Insta Fav #68: Chris Schoonover

Follow: @cschoonover

Where are you from? How does that place influence the way you photograph?
Currently I live in Lawrenceville, NJ. It’s been influential in a lot of ways, especially with its proximity to New York City, Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore. There are a variety of landscapes to shoot in that keep me inspired to work, although most of my favorite photographs come from my travels.

What are your favorite environments to shoot in?
I like to shoot in areas that are vast in nature and the studio. Anywhere that will give my photos a relatively clean aesthetic. My tastes are always changing and I’m always finding things that are new to me.

What are the strengths of shooting primarily mobile? How does this affect your imagery?
One of the perks of shooting mobile is being free of carrying all of your photo equipment around. It’s nice just to run out the door with your phone in your pocket. The phone shoots just fine, but it seems to get really grainy in the highlights and lowlights, which is not great. That would be my only complaint.

Who and what are the things that inspire you?
I look at a lot of curated Tumblr accounts, fashion magazines, and try to keep up with what’s going on with contemporary art photography. I used to get my inspiration from looking at Instagram, but I knew I wasn’t growing. Most people on Instagram are new to the game like me, so drawing my inspiration from there was not working. I realized I needed to be looking at the work of the masters after I saw the Phillip Lorca Dicorcia show, “Hustlers” in Chelsea. Looking at other people’s work is really important, you just need to make sure you’re looking at the right work.

Favorite instagrammers?
They’re always changing but recently I’ve been enjoying the Instagrams of these fine people:
@pauljungdiary, @jonpauldouglass, @jameslacroix, @jonschoonover, @stephdimiskovski, @jimmymarble, @thisishallie, @coralteeth, @joshuandrson

Tell us a little about your everyday.
My family has always been really close and a huge part of my life. They’re supportive in everything that I try, and they’re there for me always.
During the week, I work as a web designer in Princeton NJ, near the University. When I’m not working, I’m making things with my Brother and my friends. It seems to be a natural tendency with us. We don’t really party, so we just hang out and make things.
Last summer my life changed in a big way. Without being dramatic, I lost someone that I loved and I picked up a camera to deal with that. I’ve made photos almost every day since. It’s not really about that anymore, but I still can’t put my camera down.

Which Apps do you use to edit your pictures?
I used to use a variety of apps to edit my photos, but for the last year or so I’ve been using VSCOcam almost exclusively. Their tools are powerful and the filters are subtle and beautiful. They put a lot of work into making the app great.

If you’d like to become a future ‘Insta Fav’, follow @ignant. We’ll look into it.