Shawheen Keyani on public photography, the Hasselblad, and getting off Facebook
From a well-equipped photo geek’s lab/bunker located in the corner of the student house he shares with, oh, let’s just say more than three other people, photographer Shawheen Keyani is able to tweak digital films, edit large-format photographs, and record audio to accompany his latest documentary films. Sharing the studio living quarters with his buddy and collaborator Kevin Hall, Keyani processes images around the clock. “We produce videos and music here,” the Iran-born UCSC senior explains. “I’ve learned a lot working at Gadget Box Studios—they’ve got good equipment. And I use my home studio because I’m comfortable here.”
Keyani’s current passion is public photography. “I’m using a vintage medium,” he says, reaching for a non-digital Hasselblad. “The project isn’t voyeuristic—it’s a direct engagement. I set up a tripod, call people over and ask them a few questions. If they’re interested, I take some shots.” The 6 by 6 inch square format guarantees that his images have an intriguing look. “I want to connect with people and their stories,” he says. “The Hasselblad is a very beautiful machine. It gives me confidence first and foremost in a public place. I can place it on a tripod in a public place and play the photographer. But on another level I love the restrictions and magic of analog technology—it’s very temperamental at times and as an imperfect machine myself, I can relate to it.” He likes his analogy.
Keyani also shoots digital films on a Canon 5D Mark 3. Pointing to his bag on the floor he explains, “I can make an entire movie out of a backpack. Laptop, cameras, audio equipment, memory chips—it’s portable yet affordable.” Keyani and his collaborator have post-graduation plans to check out the east coast, and “then maybe Berlin.” A native of Iran, Keyani returned to Tehran for a visit last summer. “It was interesting to be back as an adult—I took road trips and made a lot of photographs. It’s very dangerous to be holding a camera in Iran,” he reminds me. “There’s lots of political anxiety around photographs, but the underground art scene is very vibrant.”
Keyani started shooting video at boarding school in Ojai. “It was a social challenge—I was the shortest kid there,” he says. We both grin. Keyani is well over 6-foot-2. “A lot of stuff made me feel like an outsider. But I started taking videos of a few friends skateboarding. You’d film for 20 minutes and get that great 10 seconds.” It broke the ice.
But Keyani still feels like an outsider in the U.S. “I’ve been here seven years but I still treat America like this country I moved to with fresh eyes. Everything is still new, still fresh,” he says.
The Hasselblad, “a less forgiving media than digital, forces you to plan—to be more careful. That’s something I want to learn. To take care,” he says. “On the other hand, I never want to be the guy looking down on people who use an iPhone.”
While he admits he would like to show his work in galleries, “for now I focus on Flickr and Tumblr. They offer a really nice community,” he says. “You can create groups easily and communicate with other photographers.” Keyani welcomes the dialogue, critiques and views of other people’s work. “And I can send my images back and forth,” he says. Refreshingly, the emerging artist insists that “getting off Facebook is my goal. I use photography to understand and connect with people, but also it is how I hope to contribute to their experience. I don’t want to spend my life on the computer,” he says.
See Shawheen Keyani’s work at flickr.com/photos/skeyani/ and vimeo.com/skeyani
PHOTO: Shawheen Keyani with his analog Hasselblad camera, which he uses in conjunction with a digital camera. CHIP SCHEUER
