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When I was in art school, the photo kids were separated from the rest. If you did sculpture or painting or graphic design, you were all taking the same classes, but the photographers just went straight into photography.

Ryan McGinley

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Ryan McGinley
Age: 47
Born: 1977
Born: October 17
Photographer
Ramsey
New Jersey
Kids
Photography
Photographers
School
Design
Photo
Taking
Graphic
Painting
Separated
Rest
Sculpture
Went
Classes
Class
Photographer
Art
Straight

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I'm interested in reaching the masses with my work. It's one of my goals.
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The cool part about New York is that you can do that. You can talk to all the people you admire.
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I spent all of my money on film. I remember I would do these set-design jobs or transcribe or just anything to get, like, a $100 check and go immediately to Adorama and buy expired film.
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I didn't have to be friends with people who were into pop music.
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I went through a pretty big David Bowie period when I was younger, and that has affected me profoundly in my life and my work.
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I think that's an important lesson for young people who want to be artists: You have to find someone who believes in you and who will help you find that time where you don't have to think about a job but just making work. If I didn't have those people in my life, I wouldn't be in the position I'm in.
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I think a lot about control nowadays, and I really want to let go and just be more in the moment.
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I was growing up in the suburbs I was one of eight kids. So I did have a community when I was younger, but all of my brothers and sisters were older.
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Everyone I'm photographing, I feel like I'm remaking a family, in a way. My brothers and sisters are my heroes. So many of my models resemble them.
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A lot of my close friends have committed suicide or died of heroin overdoses.
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You find the people that you need to find. There's this gravitational pull.
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Whatever emotions you're going through, you somehow seek out the people that are going through similar emotions or that maybe have something you need.
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I knew my ticket out of the suburbs was art school, so I worked really hard to develop my portfolio and get a scholarship.
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I know that my mind is so A.D.D., and I want instant gratification - and photography can provide me with that - but at some point, I want to make an independent feature.
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I want to venture into film more, and I think that a nice way to transition into doing that would be a documentary. I think it would be interesting to find one person that really fascinated me or maybe a band and travel with them, but I don't think I could do it like I used to do it.
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Most of the e-mails I get nowadays are from students who ask me how I got my start. In truth its from having a really supportive family but also having a good patron who will help you - like financing all those early trips I took.
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I put all of my time into art because I couldn't go back to Jersey and work at Starbucks.
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I'm not going to hide behind anything.
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In a lot of ways I look at these old photos, and I don't know if I would have been able to communicate with these people on this level if I didn't have a camera. I think I would still be so shy.
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I was studying graphic design at the time, when negative scanners and all that stuff was coming out, and you could do it all in your apartment. So I would shoot, make contact sheets, scan all the cool negatives, and make all these zines and books of my photos to give to my friends. I was really into zine- and bookmaking from skate culture.
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