We were lucky to catch up with Shawn Pridgen recently and have shared our conversation below.
Shawn , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
First, one is always a student. Although one can master their craft’s elements and technical aspects, I don’t believe you ever stop learning. The good ones don’t, in my opinion. Challenging oneself in every part of their art and profession is as important if not essential to their growth. You must always seek knowledge. And when it comes to learning the craft/medium you are most passionate about, it is your responsibility to continue to learn, grow, and evolve.
That said, my mother handed me my first camera—I might have been 14 – 15 years old then. From what I can remember, it was an old Pentax 35mm film camera that I begged for, purchased from a pawn shop that I used to sell my old video games, which I had beaten quickly and tirelessly. I had no idea how to use the camera at that time, but I knew my high school had a film photography class. A young Shawn had a severe crush on a creative surfer girl with a Mustang that he knew would be in that photography class, so I was very intent, committed, and dedicated to figuring it out.
Attempting to get closer to who I believed was the love of my life, I spent countless hours creating images in the darkroom, talking with my photography teacher and other students in the community of creatives about the images we were capturing. I laugh when thinking about this now, but funny enough, it didn’t take me long to realize after the course started, I quickly fell in love with photography itself; the process of learning how to use the camera, process film, and create images rather than trying to figure out a way to impress my crush. I have been shooting ever since.
One day, my crush approached me; I didn’t believe she even knew my name and talked with me about an image I had created that she admired. And again, as I think about it now, I remember talking in detail about what I was trying to capture, and although I initially had a crush on this person, I never thought about the crush I had on her while we talked. I remember being confident and completely focused on what I was sharing with her, discussing what I attempted to capture, which was surely some out-of-focus picture from the beach. Studying and practicing the medium of photography gave me confidence, intention, and space to express myself creatively and emotionally, which fueled my passion and desire to create more images.
Knowing what I know now about the process, the only thing I would change is that I would have gone straight to college to focus on photography and what I was passionate about. In my youth, like many others, I was told to pursue a secure profession that would provide me with a future. I studied law for many years but always had some form of a camera with me. I was passionate about the law, civil liberties, and civil rights, to be specific. Still, my passion for working in the corporate or nonprofit sector as an attorney paled compared to my love for the arts. Again, knowing what I know now, what I believe would have been a great accelerator to my process and creative endeavors, I would have focused on attending school for the arts.
As a result of focusing on something other than my passion for photography, I had to learn many practical skills and fundamentals the hard way, which wasn’t bad. However, learning to use a camera and take proper pictures manually came at the expense of much film and time.
Finding a mentorship or taking classes to hone my craft would have been in my best interest. Still, even in the present day, there are few avenues or opportunities for photographers to utilize when learning or transitioning to the field. Even more so, I believe that the community has a hierarchy today that doesn’t encourage or invest in those newbies that are passionate and interested in the medium of photography, which is an apparent obstacle and deterrent to most of the people that would love to be a part of the community but can’t find an avenue or door to enter the community, which doesn’t promote learning and produces more of a group of elitists that are more concerned about your gear, connections, and persona, than helping you learn or creating community.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Shawn Michael Pridgen (b. 1983) is a documentary photographer and small business owner born in San Clemente, California. After graduating from DePaul University with a B.A. in Political Science & International Relations in 2010, he attended DePaul’s the School of Public Service. He completed coursework toward a master’s in public service administration (MPA) in 2014.
While completing his master’s, he worked as a Research and Policy Intern for the Chicago Housing Authority (2009-10), as a Clerk and Coordinator for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Office of Chief Counsel (2010-12); as a Human Resources Administrator, for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Department of Justice (2012-13); and as a Legal Team Assistant, for Target Corporation (2013-14). From 2016 -2017, he was a Consultant for Northwestern University and became a Shared Services Coordinator for Octave Group until 2018. The following year, he served as a Business Coordinator for CNN; and was a Legal Personnel Assistant for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in Manhattan (2019-20) before beginning his photographic career with the outbreak of the Black Lives Matter protests (2020 -21).
His imagery has since appeared in INQUE Magazine, Harper’s, The Guardian, Outside, The Washington Post, Bicycle, The Point, Hearst Publishing, Tracksmith, and GearPatrol.com. In 2020 he created ShawnMPridgen LLC, a documentary photography small business focused on racial equity. He actively contributes his work to local nonprofits, activist organizations, and corporate entities.
His mission is to provide contribution(s) in the continuing struggle for representation and commercial visibility of underserved communities; to take a stand in the fight for racial justice; and to create sustainable and actual racial lens-based equity, domestically and internationally.
Collaborations include Patagonia, Google, Adobe, Subuaru, Ilford Film, Duke University, Parsons School of Design, The International Center of Photography, The Laura Beya Collective, Photodom NYCJustice For George NYC, Warriors in the Garden, Riders 4 Rights, UnitedNY2020, Freedom March NYC, Signs for BLM, Bicycle Film Festival, Prospect Park Organization/NYC Parks, Bike for Good Glasgow West (Scotland) and many others. Shawn’s work appeared in the #ICPConcerned: Global Images for Crisis exhibition in Manhattan, NY.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Yes, I hope to create both a community and magazine for underserved and underrepresented lens-based creatives. I would like for this community and publication to both celebrate and display work of creatives that struggle to find connection and platforms to share their work. As many of us know, there are many gatekeepers (the old guard) that actively seek to either exploit or limit the work of individuals on popular channels and publications. My hope is to build a community and a publication for individuals to express themselves and their creations; to empower those underserved and underrepresented communities to leverage their work and create more opportunities for and bargaining power for an entire community to become visible – instead of a selected few those gatekeepers have selected to frequently contribute, feature, and provide work to.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Creating community and collaborating with other creatives is probably the most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative. to be able to sit down with another creative and just create with no restrictions, is one of my greatest joys and something I find so rewarding. Learning from another persons process, teaching and sharing your own, and creating something in collaboration with another creative is invaluable.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shawnmpridgen.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawnmpridgen/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrpridgen/
Image Credits
Images from a series I created in collaboration with Justin “Suede” Hunt Titled: What If Kyle Rittenhouse Was Black or WIKRWB