Brittany Staddon
BRITTANY STADDON: “I’m fortunate to live in a place that inspires me, surrounded by mountains, with nature a short distance away and ever-changing seasons.”
What are your favorite songs you play in your car/at work/bathroom/kitchen right now? : Overcome - Samuel Bohn
Who are you? Describe yourself in a few words.: I am a person with mediocre crafting abilities, my time management tends to err to the side of being far too optimistic, and I have awful taste in music. I am a wedding photographer who doesn’t understand weddings, I sometimes snort when I laugh, and I misspell a lot of words.
Where do you come from? Give us details: I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. I excelled in school and seemed destined to go to medical school, until I was halfway through my Health Sciences undergraduate degree and realized my heart was not as invested in that path as I had initially thought, paired with a complete discomfort with needles. So began my interest in photography becoming a career following a two-month road trip around the States, in which my now husband joined me for our second date which lasted a month. Shortly after that, I moved to the mountain town of Canmore, on the outskirts of Banff National Park, and have grown my wedding photography business ever since.
What is the best advice that you have been given?:
When I was 16 my father took me out of school for a couple of days to attend a National Geographic sports photographer workshop in Banff. One of the teachers stated that he worked as if he ‘never had the shot’, that is something that is always at the back of my mind on a wedding day. That isn’t to say to shoot indiscriminately, but instead to always try to find a different perspective. Always be experimenting, try a different focal length, try to photograph from the perspective of a guest. It’s like a mini-challenge that can occasionally lead you to some interesting discoveries in your work.
Do you ever create hidden meanings or messages in your work? Explain.: I wouldn’t say intentionally but those that know me will absolutely find little tidbits of humour in my work, whether in how I crop or share them on social media.
If you only had 24 hours to live, how would you spend your day?: So, are we all dying? Like is an asteroid that will throw up a massive cloud that snuffs out all life? If that is the case I’d avoid everyone else’s reaction, call a handful of close friends to wish them well on our shared fate, probably make some inappropriate jokes, and plan what my death pose would be like to utterly confuse the alien finders. Or is it just my life that expires in 24 hours? In which case I’d do all of the above, except the death pose.
What does it mean to get older for you?: I truly believe getting old is a privilege and I hope it is one I am able to experience. My grandfather who I mentioned earlier was diagnosed with dementia in his late 60s, my father was in his mid-50s. My sister died in an avalanche when she was a teenager. I am starkly aware of the fragility of life and truly hope to make the most of it and hope I get to see and recognize my own reflection with wrinkles.
Who is the most creative person that you have ever known?: I was hoping I’d come up with someone far more profound, but I am going to go with my paternal grandfather, Bruce Staddon. He was a greenhouse farmer (representing the Staddon’s Select bell pepper here), a man who was dedicated to his children in a way that was atypical to the time, an amateur photographer who meticulously documented his life, and a talented woodturner who insisted he never be paid for that work and only gave away his pieces.
After these years of working on your craft, do you still feel the joy to do what you do?: I do, although it’s a different type of joy. When I first started it was this wonderfully naive enthusiasm of discovery and experimentation. Now it is more focused growth and joy. They both have their place.
Have you always wanted to do what you are doing?: No, I’m pretty sure as a child I wished to be a unicorn, I went to university and majored in Biomedical Sciences to become a doctor, and I’m sure I’ll be pursuing a new career (unicorn?) in a decade.
Is there a particular place where you feel most creative?: Thankfully, for simplicity and financial sake, I’m happy to report I feel most creative at home. I’m fortunate to live in a place that inspires me, surrounded by mountains, with nature a short distance away and ever-changing seasons. Our home is full of artwork from friends and strangers that are a perpetual inspiration. I’m very fortunate.
How would you like to be regarded or remembered?: I’d love to be remembered as a kind human, with flaws. As the people who know me personally pass away, let my memory cease to exist and hopefully the actions I took when I was alive benefits humanity.
“I have absolutely made mistakes. I look back at my 20s and wish I had utilized the time I had to do more and better myself for where I am now.”
