Photographer based in New Haven, CT

Dylan Hausthor, Portrait of the Photographer

 

What are you currently working on and where did the inspiration for it come from?

I have a few thoughts that I'm chasing and a few others that I'm running from right now. I don't really work in a project-based way, I'm more interested in just making things and finding cohesion in the edit. Today I was photographing a woman who is under house arrest.
 

Vivian, 2019, Archival Inkjet Print, 30"x40"

 

Barbra's Mistake, 2020, Archival Inkjet Print. 30"x40"

 

"I'm interested in making things and seeing how that making can generate content. Music is really helpful to me during this process and lately has been guiding much of the emotionality of my photographs."

 

Skin, 2020, Archival Inkjet Print, 11"x17"

Webs (excerpt), 2020, Archival Inkjet Print, Variable

Cole's House, 2019, Archival Inkjet Print, 30"x40"

Innovation does not only happen in the field of technology — it occurs everyday in an artist's practice. What do you do for inspiration?

I'm currently in the MFA program at Yale, an experience that overwhelms much of my time, and pushes me into the studio and out of the field more often than I'd like. I'm also a manager at a small farm here and being there gives me some meditative time that is really helpful in processing my thoughts (artistic or not).



Sara, 2019, Archival Inkjet Print, 30"x40"

 

Where do ideas start for you? In the studio or being in the world?

I'm not sure how important ideas are to me right now—I'm more interested in making things and seeing how that making can generate content. Music is really helpful to me during this process and lately has been guiding much of the emotionality of my photographs.
 

 

How do you make your work? Where do you start and how does the process evolve?

I have a tiny notebook that travels with me everywhere, but I'm very particular about what thoughts make it into the book. It's mostly tiny drawings, singular words, or stories people have told me that either bummed me out or thrilled me. As far as style, I'm interested in tone being an important part of the images—artists like the band Grouper inspire that cohesion.
 

 

Many artists live by their creative routines, do you have your own studio ritual? What does that look like for you?

I'm a little neurotic when it comes to rituals, but pretty much none of those neuroticisms really make it into the studio. Because I make so much of my work outside, it sometimes feels like my car is my studio, and in that case, it's pretty important for me to have my cassette player working and a cup of gas station coffee. In the darkroom though, I prefer it to be silent with the safelights as low as possible and a never-ending supply of fancy coffee.
 

 

Who are your biggest influences?

Watching a lamb be born, the sound a melting frozen lake makes, a bunch of tadpoles in a puddle, Mount Eerie, awkward-looking clouds, lies, and snow.
 

 

Are there books or films that are an important source of inspiration?

Annie Proulx might be the most directly influential writer for me. Most of my photographic narrative understanding comes from either fiction or journalism—small-town newspapers have sparked the construction of a photograph or pointed me in a direction to find a story worth listening to. I grew up without a TV, and embarrassingly rejected movies from my life for a long time. It was really only after I started making video work that I found merit in moving images, and now I'm trying hard to catch up.
 

Ann, 2019, Archival Inkjet Print. 30"x40"

 

How will Innovate Grant contribute to your practice?

Greatly! My view camera was recently smashed during an unfortunately dramatic shoot with a bird of prey. The Innovate Grant will help so much in either a replacement camera or the consistently necessary film costs.
 

Look At Me, 2019, Archival Inkjet Print. 30"x40"

 

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

A friend of mine just became a monk, and the last time I visited him he told me not to photograph someone unless I loved them.
 

What is the best advice you would give to other artists?

Don't tell the truth unless you feel like you should.
 

Harvest, 2020, Archival Inkjet Print, 40"x30"

 

 
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