Andrew David Watson
"I have always gravitated towards still cameras and video cameras ever since I was a kid. I am one of those people that grew up in the skateboard and BMX world shooting everything we could. So here I am years later and I am still shooting things that are bike related!"
"My early inspirations were the great classic photojournalists, like Robert Capa through to the brillant contemporary photographer Ed Kashi. I actually think the drive for me to want to tell real stories, comes from the photo world more than the documentary world."
"The other photographer I find inspiring is Dave Alan Harvey at Nat Geo. His knowledge of light and the way he works with colors is truly fantastic. If you look at who I have taken my aesthetic from, you can see a lot more comes from the photojournalism world than documentaries."
"The still photographers I named are my references on how to tell stories. You can see that my style and aesthetic is clearly defined by my framing and movement, which has very strong connections to still photography."
"My dad was a woodworker and my grandfather was an auto body mechanic. So the 'blue collar' trend in my work comes down them building and fixing things with their hands; which I have essentially translated through to the camera."
"It's a theme that I have always been interested in. I felt so much in love with video and photography at high school, that I simply knew exactly where I wanted to go with it. I was pretty lucky that I went to a high school where we had a photo lab, and that ultimately gave me my jump start into Temple University. By the time I graduated high school, I knew for sure that this was exactly what I wanted to do with my life."
"While I was at high school, I also worked as a bike mechanic. Working allowed me to save up some cash and buy my first camera, a DVX100. Two years into college I was able to quit my job at the bike shop and start to pay my way through camera work. Coming from a job as a mechanic where I was only earning $6 per hour to being payed to do what I love to do, was really cool.”
“By the time I graduated, I had enough work on to be able to pay my rent in Philadelphia for about a year. This was the time I had given myself to get a freelance career going before I would need to go out and get a staff job! I had to succeed, because in my world, I couldn’t call up mom and dad for money! So being a starving artist simply wasn’t an option for me."
"About six months into my first year working, I get a phone call from IFC to help with a trailer on the 2008 presidential election. Here I am straight out of college, and I suddenly find myself traveling around the US with the Press Corp filming Barak Obama on my DVX100!"
"One of my favorite moments was flying on Obama's campaign plane and being driven around in what was essentially a presidential motorcade. It was an amazing thing to do at 23 years of age. So twelve months into working, I had already experienced my dream gig. Fortunately, there were many more dream gigs to come later!"
"I guess my next big break was when I met Scott Whitham, a director in Philadelphia who started hiring me as his DP. Working with Scott meant that I suddenly found myself working with a full crew of very experienced senior people. It was a lucky break for me, as he really bought me under his wing and got me going from shooting verities and doc style stuff, to working with gaffers and sound guys - and all the rest that come with bigger productions."
"I was lucky when I started working with Scott, that I got into a high level production so early on in my career. From then on, I did almost any shoot I could do regardless of the rate, so long as I could travel. I ended up doing shoots in Japan, and then China, and then I just bounced around the world doing projects. I really just seized any opportunity when I could. I soon found myself shooting the Tottenham Hotspurs football team in London and personal photo projects in Colombia."
"So now I am living in New York trying to slow down a bit if you can say that. However, I still have my bags packed and I am ready to hit the road for the right project!"
"In fact, I have just wrapped up another dream job in Bolivia, where I was cinematographer on the film ‘Charge', which is a Cinereach Production and has just recently won a MacArthur Grant. I worked out that I have recently spent three months in Bolivia over the last year and a half! We have been through jungles and up mountains some 15,00 feet up, so it has been an extremely demanding job in every way possible. This was definitely a dream job for me. That country is amazing, as it goes from dense jungle to high desert in a day. The subject matter was great, the crew was great, the camera package was great, and the visual style just looks incredible. Everything just lined up on this film. It is has some of the best footage I've every shot!"
"Although being on remote locations like Bolivia, can be incredibly grueling, some of my best life’s experiences have been achieved through the work I do. Being interested in photojournalism from an early age, has given me a real interest in the bigger world. So when I started to see other cultures, I just feel in love with traveling and shooting. My favorite line is ’Where are we going and how long are we going for?'"
"Although being on remote locations like Bolivia, can be incredibly grueling, some of my best life’s experiences have been achieved through the work I do. Being interested in photojournalism from an early age, has given me a real interest in the bigger world. So when I started to see other cultures, I just feel in love with traveling and shooting. My favorite line is ’Where are we going and how long are we going for?'"
"Whenever I get home to New York , I just love wandering the street here with my DSLR. Some of my favorite places are the outer neighborhoods like Jackson Heights in Queens. There is just such immense cultural diversity in a city like New York."
"Although I travel most of the time, I found as I get older my home base has become more important too me. When you are on the road a lot, its really important when you come back to have a place that feels like home. New York is my home now and to get to live in one of my favorite cities in the world, is pretty awesome."