Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsey Sweeney.
Lindsey, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
For me, photography really became my passion during college. I began my education as a Fine Arts major at a local community college close to my hometown, and at the beginning of my second year there, I took my first photography class. Immediately, I fell in love with the medium. We were shooting film in that course and I still remember the excitement from developing the film, printing, and even just being in a dark room for the first time. I would go out and shoot as much as I could in order to go back through the process where I could learn and understand more each run through it.
In 2011, I transferred to The Art Institute of Boston, with a major in Photography as well as a minor in Graphic Design. By that time, I had already completed all of my general education coursework, so I was thrown right into the core of my major and minor curriculums. I built a personal thesis portfolio and really discovered more about my own personal style here.
After graduating from AIB, I found my first steady photo job doing wedding photography. I was assisting, editing and shooting, getting tons of hands-on experience for some time, until I found my next opportunity working as a production manager for a clothing designer in upstate New York. Sewing and making clothing was another creative outlet I have loved throughout much of my life. I learned the ins and outs of running a small batch clothing line – from pattern making to creating a final wearable product, along with all the other responsibilities that come with that territory. As a bonus, I was also shooting our lookbooks in a small photo studio, which we built ourselves within our production room, and was able to put my commercial photography skills back to work.
This position afforded me many ways to grow and develop myself professionally over the course of three years. I have since relocated back to Massachusetts and I am now working in photography once again as an Assistant/Photographer for Wayfair. Over the past eight months, I have had so many amazing opportunities with Wayfair and have had the chance to learn from and work alongside some of the most incredible and talented individuals. Every day is a new experience and I am fortunate to be excited to go to work each day.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
While it is my work, photography is also my passion. I spend much of my personal time shooting, developing new ideas and techniques, and finding inspiration in the world around me. In my own work, I tend to use more of the negative space to tell the story, I work with intentionally placed dark shadows, leaving the subject’s features just out of view or perhaps as though the figure is about to turn to the viewer. When I am beginning a personal project, I like to draw out and write out my ideas to try to work through any kinks that may arise, plan the shots, and visualize the idea before realizing it in a physical way.
What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
Success, to me, would just be continuing to make work even when you might feel like you’re out of ideas or don’t know where you’re going with something. I have made it a habit to always have a camera on me and to just shoot whatever I am doing at any time, some of my favorite images have come from doing this as well as ideas for bigger projects to work on. I think that it is essential to just make anything and to know that it isn’t all going to be something you love or what you may identify as being “successful,” but it is still important to have made.
Contact Info:
- Website: LindseySweeney.com
- Phone: 518-598-6282
- Email: Lindsey.Ann.Sweeney@gmail.com
- Instagram: LindseyASweeney
Image Credit:
Model: Damien Fulton, Model: Shelby Pinckney
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