depends on where or what I’m going to shoot. If I’m going to shoot riding, I’ve got my body, fisheye, wide angle and 50mm with a couple of flashes and a mic just in case we decide to film something as well. And whenever I’m going on a hike I like to pack a little lighter and leave the mic and flashes at home.
How much do you spend in post processing for an image, on average?
Not that long at all. I try to shoot everything as is, like every other guy with a camera ever, but sometimes there ends up being some things that have to be tweaked a little here and there.
Surfer in Tofino on a cloudy morning.
John Alden – Somehow cracking this table off what most people have trouble airing.
Hiked up to Garibaldi Lake on Family Day weekend and woke up to this sunrise.
Your work has a great mix of beautiful west coast scenic landscapes, and shots of riders blasting transitions locked in to a clicked table, or turndown, etc. Both incredibly timeless and classic. Do you find any parallels between shooting landscapes and BMX, or do you treat them entirely separate?
Well first of all thank you. But I definitely feel that there are a number of parallels between every style of photography. There are certain aspects that make a photo more visually appealing such as composition, depth of field, and the rule of thirds, but otherwise I look at the subject and lighting completely different. Skatepark angles are a lot different than landscapes, you know?
John Alden – Handplant over the big hip at Hastings. This happened right before BVD dropped in into the back of my head and I had to go get stitches.
Brandon Van Dulken – Wallride to table somewhere in Coquitlam.
Brandon Van Dulken – One of my favourite table photos I’ve captured. Stoked with how the lighting turned out.
Dream rider or location to shoot?
Dream riders to shoot would have to be Chris Doyle or Chase Hawk or any of those big style guys out there. I would choose to shoot a huge table or turndown over something big then techy rail tricks any day. I don’t really have a dream location though, anywhere that’s not the usual I’m pretty stoked on.
Kyle Lee – Film scan of Kyle blasting a table at Hastings
Another film scan from this summer of some dudes in Vernon during our Okanagan trip.
Any last words or things you want to mention?
Just thanks to all the riders I’ve encountered over the years, and my friends for putting up with me pointing my camera in their face constantly.
Adam Piatek – Little Adam trucking the spine at Poco from a long time ago. The building beside the park was still under construction.