About
Self-Portrait
Sean Davis is an American professional photographer currently living in Costa Rica. His photographs have appeared worldwide and been published by Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, Healthy Living, Conde Nast Traveler, and the Discovery Channel. He is experienced in a wide variety of photographic disciplines including food, products, and interiors. Sean loves to surf, travel and cook.
My interest in photography covers an unusually broad range of subjects and disciplines. I positively love product photography, with a special emphasis on food photography. Something about the level of detail in this specialty really attracts me. They say that if you can photograph food well, then you can photograph anything. I couldn’t agree more, as nothing is more challenging, delicate, or temperamental as food.
I am a student of humanity, and am fascinated with people and how they live, what they do, and how they entertain themselves. Shooting people, from traveling to the Colombian jungle to shoot Indians and cocaine processing, to fashion photography in Costa Rica, I am interested in portraying the human condition as joyful and complex, trying as hard as possible to avoid cliche, and creating compelling images as complex and open to interpretation as the actual people in the photographs are in real life. Travel photography for me is a natural extension of my obsession for cultural discovery, and finding a visual “truth” in the world. It is easily the most satisfying type of work, and the better images are timeless.
Architectural photography engages my need to find shape and order in the world. Some of the high water marks in human history survive in the form of architecture, from the cathedrals of France, to the pyramids in the Guatemalan jungle, and much can be said of the cultures that created them. I take the same level of respect and awe and apply it photographing houses and hotels in Costa Rica. I love the clean angles of a modern Costa Rican home, and the view of palm trees or ocean from the window. When I shoot houses, I really try to show what is outside the window and include the view. Doing this is really tricky, and requires a large amount of lighting and technique, but the finished result really enhances the overall image.
With a working knowledge of food and product photography, architectural photography, and the photography of people, I am in demand as a magazine photographer, and love the work. I can arrive at a destination and portray the environment and culture, from the food to the structures, to the people, with an emotional accuracy and beauty that tells a story in pictures.
After 18 years as a professional photographer, working and living in Costa Rica is a dream come true. Costa Rica is filled with beauty and diversity, challenges both physical and aesthetic, and rewards that are far beyond financial. I am really blessed to be able to do what I truly love in a place that suits me so well.
When did you start shooting?
I literally grew up with a camera in my hand. Some fathers throw the ball for hours and watch football with their kids in hopes to create a future sports star. Mine dragged me into the world of neutral grey cards, zone system exposure, and medium format cameras. While the other kids were doing normal kid things, I was mixing developer, and learning how to expose for snowy landscapes, and waterbath develop for shadow detail. It all seemed normal at the time.
So you shot film. Is it a better way to learn photography?
Yes and no. Yes in terms of the discipline and forethought that you needed with film. You look at a subject or scene and predetermine what you want to make of it and how to accomplish that end vision with technique. It was alchemy with film, real mad scientist stuff. With product shooting, there was no Photoshop so we worked much cleaner than today. No dust, no weird highlights or color casts were allowed. The stuff that we clean up today with a couple of mouse clicks was not available to us. We needed artists with real airbrushes and thousands of dollars. Digital is superior for the fast learning curve. You shoot, correct, recompose, re expose. It is all fast and cheap. You can learn so much, so quickly these days, and the internet is a great learning tool. Back in the day, the only way to learn studio photography was to assist a photographer.
Did you assist?
I was an assistant for a couple of great photographers. I worked for an amazing product photographer named Phil Smith for a couple of years that was a great teacher and a mentor to me. He was a lighting master, and great with a view camera. He taught me how to make a vision a reality on film. Most importantly, he taught me how to interact with the client and create a fun working environment. The other was David Graham, an art photographer in the true sense of the term. Dave shot the fringes of American culture in a unique way. Everybody copied his style. He was the polar opposite of Phil as he was mostly disinterested in the techie stuff and was obsessed with capturing the essence of people. I was lucky to have both of these guys as teachers. I still have a Hasselblad that I bought from Dave, I just can’t bring myself to sell it.
You were a chef also?
I was a cook, a chef, and a pastry chef, my resume is fully ADD fueled. Cooking is a great love of mine, and I will surely quit photo again for a couple of years to cook. It is the same creative mental process as photography, the same alchemy, the same discipline. It is just hot as hell and full of sharp things. I really balk at the idea that cooking and photography are arts. They are more like basket weaving or woodworking, and there is nothing wrong with that. Go to a museum and look at the furniture section and you will get the idea. This is functional stuff made beautiful by real craftsmen with real vision. Art is made by starving lunatics in small rooms. Being a cook taught me an aesthetic of simplicity, and it made me a damn good stylist. People should do many different things for a living. Specialization is for insects.
Why did you move to Central America?
I moved because I was bored mostly, and because I wanted more personal freedom. I remember playing drums in a band at an bar-b-que where we almost got arrested. The simple party violated fire laws, noise ordinances, party permits, etcetera. Everything is illegal there, the simplest things. Besides that, I wanted a change in climate. Colorado was colder than hell. I definitely did not move to Central America for the money. Some of my specialized skills are not really useful here. I had might as well be a snowboard photographer. I love Costa Rica, and was reborn here. I don’t mean that in a holistic, hippie way but leaving your country of birth teaches you about your innate sensibilities and prejudices. The lifestyle in Costa Rica suits me. Pura Vida.
What photographers influence you right now.
None really. I look to filmmakers for influence. They know how to tell a story, how to light and produce and set up a shot. I watch Werner Herzog films for content, and Kubrick for lighting. Watch something from Errol Morris to see a different reality. Photographers pale in comparison. We are years behind. These little groups of photographers on the net are boring. Just look at stock photography. It all looks the same. The photo world needs a kick in the ass.
What do you think is the future of photography?
Well, travel photography as a profession is dying, editorial as well. Millions of amateurs with decent cameras take better photos than all of the professionals due to the laws of percentage. They are in the right places at the right times because of their sheer numbers. They give their images away for nothing, and there is no way to compete with that. Time magazine just bought their cover shot for $30 from a microstock site. It is a good thing really, photography has become a peoples pastime where it was a hobby of the rich for years. Now, that being said, most of these people can’t light anything, and if they are asked to produce something specific they will not come through. The professionals that can produce every time will survive, and the great wedding photographers. I think that the really good travel shooters will be teaching as a profession soon. For me, I want to shoot cookbooks and teach. It is rewarding as hell to see someone learn photography, to learn to be expressive. Photography is the art of illiterates. I have seen kids in the jungle that can’t read a word take a decent and expressive photograph. It is exiting.
