Q&A: Douglas Coon

Home Culture Q&A: Douglas Coon

What are your thoughts on digital cameras vs. film?

I started using a digital camera fairly soon after they came out on the mass market.  It’s interesting to work with and nice for publications. You could get a photo to a magazine in an hour.  I thought that I would still be shooting in film by now…but I was amazed by how fast they improved those cameras.

 

What’s your preference?

I much prefer digital.  There are still things about film that I like more than digital, but there’s also more disadvantages with how I work.

 

What about your students?

Well, some come in and say “this isn’t real photography,” but they’ve never shot a lot of film.  They believe in this purity of film that doesn’t exist anymore.  I personally find it hilarious that people think there was this TRUTH to film.  There wasn’t.  It was all about what you decided to emphasize in the scene.  The Soviets did it all the time.

 

How long have you been teaching photography?

I’ve taught photography classes off and on for the last twelve years.  For the last six years, I’ve been doing all classes –– when we switched over to digital.  I used to teach in a lab in the science building, but we got the new graphics lab built four years ago.  It worked out pretty well, though, we got all the good stuff.

 

What do you emphasize in class?

I try to help students establish their own style.  You’re not trying to prove, “I was there.” You need to figure out why you stopped and decided to photograph that particular subject and use technique to convey that.  That’s where talent comes in, which is something you can’t teach.  It’s like a basketball coach trying to teach height.

 

How do you see that talent manifest?

To make someone walk through a gallery, stop, and stare. The individual injecting themselves into a work makes it stand out.

 

What makes your work stand out?

I have my own compositional style.  I tend to be very tight on my compositions, with very little going on outside of the main point of interest.  If it’s not helping your photo, get rid of it . . . But I may take that a little too far.

 

Anything that you tend to shy away from?

I’m personally not interested in set-up shots.  I also don’t do allot of still lifes, studio shots, or bring things with me into the field.  I also don’t go into photoshop and say “gee, I wish there was a moon there.” I’m not interesting in that.  I don’t just add things to photos.  I spend allot of time trying to get to places at the right time.

 

 

Oh?

Sometimes I really plan.  I want to be there for that one minute.  Other times, I’m just driving around and decide I like some weathered barn wood.

 

What do you normally photograph?

I try to keep really open in terms of subject.  I find something visually interesting, something that I’d like to see as a photograph.

 

Anything in this show that you found particularly interesting?

There’s a frosted doll from the Hillsdale sale barn that was such a weird thing, I just found it visually compelling. Even if it’s a little creepy. Dolls are freaky-looking anyways, and some are just particularly disturbing.

 

So, you photograph things that are interesting as opposed to beautiful?

What’s beautiful?  I wonder, is that a cultural thing?  Are we taught that all sunsets are beautiful?  I’m not trying to find something repulsive, but  . . . it’s intriguing-looking.  Not allot of people say “let’s go find a bunch of rusting, toxic wheels.”

 

What do you want people to get out of your show?

Hopefully, this show will cause someone to think, “why did he do that?” if nothing else

 

        Compiled by Tory Cooney