My interest in photography started in my early 20s while I was a bass player for a punk band. I used to go to the library to browse photo books and then make copies of the photos I liked for band flyers. I was primarily interested in war, crime, and political photography because those graphic images lent themselves to great promotional posters for the kind of music we played.
Fast forward 15 years and I wound up getting a point-and-shoot camera to document the birth of my son in 2005. I read the manual and would go out on my own to see what I could do creatively with the camera settings.
After some positive feedback on Flickr, many stolen images by bloggers, and requests by a few magazines, I decided to pursue photography seriously by purchasing a DSLR in 2011. The following year, I enrolled in a color photography class as a continuing education student at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design.
It was at this point I started doing āstreet photography.ā Although I wasnāt really sure what made a good street photo at this point, I knew what I liked and thatās what was important for me. I was primarily shooting film - color and black and white - with a Nikon F2 with a 50mm lens.
Here are some of my early street photos:
This image of friars taking shelter from the rain under a large tree was taken in Washington, DC, in 2011. I shot it from my car window. What I saw in this image was an amusing take on religion. Not even God could protect these men of the cloth from the ravages of Mother Nature.
This photograph of a man hanging off the back of a city bus was taken in DCās Chinatown in 2011. It reminded me of one of those absurd action shots I admired when I was making punk flyers in my 20s. Iām not sure if this is a great picture, but it would work for a show flyer. I always enjoy capturing stuff like this when I see it.
This photograph of three people walking by what appears to be a body bag was taken in Washington, DC, during the course of my color photography class at the Corcoran in 2012. What attracted me to this scene was the apparent disregard of the ābodyā as people streamed by on their evening commute. This image was in my first group show at the Corcoran.
I got this snapshot as I was leaving work for a lunch break in 2011. I was fortunate with the placement of the balloons; this was the first time I realized that obscuring someoneās head could make for a more interesting piece. It also reminds me a bit of Mickey Mouse. This image sparked my ongoing interest in trying to place balloons on peopleās heads. Itās quite hard to do well. These balloons donāt like to remain stationary!
This image of a photographer taking a shot of two people kissing was also made in DCās Chinatown, in 2012. It was around this time I started focusing on trying to include more objects/subjects in a frame that would either compliment or juxtapose each other. I sometimes use this image to promote my street photography workshops. I think it speaks to the nature of street photography in general.
Since 2012, I have come a long way in photography and have branched out to focus on longer-term projects. In fact, this year I plan on publishing four mini-books, or high-end zines if you will. The first will be Gratuity Included, a fevered dream sequence of raw imagery taken in the heat of the night. It will be released March 15, 2020, on my website, www.chrissuspect.com.
Other places to find me include:
InstagramĀ @gratuity_included
FacebookĀ https://www.facebook.com/chris.suspect.56
WebsiteĀ www.chrissuspect.com
