Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucas O’Neil.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Art has been part of my identity since I was very young. I was an avid drawer up until middle school as I was discouraged at how my hand, due to being a lefty, would always smudge whatever I drew. I took up photography class in high school because I liked art classes, though I didn’t think anything of it. Something turned on in my brain when I fortunately received my own camera as a gift (not before losing the one provided by the school) and my eyes started to lust for life.
By the time senior year rolled around my photography teacher approached me as I was looking very unsure about my college choices. She suggested pursuing photography as a career, something I had never even considered. I attended the New England School of Photography the following Fall and my love for the medium increased exponentially. I went through the necessary changes of a newly defined photographer. I was arrogant. I became gear obsessed. I thought just because it was a black and white picture of a naked woman it was fine art. Eventually, I came to my senses. I was humbled by teachers and colleagues alike. I came out completely changed from the person I was before.
Please tell us about your art.
Currently my main project focuses on travelling to DIY music venues in Boston and photographing the relationship between the people and the environment they create. I originally just wanted a documentation of the bands and the party-goers, but I found something more interesting to me: moments of isolation between the pictures I was looking for. These people were not paying attention to anything going on, whether it be for only a moment or longer, lost in thought, and the images hummed with a quiet, abnormal energy. This opened up a whole new avenue of images to look for, and I searched for them as if my eyes were suffering from starvation. This same concept began to overtake all of my other photographic works in progress.
My projects aren’t just about these queer moments, though, or the images themselves; they’re also about me. The Underground has been my first major project and when I talk about it I will often spend most of the time telling of my journey as a photographer and the discoveries I’ve made about my photographic eye as I’ve gone deeper into the space. I open up to people about that because I’m a teacher at heart and it would all be worth it if I could inspire other artists, whether they be photographers or not, to unlock their inner voice and allow themselves to branch out into the unknown parts of their mind.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
Learn the ability to let go of old work and welcome criticism, no matter how harsh it may sound. It is also just as important to learn the difference between constructive and destructive criticism. A teacher once told me you can’t always see the best in your own work, and sometimes you need a friend to let you know when you’re fooling yourself. Get a critique group. Build your own like-minded community of artists. It is an invaluable resource.
Lastly, stop following in others footsteps. Your pictures aren’t going to look like your own by using the same filter that everybody else is using. Stop trying to make good images and just photograph whatever sparks even the tiniest bit of interest in your mind. You never know what might come out of the other end of the lens.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Art shows and galleries are where people can expect to see my work in the future. For a quick fix, my website acts as an incomplete archive for some of my best work. It can also be used to find out about future events where my work will be shown. As for supporting the work, attending shows, sharing, and talking about it works well. To hack the digital world and learn how to properly promote my work on the internet is a skill I struggle with, so I need all the help I can get.
Contact Info:
- Website: lhophoto.com
- Phone: 9783802534
- Email: lhoimages@gmail.com
- Instagram: lho_photo
Image Credit:
All photos by Lucas O’Neil
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