Q: Give us an introduction. Who is Austin, (aka Austin_Visual or AV for short)?

A: Not sure what to say about myself, to be honest. I'm a photographer from Massachusetts, focused mostly on exploring man-altered scenes. Hmm…

I am nothing

and everything

LOL

kidding

I’m not really sure.

Q: How did your journey into photography and art begin? What were the key moments or experiences that have shaped your unique style as a photographer?  

A: I grew up mostly focused on skateboarding, but after getting hurt so often and coming to the harsh realization that a living through that was not going to happen, I felt a bit lost. Funny enough, skateboarding actually introduced me to photo and video earlier in life, and I had camera gear laying around. 

One day, I saw an IG post from Nat Geo that showed the milky way in some desert scene. I read the caption, and saw it was shot on the Rebel T3… the same DSLR I owned for skate photos. I was shook - you could make THAT type of photo work with this little thing? Down the rabbit hole I went - after getting some pretty awful pictures of the milky way in northern MA, I was hooked. A new obsession was born and I haven’t stopped since. 

Q: How would you describe your art style, and what influences or experiences have played a significant role in shaping it? Are there any specific artists that you look up to that give you inspiration? 

A: In general, my work feels so random to me. Maybe that's not other people’s perspective, but it's definitely mine. If I had to pinpoint it, I’d call it a mix of photo-impressionism, and new topographics. 

My main influences are almost all painters. I’m a big fan of Van Gogh, Seurat, Hopper, and also get a lot of color palette inspiration from Keith Haring and other more surreal/pop artists.

As for photographers, my GOATs are Gregory Girard, Stephen Shore, and Joel Meyerowitz.  

Q: What do you find most challenging and rewarding about the process of capturing a moment or telling a story through your photography? 

A: I shoot a lot of night photography, so my biggest challenge is definitely composing in the dark. I often miss the perfect composition by a couple inches in height or tripod placement, resulting in me shooting and re-shooting and ending up with 4-6 alternates of just about every shot I take. 

More generally, I think a challenge I also face is probably curating my work down into better narratives and stories. I’ve done a good job of focusing on a couple specific goals, but I still shoot a lot of stuff superficially - usually driven by just pure aesthetic or an impulse to capture a scene. As I mentioned, I often feel like a lot of work I make is random and I wish that wasn’t the case. 

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring photographers and artists looking to make their mark in the industry? Are there any resources or practices that have been especially helpful in your own growth as an artist?  

A: Honestly, I’m too early in my career (whatever that means) to give any philosophical, big-picture advice, but I do have some practical tips I can hand off that should give a newer photographer a bit of direction to grow in. 

1. Presets can be a crutch - some artists use them too heavily and never really craft their own style. However,  my take is they’re also one of the best tools available to learn from. I used to buy and download many presets from photographers & artists I respected, but I never actually used them on my final photos. I would instead apply them, then toggle each setting back and forth to figure out what each piece did to the photo. I just wanted to see how they took a raw to the final product - what they did to different sliders and different features. It taught me a ton. 

2. Ask your idols for advice. You’d be shocked who you can get in contact with. Most photographers, especially from older generations that have studios, have public emails listed somewhere out there - you may get lucky reaching out asking for a little feedback or advice. You never know! 

3. Try to find a loose narrative to focus on - even if you’re just starting out. Could even be something as simple as focusing your effort on photographing your home town. Just make at least some of your work goal-oriented. I got 10 times better because focusing on a larger goal forced me to try new things and often revisit locations on multiple occasions to get what I wanted. 

4. Place the most value on criticism from artists and other photographers whose work you genuinely respect and think is better than yours. The rest is noise in my opinion - ignore it.

Q: Are there any upcoming projects, events, collaborations, or anything you'd like to share? Also, let us know where we can follow you on social media or find your portfolio online so we can keep up with your latest work!  

A: Actually, yes. For one, I’m always working on my “Sleeping Suburbia” series, and I just recently released the first Volume of this project as a zine. I am going to regularly add work to this project for the years to come. 

Outside of this, I’ve been putting a lot of energy into documenting the beautiful places I’ve been fortunate enough to visit in the Southwest, and will be adding more this summer as I drive around Cali and up into the PNW. I’m not exactly sure what this work will be curated into, but I anticipate this will be my next curated project. 

The best place to follow me through that journey is really my Instagram

Q: Finally,  is there anything that I didn’t ask you that you’d like to share with everyone?

A: I’ve said so much, not sure what else to add. I’m just grateful to get to chat with you Kelsey! Thank you. 

It was a pleasure chatting with you as always, Austin! I can’t wait to see what magic you have in store for us in the future!

*To explore more of Austin's beautiful work, be sure to visit his Website! Additionally, don't miss out on the opportunity to preorder his zine, “Sleeping Suburbia” – it's a visual masterpiece that I wholeheartedly recommend adding to your collection!*

Twitter: @austin_visual

Instagram: @avdidit

Website: https://www.austinvisual.com/