Do you need to be in a certain mindset to work?: Oh yes, and it doesn’t happen nearly as often as I would like. I am sure we can all relate to sitting down to a day of work, having gone through our morning rituals, music on, drink of choice by our screen, then just feel that growing sense of desire to be doing anything but the task at hand. It’s a struggle.
Do you have skills that you wish to develop or talents you wish to perfect?: I feel altogether completely unaccomplished as a person so yes, practically everything. I might even say I have felt some anxiety over this as I go through my early 30s, and have recently dedicated more time in my day to sitting down and reading. I’d love to pick up woodworking as another skill set, but that will be when time and money allow.
Think back to your childhood. What did you hope to become as an adult?: I recently jubilantly told my husband that my childhood self would be quite pleased with my adult self as I spent an evening playing video games, with my dog at my side, and a bowl of Fuzzy Peaches at the ready. That is very much how I imagined adulthood to be. Although my childhood self thought as an adult I’d have a lot more answers than questions of life’s problems, that finances would be far easier, and I’m still a bit bummed that coloring in the line as a skillset really isn't helpful in my line of work.
Who or what has been your greatest inspiration in life? Explain.: Sorry going a bit cliche with this one as well. My husband, Sam, is also a photographer (thank you to Flickr for the connection). We have been together for ten years and I have so enjoyed the ever-changing seasons of the other. Sometimes we go through it together, other times one individual grows while the other feels a bit more stagnant. We celebrate and support each other. At this moment I’m very much in an introspective, slower life phase, and his trajectory is in full improvement and self-discovery of his work. I’m inspired by his kindness and selflessness, how his mind works so differently from mine. I love how he responds differently to situations, whether personally or professionally.
What is your typical day like?: I wake up at 9ish (I have come to the conclusion I will likely never be an enthusiastic early riser and that is okay), my morning is generally puttering around doing the less exciting tasks or reading if productivity is low, and then after lunch, I get to work. My day is interrupted by two longer dog walks with Hobbit, and my evenings are reading, playing games online with friends, and probably still working on account of my relatively unproductive mornings.
Any Specific question/subject you would like to talk about and your answer?: Let’s have fun with this - my unpopular hot take on wedding photography is that the images should be tangible and small. I love personal images as prints, as albums, but have never understood them on walls. I want my walls to be full of a myriad of inspiration and artwork, and not my own face. Of course, to each their own, but that’s my nonconsequential soapbox.
Do you have any regrets in life?: Oh sure, I have absolutely made mistakes. I look back at my 20s and wish I had utilized the time I had to do more and better myself for where I am now. But I also don’t wallow in that regret. All I can do is learn from my mistakes, see what I can do better, and move forward only hoping to lessen my retrospective cringe in ten years of my current self.
Is it difficult to maintain your level of knowledge? What do you do to improve it?: I don’t feel I bring much of anything new or groundbreaking to photography or a knowledge space in general, at least not at this moment. If people have questions for me, I’d encourage them to reach out (by email, not phone, I’m a millennial and therefore find telephone calls uncomfortable). But as for improvement, I have taken a keen interest in photography’s role in memory and have been delving into books that more critically analyze photographs and their place in history and collective memory.
Do you believe art is something you were born with or something you have to find in your daily life? and work for?: I believe we are all born with an innate talent and appreciation for art, but it requires nurturing and effort to hone. Art has been held in such an esoteric space and I hope going forward we can move it towards a space of shared experience and understanding.
Who would you like to read from (Can you put me in touch with this person?)?: Sam from Sam Hugh Photography. It's a bit nepotistic but I'd love for him to share his insight.
What would be your question to this person?: What animal do you feel like best represents your personality?
If you could ask yourself a question, what would it be?: Oh for simplicity's sake, let's go with the question up above.
And your answer would be ?: Capybara. Not necessarily pretty and definitely not grand. But mildly endearing and awkward.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
DOB : 05-06-1989
LOCATION: CANMORE, CANADA
OCCUPATION: WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
Copyright : AUTO PORTRAIT
CONVERSATIONS AND CLASSES TO INSPIRE PHOTOGRAPHERS AND ARTISTS.
WHERE TO FIND THE ARTIST?
INSTAGRAM: http://www.instagram.com/brittanyesther/
WEBSITE: http://brittanyesther.com/
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