{"id":344,"date":"2011-05-24T17:49:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-24T17:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hazelrider.wordpress.com\/2011\/05\/24\/an-interview-with-a-freelance-photographer-jason-alan-layne"},"modified":"2011-05-24T17:49:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-24T17:49:00","slug":"an-interview-with-a-freelance-photographer-jason-alan-layne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hazelbasil.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/24\/an-interview-with-a-freelance-photographer-jason-alan-layne\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with a Freelance Photographer, Jason Alan Layne"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I met Jason<\/a> through my husband Andy<\/a>, about a year ago. Somehow they met through their mutual like of a band (Coalesce<\/a>), spawned on by what I like to call “t-shirt attraction”. Basically you see someone’s t-shirt and you feel compelled to compliment or comment on it. I can’t recall who approached first, between those two. I’m sure they have their own versions.
Anyway, back to how I know him…we kept running into Jason at various Tin Roof<\/a> events or running around town<\/a> and learned that he was a freelance photographer AND graphic designer. By then my competitive curiosity was piqued, and eventually friendship was formed. He is a contributing photographer to the Charleston Scene<\/a> and some of his works, like “{DE}construct<\/a>“, have been displayed at local galleries, such as ImagingArts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He graciously agreed to be my guest\/interview for this month.<\/p>\n

Below are the same d.a.m.n. questions I ask each d.a.m.n. interviewee, as well as some of his work. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

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<\/a>What is your creative background [education\/self-taught]?<\/span><\/p>\n

i started in the photography field when i was about 15, taking pictures of everything\/anything and was also on the yearbook staff in high school. i went to college to study photography\/photojournalism and learned the techniques of developing my film and prints in the darkroom. a few years ago, i went back to school and studied digital photography and graphic design and received an associates in commercial graphic design. <\/i>
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Does where you live inspire you? If so, how?<\/b><\/p>\n

honestly, not really. but, i do get inspired when i travel. <\/i><\/div>\n


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<\/a><\/span><\/u><\/span>When did you notice that you had an inkling of creative leanings?
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probably since i was about 4 or 5. my mom taught me how to draw and i’ve been hooked on art ever since, using all different types of medium. growing up, i always wanted to be a cinemaphotographer, but just stuck with photography and emulate the way my favorite movies were shot. director gus van sant’s “drugstore cowboy” and “my own private idaho” had a huge impact on me, as well as david lynch’s “the elephant man” and “eraserhead”. as for graphic design, i grew up on cd packaging art as a teenager. when i would get a new cd, i would digest it from beginning to end: the typography, the photographers, who did the layout, the designers, what kind of paper was used, etc. i was always curious who the band would pick to design everything for each album.<\/i><\/div>\n


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<\/a>How do you stay inspired\/creative?<\/b><\/p>\n

when i think of an idea, i jot it down in my notebook and always come back to it later on. if there is a concert coming to town, i’ll design a poster for the band\/artist, just to keep on top of things…i recently did a poster for moogfest, a three day electronic music festival in asheville. the poster was selected as one of the 12 finalists in a contest, so i was really excited about that. it’s an amazing feeling to have your art on display in front of thousands of people passing by.<\/i> \ud83d\ude42<\/div>\n

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Do you have a creative ritual? If so, what is it?
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no, not really…but, i do tend to listen to a lot of ambient music when i go on photo shoots and do graphic design work. it tends to make me work more fluidly.<\/i><\/div>\n

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What are 5 books that have inspired you\/continue to inspire you?
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SNAPS by ellen von unwerth<\/span>
the end of print by david carson<\/span>
the americans by robert frank<\/span>
mapplethorpe by robert mapplethorpe<\/span>
tulsa <\/i>by larry clark<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What are 4 films that cause you to be creative?
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12 monkeys by terry gilliam<\/span>
cidade de deus <\/i>by fernando meirelles
eraserhead by david lynch<\/span>
drugstore cowboy <\/i>by gus van sant<\/div>\n
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Three colors that represent you and why:
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black, white and red. easy to work with.<\/i><\/div>\n

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<\/a><\/span><\/u><\/span>What other artists [current\/past] inspire you?
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current: rob sheridan, the designers republic, david carson, carsten nicolai
past: m.c. escher, el lissitzky, kevin westenberg, francis bacon<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Do you have any art\/design tips for aspiring artists\/creatives?
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buy a notebook or a journal! any time you have an idea, jot it down…or even sketch a thumbnail. you’ll be glad you didn’t forget the details.
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What creative project[s] is\/are next on your creative calendar? <\/b><\/p>\n

contributing photographs in the charleston scene, random designs for shows and events in charleston and contributing art\/photographs for local shops\/galleries\/events. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Closing thoughts and links to share?
<\/b>…support your local scene; support your local artists.<\/i><\/div>\n
www.jasonalayne.com<\/a>
www.charlestonscene.com<\/a>
www.flickr.com\/jasonalayne<\/a>
www.myspace.com\/jasonalayne<\/a>
facebook page<\/a> <\/i><\/div>\n
jasonalayne@gmail.com<\/a> or look for the “pixel” logo by typing in jason alan layne in search.
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Thanks again to Jason for your “d.a.m.n.” time and tips! <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I met Jason through my husband Andy, about a year ago. Somehow they met through their mutual like of a band (Coalesce), spawned on by what I like to call “t-shirt attraction”. Basically you see someone’s t-shirt and you feel compelled to compliment or comment on it. I can’t recall who approached first, between those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6RKYn-5y","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hazelbasil.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hazelbasil.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hazelbasil.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hazelbasil.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hazelbasil.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/hazelbasil.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hazelbasil.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hazelbasil.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hazelbasil.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}