home project 2 by Summer HS winner Dan Boardman

Dan Boardman
Currently residing in Rochester, NY

website: http://www.danboardmanphoto.com/

Work Statement
My interest in photography stems from luck. When I first started shooting, a friend recommended me to slower.net. Which was incredibly inspiring and important in getting me to shoot everyday, and chronicle all the nooks and crannies of my day-to-day life. Around the same time another friend came back from New York City with Stephen Shore's Uncommon Places, which he found at random on the side of the road, and gave to me. Stephen Shore opened up a world contrary to that of Eliot Shepard, and even though I didn't fully understand Shore's work then, it did, to say the least, mark the beginning of my love for formal photography.

I think these two artists created in me a love for place. I love to think about the history of a place, or my personal history with a place. I look for small pieces that comprise a whole, and really love sequencing and editing and how it can change the tone of a project.

I'm currently a student at Rochester Institute of Technology, so despite my best efforts, my training has been very formal.

Lately I've been inspired by Martin Parr's boring postcard collection, and all things Russian. I've been inspired by ponies off and on.

Bio
I was born in Ontario, California and moved to a small town in Central New York when I was in third grade. My pop's job moved him from UCLA to Syracuse University. I spent most of my youth like Tom Sawyer, (swimming, eating pancakes, faking my own death).

In High school as a door prize at my after prom party I won a digital point and shoot. The camera had no screen and a mere 2-Mega Pixels. It held fifteen shots. I'm glad my Mom made me go to prom, I'm also glad I was nerdy enough to spend the rest of prom night with adult chaperones and teachers in the converted casino cafeteria.
What was great about that camera was that I had no expectations at all.

After high school I went to The University at Buffalo and studied English and Art History, all the while shooting pictures more than anything else. After my freshman Summer a friend convinced me that going to school for photo made more sense than trying to figure everything out on my own. So I took his advice and transferred to RIT in the Summer of 2005.

I am 22 years old now and in the fall I will be starting my senior year.