Today we’d like to introduce you to Kealan Shilling.
Kealan, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I was born on the North Shore of Massachusetts and raised on a steady diet of punk shows, skateboarding, coffee, road trips and Kerouac books… I started traveling pretty early on, around the time I got my license. Day trips turned into over-nighters, turned into crossing state lines and lengthy road trips… I always kept it pretty simple using a basic 35mm camera, mostly black and white film, seeking out moments that would define and capture for me the beauty I saw in the individuals and places around me… but I never considered photography something I could do to make a living. In 2006 after getting hurt pretty bad, I took and internship at Transworld snowboard Magazine thinking I wanted to be a writer, but soon I found myself hanging around the photo department, which veered my interest towards images and layouts, more than words. Eventually, I started selling some images here and there, invested in some gear, and began to shoot more travel and lifestyle stories in the action sports world. After living in Europe for a brief stint, and building out a Van I had purchased back east in Massachusetts. In 2016. I drove across country with my girlfriend at the time, spent thirty days on the road, and landed in Los Angeles.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I shoot mostly film, process all my own black and white (pretty much every role I’ve shot since around 2008) and scan and print most of my work as I feel it keeps me closer to the true process of being a photographer. In the mid-2000’s I was literally made fun of by certain editors at the time for shooting film, declaring it a dead art, but I stuck to my guns and always shot film when It came to personal projects and or images I felt strongly about because I loved the esthetic and most of the photographers I looked up to, and the work they created that I loved was shot with film. Slowly my reputation grew with publications and brands that trusted my vision and enjoyed the esthetic of my analog work. Eventually, it turned into something I could support myself with, I guess the message there is to stick to what you believe in as an artist and want to create, the work will follow. Recently my photography has become more directed than in the past, but with the same aim in mind: to capture moments of purity and tell stories through my work.
What responsibility, if any, do you think artists have to use their art to help alleviate problems faced by others? Has your art been affected by issues you’ve concerned about?
Well given the current state of things with this Covid 19 pandemic. Basically, myself as well as everyone else I know in the freelance world is pretty much work-less and stuck as home. As an Artist, I don’t see this as a horrible thing though. It’s very similar to being an athlete and getting suddenly injured. It forces you to hit pause, go back to the basics, and try that much harder to be better in your approach to what you do… It’s time to reset, reflect on your work and projects you would like to do coming out of this so that when you emerge from isolation, it’s with intent.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
For a more complete view of my work, visit my website and my Instagram..
That’s probably the easiest way to keep up to date with current work and anything I have going on…
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kealanshilling.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @kealanshilling
Image Credit:
All images photographed © Kealan Shilling; Subjects: Dani Doll, Amy Beth, Andrey Tarasov, Elijah Claxton, Madison Rothschild, Alex Cutler, Raul Pinto, Sparkish, Ian Reid
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