INTRODUCING RYAN GAFFNEY
I was born, raised, and reside in Brooklyn, New York. The city is beautiful and I will always be proud to call Brooklyn my home but I couldn’t imagine spending much more time here. I am twenty years old. I began taking pictures around the age of eleven or twelve with disposable cameras, mostly of friends, skateboards, garbage. Somewhere along the way I developed a connection to photography that I hadn’t discovered with any other medium. I cannot recall what inspired me to begin taking photos, but I think it was a way to remember. I take photos for that same reason. Organizing my life through photographs, remembering the way things were and the way they will never be again. Taking photographs has become a part of life, so I wouldn’t say anything has changed since I started taking pictures besides the fact that I occasionally stop to take one. Thanks to it, I have met a lot of great young photographers, and I’ve been able to do more creatively with my time than had I never picked up a camera. I shoot with a Yashica fx-103 SLR and a Yashica t4. I borrow cameras, too. I think the process for me is about experimenting. If I’m surprised, I’m satisfied. This photograph is of Dave Geeting, who is a great photographer and also a great dude. It was early, I was exhausted and had an awful night previous. Taking photos is sort of therapeutic in situations like those. I find myself thinking more when I’m entirely stressed out. The rainbow is sunlight hitting a CD. Wouldn’t it be incredible if everyone walked around on a sunny day throwing rainbows everywhere? I couldn’t tell you if I had a favorite photographer, but there are some photos I stare at for weeks. I’ve been really feeling this Dimitri Karakostas photo found in the “A Different City 2” series. It looks like a guy bailing while his skateboard is twenty feet in the air. I’m not sure what the story is, but that’s probably why I can’t look away.
