We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sheridan Weaver a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sheridan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

Since my childhood, finding a friend or group of people to understand me as I truly am has been a struggle. My art, whether that be my photography, painting, or writing, has always leaned closer to a dark and more moody style.
Although I am passionate and content with that style today, it doesn’t and hasn’t always read well to others. I was brought up in a strict religious environment where many of the themes of my art pieces then and today would be very negatively criticized. It was hard for a while because the people I wanted to love my work the most, didn’t understand my art, and some even found it upsetting.
I started to believe over time that because of the way I express myself artistically that something must have been wrong with me. I became embarrassed of who I was and made every effort to force new interests and styles into my life.
I spent years running from my love and intrigue of all things odd, unique, and dark… until one night when I had a painful epiphany while thinking about the artists and photographers whom I admire the most.
It finally dawned on me that the reason I had so much love and respect for these artists and photographers was because of their ability to be completely themselves. Their art reflected themselves in such unordinary and special ways, and that was inspiring to me. Many of them were seen as “weird or mentally messed up” but I saw through the judgment others had laid on them. Those creators had the strength to wait for the real admires of their art and minds to show themselves, instead of creating a likable style just to “fit in”
After that realization, my mind set changed and I started making small steps to “unmask” myself and my artwork overtime while keeping the constant thought in my head that there will always be people out there who will see my work in a way that they do not enjoy, but that’s okay with me because having genuine support for the real me is more important than having support for an ingenuine version of myself.
Those who are meant to see my art will, the ones who are worth getting support from, will be brought my way.

Sheridan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Art in general has always given me a sense of freedom, especially in times where I felt I had very little. Anything I could imagine; I knew I could use some type of art to bring that idea to life. Whether that be with my character creations, creative writings or even my bits of composite photography.

No one in my immediate family liked art much. However, my grandmother did have a background in art, and she would teach me anything I asked of her when I was a child. Her style and the ones I had interest in were very different, but I still learned so much from her. I loved the library as well. I used to practice drawing all the covers of the books that I thought had nice cover art. Around age 10 I even found a book at a yard sale called “how to draw manga” I studied from that book for years. I loved the art style, and I still do today. I really hope to make a comic book or graphic novel of my own in the future once my plans for my primary focus, photography takes off.

At first photography was only about preserving a memory in a beautiful way to me. To be honest I didn’t see the artistic potential photography has until many years after getting into it. I loved it for totally different reasons and had so much respect for how hard it was to master a professional camera set up. It wasn’t until I got into editing my photography that I realized I could combine my two favorite things. Seeing photographers creating magical composites using props, models and editing software made me in awe. Immediately I wanted to learn how to do that, but I didn’t even know how to install editing software, nor did I have anything more than a digital camera, and it was not a very high quality one.

When I was around 13, I switched schools, and I ended up having a teacher who noticed my interest in art and photography. She signed me up with a group of other 8th graders at my school to go to a local college and take beginner courses on photography. I was able to go every Friday. To my luck I was even able to use the editing program photoshop on some of my own photographs I had taken at the time.

After that class I wanted to take photos more seriously. I started asking my friends and family if I could do little photoshoots of them and I took photos everywhere I went. Eventually as I got a bit older, the cell phones got better cameras, and they also came out with apps to edit all your photos.

I would spend hours on these apps and on YouTube trying to make unique well edited images. Almost all those edits were bad to be honest with you but, they still taught me a lot and allowed me to watch the technology of mobile editing software and cameras grow into what they have become today. That editing also taught me what didn’t look right and how people didn’t like their photos to be edited.

Most of my art and photography has been self-taught. A lot of it was trial and lots of error and asking many questions to anyone who would answer. As I used better cameras and learned how to do proper editing, I started to feel like maybe other people would like my work as well and as it turned out..they did!

Before I knew it, I was able to find family photo sessions to photograph, small weddings and even some birthday parties. Although I enjoyed taking their photos, I didn’t enjoy the large groups of people or the lack of creative freedom. I wanted that passionate, artistic feeling, and I would feel a spark of it back when I would get to do more creative sessions but that wasn’t very often. I was happy with the work I produced but I wanted to do more.

Around 2019 my life took some very rough but necessary turns, and I no longer had a camera or most of my belongings. For a while I felt my life had completely fallen apart. I had a tough past and odd childhood, but that year really had a strong effect on my mental health. I felt like a was finally completely broken and I didn’t know how I could go on to do anything more than simply survive, but I did. I very slowly picked up the pieces. While my wonderful parents let my children, and I stay with them for a few months, I was able to buy a little starter mobile home and begin a fresh start. It took a few years, but I eventually saved up for my own DSLR camera and an editing laptop. That’s when my journey with photography started again but with all that I had learned in mind this time.

I ended up in a few Facebook groups full of amateur models and photographers. That was when I learned about trade for picture photo sessions. This was basically when a model and photographer got together and did a session and then promoted each other on social media or in other ways. I was overjoyed to see that this was a common thing! Some of the models even seemed to be from around my area.

I am a very anxious and socially awkward person as it is, and I was not ready to reach out to a stranger and ask them if I could take their pictures while they model for me. I decided to start a bit smaller, and I asked my brother’s then girlfriend and now wife if she wanted to help me out. She knew some about the local modeling community, and I felt a bit more comfortable asking her.

Although it was kind of new to both of us the session went great, and it gave me the boost of confidence I needed. I started reaching out to some of the local models and before I knew it, I started to fall in love with photography and editing again! I loved seeing people express themselves with their own unique styles. I loved getting to use different props and coming up with different ideas and styles for the models and I to try out. At the end of every session, I found myself more excited and finally satisfied creatively.

After I was able to get some of my photos published in a few small photography and modeling magazines I decided my goal for my photography was to build a studio of my own. That way I could work with families in a creative way as well as work with the modeling community. I would be able to make a living all while doing what I loved and getting to see my children continue to grow up. I figure with my busy yet organized mind I will even find time to pick back up my more traditional art projects as well.

Slowly but surely because I refuse to give up. My goals are becoming reality. I’m currently working on a coloring and activity book about my original and most popular character Roger the Alien as I wait to hopefully take my next big step for my future photography career. Now thoughtfully named Abandoned Lens Photography. I’m most proud that no matter what challenges I face I keep going. Even when it means starting over completely. I have confidence that my unique style and strong determination will always make me stand out in the ways I am meant to. I can promise to always offer high quality, and interesting photography and art pieces to anyone who gives me the chance to do that for them.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

By far, the most rewarding part is being able to provide services to those who have a harder time finding photographers and artists who are outgoing when it comes to odd or never before done styles
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What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My drive comes from my mission to do what I love most while simultaneously providing an income for my children and a more artistic view of life for any who wish to see it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: abandondedlensphotography
• Facebook: Abandoned Lens Photography

Image Credits

Abandoned-lens photography