Today we’d like to introduce you to Shane O’Donnell.
Shane, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I live in the Southbay as a freelance photographer, shooting images for local magazines and businesses featuring portraiture, food, hotels, architecture, lifestyle, and fashion… I am all things creative… I have worn many hats and have been paid to design landscapes as well as interior design… I love to cook, am divorced and am a father to a beautiful 16-year-old girl… I love to travel, especially to the Mediterranean, Spain, and Italy being favorites…
I just returned for Cuba and am editing those pics for a few that will make it to my fine art print site…(theshanegallery.com) I have other photos websites… www.unitedstatesofshane.com and www.seelikeshane.com. I am a creative director for mobocruiser.com and have designed graphics and promotional pieces for many clients. My work and that of my partner can be seen on www.thisdogjumps.com. I enjoy having dinner parties with friends and a good cocktail…
Hey there, I am a professional photographer and painter in Los Angeles, California. I grew up in a small town in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, called Park Falls. The day after High School Graduation I moved to Missouri and applied to the University of Missouri-Columbia’s famed School of Journalism. I received my Bachelors Degree in Journalism: emphasis in Photojournalism, with the hopes of emulating the rugged journalists I met… telling stories and traveling the world, something I had yet to do.
With a strong desire to see more, and dreading another long post-college Kansas City winter, I packed my Jetta and headed westward through a Kansas blizzard, toward sunny Southern California like so many had done before. After a while of couch surfing, depleted fund and some photo assisting, I grabbed my first “real” photo job as a fashion photographer for a major department store chain, taking photos for catalogs and newspaper advertisements.
After a few years, I left “the best job I needed to get out of” and went back to being a photo assistant, where I became a modern-day apprentice… lighting and aiding in the creation of celebrity portraits, ad campaigns, and travel assignments with many great photographers around the world. Today, I use these skills when I shoot my editorial and advertising work… Each project is an opportunity to improve and push myself and my idea of what makes a good photograph. And because I needed another hobby. 🙂
I now, am also a painter… people have described my work as having a pseudo-realist yet impressionistic style of the subjects I like to paint… which seems to currently be an Americana inspired collection of signage and marquees that I find romantic, and are an homage to the past and the art that once graced the highways and hotels. I love the patina and markers of modern history in this country.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Definitely not a smooth road… I paid for my own college, was a waiter and busboy while I had a post-college 40 hr a week unpaid internship in Kansas City…
I came to California in 1993 with $100o and my belongings stuffed into a 1986 VW Jetta an arrived without a plan, a job or an apartment… I stayed with a friend for a few weeks and eventually found an apartment in LA only to vacate it a few months later after the Northridge earthquake had made a mess of the place and my clients, mostly Japanese at the time, avoided the city due to the news of destruction…
I moved in with a recently made friend (now an old friend) in Manhattan beach for six months where we played pool and rollerbladed most of the time… I found work with a less than pleasant (downright mean) photographer and then escaped to freelance work for a time before getting a stable job at Robinsons May Dept. Store Headquarters in N. Hollywood… where I began as an Assistant and then fashioned photographer… I then lived in the Hollywood Hills with other would be actors and artists…
I loved Beachwood canyon… following several years as the photographer and being creatively unfulfilled. I went back to assisting where I was able to meet hundreds of celebrities, chefs, interesting artists and travel a good portion of the world… I got married and had a child… the marriage ended a few years ago (amicably), and we share my daughter who I have to get to school, buy makeup for and take on my travels, because, like me, she wants to go everywhere…
As an artist, I am terrible at self-promotion and sometimes even getting paid, however, I am better at life… the longer I remain.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I am a freelance photographer. I am also a creative director for Mobo cruiser… creating all of the photos, maintaining the brand, designing products, decals, trade show, brochures, packaging, catalogs, clothing, web ads, approve social media, etc. I am currently consulting on a large interior design project, and when I can, I paint… my goal is to one day have a piece in a Museum. In photography, I specialize in portraits, food, hospitality… I am a lighting expert and have been trained by hundreds of the best in the world…
I am known for delivering to the client… no matter what the circumstance… problem-solving and using what we have to make it better… my photojournalism education has helped me shoot on the fly and my commercial work has trained me to curate a better and refined image. I am proud that I am still working and creating art when so many have moved on to other careers… it is difficult to promote, work and live as a one-man band… my next goal is to have representation to maintain and grow my client base.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I am tough on myself and defining success is not easy… I would say that I have yet to be successful… yet to take my best photo and paint my finest work of art… (I have only been painted for a bit over a year… I have lots to learn.)
I also strive to economic security which can be elusive as a freelance artist… My success does come from each time someone enjoys the work that I do… that it is still creative and relevant.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4934 W. 133rd St. Hawthorne, CA 90250
- Website: www.unitedstatesofshane.com
- Phone: 310-895-5053
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: seelikeshane and theshanegallery
- Facebook: theshanegallery.com
- Other: www.theshanegallery.com
Image Credit:
Leigh Woodruff
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
