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Art & Life with Patrick Dinkfeld

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Dinkfeld.

Patrick, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I’ve been a photographer here in California for many years, mainly shooting fine art and fashion content. After a while, I found myself falling out of love with the art form. Around the same time, I started a fairly intense meditation practice. As part of my practice, I changed a number of things in my life. I went vegan, I prioritized my spiritual well-being, and I started bringing every aspect of my life into alignment with the energy and lifestyle I was building through my meditation practice. When I finally got around to applying this to my art and my photography, I realized one of the things I wanted to do was to start choosing my models and my projects and my collaborators based on their energy and not simply because they had great cheekbones. I wanted to start making art of people that felt like they had truly captivating depth. I wanted to start making art of people based on their existence as a whole person. I wanted to start sharing with the world this idea of embracing each other as a whole being, and not just for some objectified trait or feature. So, I started choosing my models based on their energy. And after doing that for a few years, I loved it! And after a while, I found that I had about 5 or 6 models here in LA that I absolutely loved working with, and that I felt brought the most amazing energy and presence to our projects. It was in that moment that I thought, “I wonder if anyone else would value this in their creative process?” So, I started a conscious model agency called Lovelight, and we started seeking out like-minded talent in an effort to elevate the way people think of modeling and creative collaboration.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
My art is primarily photography. (Though, I have been a drummer, a graphic designer, and a filmmaker throughout my life as well.) I often joke that my photography is basically landscape photography, but there just happens to be a human in the shot as well. I love shooting in nature. I love colors. And, I love letting the model be who they are naturally, and letting their full sense of self run wild through the creative process. I am almost always merely getting out of the way and simply taking a photo of what truly is. I love the uniqueness of each person, and I love the variety of emotions and stories that unfold when there is as little preconception as possible. I think this world is beautiful, and I think the people on it are equally as captivating. I am truly most inspired by the idea of letting things be themselves… nature, people, everything.

I think I mainly make my art for me, then secondly for the people in the photos, and then for the viewing public. I hope what everyone gets form my photography, and from the agency, we are building, is an inspiring and enchanting moment of seeing someone. And by that, I mean truly seeing someone.

Sometimes the uniqueness of a person is subtle in a photo, and other times it is bold and loud. I would love for all the world to be able to stop in that moment of looking at my art and think, “That’s beautiful.” And I hope that reaction is different for everyone. I hope that reaction comes form a variety of places for a variety of reasons within each viewer.

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?
I think the role of the artist has always played a huge role in society, culture, politics, and humanity. I do think that the artists’ role often gets consumed and blurred by capitalism, fame, and pop culture… but, I think in today’s recent world there has been a resurgence of artists standing up, speaking up, and reminding the masses that art is a very powerful communication method. (It never stopped being so, it just gets lost in the less important and less impactful art on any given day.) I am delighted to see artists using their superpowers in the name of good, and in the name of helping their fellow human. That is exactly what I hope every artists feels empowered to do. Use your powers for good.

I think my personal art has been a very healthy and healing way for me to practice expressing myself beyond the confines of capitalism, objectification, and even beyond the normal motivation for being a photographer. (Money, fame, etc.) But, on a global scale, I feel like there are so many issues that could be addressed if we teamed up and created something larger. When I started our conscious agency, the idea was very simple… conscious talent for conscious businesses. But it quickly grew into a much bigger idea. I think that by standing together and valuing what we value, we can teach the world to open up and expand their idea of what matters and what has value. We can start valuing people for their whole being, and not just one little element of their being. We want to break all the industry norms… bringing more inclusive behavior to the industry and to the world. Height, weight, age, race, ethnicity, gender… these are all things that the mainstream has historically been terrible about in its preferences and habits. We as a society, can do so much better. We can teach future generations to celebrate diversity and inclusion. And, I think using our art, photography and even forming an inclusive conscious agency is a strong and tangible way of telling the world what WE value. We are trying to explain to the world that greater consciousness is cool and sexy, and if you are treating people poorly, that is SOOOOOO last century. 😉

There is a quote/meme/graphic that pops up on social media every once in a while, and it says, “Stop making stupid people famous.” And every time I see it, I think, “Yes! That!” And that is what I think artists have the power to do. Also… as the viewing and listening and purchasing public, you also have the power to choose which artists you celebrate and give your time, money, and energy to. Choose well. <3 Thank you.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Currently, I am only sharing my art online. Websites, Facebook, Instagram, etc. I love doing gallery shows and exhibitions… but while working on building our conscious agency, I barely have time to make new art. (But trust me, I make time. It is important.) So, I’m embracing the convenience of sharing it digitally with the world.

Contact Info:


Image Credit:

Patrick Dinkfeld
Tashiography
Allison Cooling

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