Dan Siney Issue (5)

by Redia Soltis in

Dan Siney would probably remain anonymous if he could have a choice. However his photos are nowhere near of being ignored. We talk to him about his captivating photography.


View from a Pier

What was the first photo that you remember taking?

The first picture I remember taking was of my stoned dad lying on the couch when I was 9 or 10, but I also have a photo album of the first pictures I actually took with a Kodak spy camera that my parents gave me for Christmas when I was about 7.  I remember the camera and I remember making the album.  It’s one of my favorite possessions. 

What lead you into the path of photography?

When I was in first year at Emily Carr I met my friend Lori Keilsing who was into photography and I really liked her stuff.  I was depressed on and off for my first few years there and came to hate having to actually paint or draw or sculpt.  Lori taught me how to use a camera and how to print, and we would go on photo missions together and sneak into the darkrooms.  At first I was journaling and making collages with them – tracing and photocopying and drawing over them and whatnot.  I remember I liked being able to make an image quickly and with less effort.  Even if the photo was bad it never looked, “wrong,” and I found that really satisfying.  The next year I applied to the photo program with some bad paintings and a few prints of me and Lori and our friend Andrea Nunes in straw hats and pajamas, sitting in cardboard boxes on a set of train tracks in a field.  I got wait-listed and then I squeaked in. 

Is it true that you take a lot of photos? How many photos do you think you take in a month?

It’s not really like that.  Sometimes I have trouble keeping up with everything I’m shooting, but since the summer or early fall I’ve been taking a break and haven’t shot anything at all.  Lately I find I’m only taking a lot of photos when I’m working on some idea in particular.  If I’m feeling inspired and I have the money I can shoot 10-20 rolls a day pretty easily for periods of weeks or more.  This is by far the longest break I’ve taken and I think it’s for a reason.  I love the process of exploring, being surprised, following ideas and rounding them out, and so on, but I shoot film so it’s a crazy amount of work I create for myself in the process, and I’m feeling a bit worn out.


Arbutus


Church Yard


Rear window

Tell us briefly about your experiences in art school? 

For the most part I think it was amazing.  After I got into the photography program I spent most of my time in the darkroom and made mountains of work.  I would skip classes to be there and stay until closing as often as I could.  I made good friends, had some great teachers and got a lot of support from the department heads and the other staff too.  It was also a bonanza of loop holes and anxieties with no center of gravity.

What was the last photo that you saw that mesmerized you?

I’m staring at a photo on my wall of a jaguar swimming that I stop at almost every time I leave my room.  I think this one on my desktop is pretty ridiculous too:

Where was the first gallery that you showed your work at?

The Crying Room. Colleen Heslin who still lives there and runs it was in my year. I thought she was really adult.

When I look at some of your photos, I see that you are trying to depict a story. Is this your intention when you are snapping a photograph?

Yes, sort of. If not a story then a bigger picture or idea.  I find it hard to communicate anything substantial with one photograph. I like to work with the relationships between images in a group. The photos themselves are meant to communicate ideas or experiences, but it’s the constellation of those ideas and experiences that I like. I work on a computer, which means I’m constantly organizing a body of work sequentially and trying to express the relationships through some kind of narrative, but I think of this as being one view onto the work. I imagine them differently in a room or even in a book.

Can you tell us about one of your old photographs that was featured in Vice magazine with the guys lip cut open? It seems to be a candid shot that definitely has a story.

It’s not much of a story from my side of things actually.  I came out of a bar and he was just standing there like that.  I was probably pretty drunk and he was in shock, and I when I asked if I could take his picture he just said, “sure”.  Later I found out his name is Box Car and he got punched for trying to defend a girl’s honor.

Man Waiting For Fireworks 

Blue Passenger Window                                                                                                Island Moon 

 

What do you think is every photographers dream?

To not need a camera.

Where is your favorite place in the world? 

Montana?  My mom’s property on Salt Spring Island?  Driving into the Rockies from Alberta? Kreutzberg?  The Scottish highlands?  A window seat on an airplane?  …

How would you describe your style of photography?

I don’t like to think about it that way.  It’s the last thing on my mind when I’m making the work, or when I’m looking at someone else’s.


Stump Skulls 1.2.3. 

Tell us about living in Strathcona in Vancouver during the time you were in art school? Judging from one of our previous conversations it has changed a lot.

There have been a few big changes, but actually I’m pretty amazed at how totally the same it still is.  Characters have come and gone and anyone who’s still here is a little older, but otherwise it feels pretty much the same to me.  I remember the first time I walked through here when I was a teenager visiting from North Van I felt like I’d stumbled across a hollow tree I’d never find again.  It still feels hidden away.

Is there a photo that you have captured that you are the proudest of?

I don’t think I have one like that.  I’m pretty happy with my new body of work though.  My friend Russell Gordon has been making a beautiful website for it, but if I can help it I would like to show it in person before I release it on the web,so I don’t know when it’ll be up.  It’s called “Whistlepunk”.


View from a ferry

An exhibition of new works by Dan Siney will be opening at Shudder Gallery on June 3rd, and will be part of the Canadian Art Magazine Gallery Hop on May 29th.