An Interview With Payton Dickerson

by | Apr 29, 2020 | Blog Posts, Interview Posts | 0 comments

Interview with Payton Dickerson

  • Bellingham - Payton Dickerson

  • Bellingham - Payton Dickerson

  • Lockers - Payton Dickerson

A little bit about Payton before jumping into the interview. Payton was born in Portland, Oregon and has lived in Vancouver, Washington for most of his life. He is 25 years old and goes by he/him/his pronouns. Payton currently has a job as an Event Photographer for the College of Fine and Performing arts at Western. Payton first came to Western after he was enrolled in an engineering program in Oregon State but took a chance and transferred to Western because his friend needed a roommate. After completing his GUR’s, Payton took some time off to figure out what he wanted to go to school for. And his friend, now fiancé, (congrats by the way!) introduced him to Western’s photography program.

Payton Dickerson is currently enrolled in the BFA program here at Western. He has been doing photography for 5 years but has really embraced photography in the last 3 years after getting into Western’s Art Studio program. He shoots on every format, from digital to large format and embracing the Canon 5D in order to expand upon his skills but was shooting with strictly 4×5 film in the past.

On to the interview:

  1. Do you shoot digital or film?

[Payton]: “I go back and forth. I used to prefer film over digital, especially when I was first getting into photography, but lately I have been experimenting with the possibilities that digital photography has to offer.”

  1. What is your favorite lens(es)?

[Payton]: “I don’t have one favorite lens due to switching between formats so often but would recommend any photographer to get a 50mm prime lens. I shot for almost 2 years on my 50mm and learned a lot by restricting myself to one focal length”

  1. How long have you been doing photography?

5 years. (See above)

  1. What style of photography do you believe you excel at?

[Payton] “I typically shoot architecture-based images. Buildings typically don’t move when they are getting photographed and tend to be more receptive to the images of themselves than people are.”

  1. What style of photography do you wish you were better at?

[Payton] “I use primarily ambient lighting for my work and so I’d like to push myself further in studio photography.”

  1. Where do you expect to be with your photography in 10 years?

[Payton] “10 years is a long way out, I’m not sure where I’d like to be in 10 months, but, ideally, I’d have graduated from a master’s program and would be a practicing artist and maybe even be teaching photography at a collegiate level. “

  1. What are ways you are achieving this goal?

[Payton] “To achieve that goal, I am currently pursuing my BFA degree which will help build my portfolio. From there, I plan to keep adding lines to my resume through various artistic opportunities and to keep making work that challenges my skills as a photographer and artist.”

  1. Who/what is your inspiration?

[Payton]: “I try and find inspiration in every aspect of my life. I believe the best motivator/inspiration is yourself. You must believe you can do something before you can do it. Artistically, I find inspiration in the “New Topographics” exhibition and the objective/critical style of photography that followed, including Lewis Baltz, the Bechers, and the Dusseldorf School of Photography to name a few.”

  1. Can you explain what being a BFA student is?

[Payton] “The BFA program is a pre-professional degree that provides students a year to create a body of work to be exhibited in the Western Gallery. As a BFA student you take a few general university classes like art studio and art history courses, while also taking a BFA seminar course and participating in regular meetings with your committee members.”

  1. Is there a specific project you are working on right now? If so can you explain what is the project, and why you decided to start it.

[Payton] “Being in the BFA program, my attention is dedicated to my thesis project. Without giving away too much info, my project documents Western’s Art Department focusing on physical features of the Fine Arts Building.”

    1. What are your goals for this project?  What message do you want it to send?

[Payton] “Through my project, I bring awareness to an otherwise underappreciated department and provide a space for a critical conversation surrounding the importance of art in our current social and political landscape.”

  1. What does photography mean to you / what meaning do you give it?

[Payton] “I began by using photography to capture the world around me and the things I was interested in, and in time I realized the images I was making were trying to say something. So, today, I use photography as a vehicle to express myself, treating it more as an artistic practice than a form of documentation.”

  1. How is COVID affecting your project and workflow 

[Payton] “In general, COVID has greatly hindered my workflow. Obviously, the physical restrictions put in place due to the pandemic have impacted me, but more importantly, the mental impacts have created their own barriers that make creating new work difficult”

  1. What are some of your most favorite projects you’ve done, and can you explain as to why?

[Payton] “My current BFA project would have to be my favorite project. It has forced me to explore new mediums, techniques, and theories which is something I enjoy and don’t necessarily get when doing personal work.”

  1. What keeps you going with photography?  

[Payton] “What keeps me motivated in photography is the ability to have access to an outlet to express myself, much like writers, poets, musicians, or any artistic person who uses their medium as a tool for expression.”

  1. Are you pleased with the outcome of your projects?

[Payton] “I put in a lot of unseen effort when I embark on a project in order to achieve the best result I can. The more effort and time you spend on something, in general, the better the outcome. For example, my BFA project, having spent almost a year on it, has been my favorite project and has received the best outside feedback yet.”

  1. Do you feel like you are an exceptional photographer?

[Payton] “I’m my own worst critic and believe that I will always learn more and get better at photography. That being said, I feel that I have a well-rounded understanding of core photography techniques and am able to take a technically sound image.”

  1. Are you at your desired level of expertise? Or do you have more you want to learn?

[Payton] “I will never stop learning, being in school for 4 years has taught me a lot but nowhere near everything. I hope to use future projects as devices to learn and experiment more.”

  1. Where do you hope photography will take you?

[Payton] “Through photography, I hope to share my experience and positive impacts that photography and an artistic education have had on me. I believe that becoming a professor will be a great way to share that experience.”

  1. What do you think you will gain in pursuing photography, both personally and professionally?

[Payton]: “Photography has served as the influence for my self discovery. The ability to create an image that is distinctly mine allows me to focus on what’s important in my own life. As much as photography is an outward form of expression, it also can reflect that conversation internally. Professionally, it has built and will continue to build a community of like-minded people that support and critique each other in the sincerest way possible.”

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *