The Life and Times:
Featuring
BirthofSOl
Written by Quinn Barbour
When did your passion for capturing moments begin? When was BirthofSOl created?
Funny story. I didn’t always enjoy photography. I just wanted to be a filmmaker. My mom loves taking photos, but she doesn’t necessarily call herself a photographer. She loves capturing memories and has photo albums on photo albums of everything. So, because I always say that she was taking photos I asked my parents to buy me a disposable camera when I was about 7 years old. And they did. I started taking pictures of my sisters, of my toys, and just random things. I was always pretty artsy growing up. I drew a lot and I knew that I wanted to be an artist but I never knew what kind of art I was good at. When I got a bit older, I used to play dress-up doll games on the computer. My imagination was all over the place and I would always make up stories for those dress up games. One day, while at home, I believe I was in 5th grade, I accidentally clicked into notes, or word document, I’m not sure what it was called back then, but it had clip art images. A bunch of clip art that was circus-themed showed up and I started adding them to the document. I then had this story randomly pop up in my head and I typed it along with the images. The name of the first story that I wrote is called “Circus in the Closet.” I won’t go in-depth about it, but it was definitely deep for a 5th grader to write lol after writing that I just saw the story as a movie.
What is the meaning of BirthofSOl?
When you are birthed underneath the Sun, you are given a purpose. That purpose is supposed to help heal yourself, and everything that you come into contact with on your journey. My purpose, in this lifetime, is to help guide myself, and others, to a light, in order to reach self-discovery; through love and art. I call myself an artist and storyteller because I am not just a photographer, or a filmmaker, or a poet. I am many things. And those different mediums that I work with, assist with the stories that I catch sight of in my mind and feel through my soul. I feel as if I was born underneath the sun, which is why I also go by the Daughter of the Sun. My birthday is on April 18th, and my sun is in Aries. Aries represents the ram, and the ram represents taking a thorough self-examination of your life, while walking through darkness, to reach many different light sources in your life. I feel as if I am constantly becoming a light for myself and it’s because I was born underneath SOl, the sun.
I think it’s because I visually saw it in my head and I really wanted to see it in real life. Then a few months after that I was going through a magazine and saw an ad for the New York film academy. And then it hit me. It hit me that I wanted to make movies. So every time that I saw that ad I hung it on my wall and then my mom and dad bought me a digital camera. I would make movies with my sisters and cousin, and edit it on windows movie maker lol I had it set in my heart that I was going to make movies. I ended up going to an arts middle school and high school. They always wanted to teach photography over filmmaking and it bugged me because we only took photos of landscapes and plants. That’s not what I wanted to do. So I didn’t enjoy photography. One day at my arts high school, we had a discussion about how our junior year will focus mainly on photography and that our senior year will be focused on film. That upset me, but then my teacher went on to say that in order for you to understand how film works, you have to understand that filmmaking comes from photography. Every moving image is just a photograph and that stuck with me. So, after that, I began to understand why it was important for me to learn photography and create images with emotions. Because we definitely had to create conceptual images all the time. So I soon figured out that I am a storyteller because I enjoy both photography and filmmaking. BirthofSOl was created back in 2015.
Can you describe your aesthetic?
When it comes to my personal work, I wouldn’t necessarily say that I have an aesthetic. At least I don’t think that I do. It changes depending on my mood and experiences.
What are you always sure to carry with you when shooting?
I never forget to bring my camera bag, which literally has everything that I don’t use in it. Inside my bag, you can find my tripod, my light reflector, filters that I have bought and made, lenses, all of my polaroid cameras, my film camera, lens cleaner, and a physical copy of my portfolio. I have forgotten to bring my camera and SD cards to shoots, which wasn’t great at all.
Has anyone influenced your work?
There are so many things that influence my work, I don’t think I can pinpoint just one or even 5 things. My inspiration comes from many different things and people and feelings. I do know that at this moment I am very inspired by sculptures by the artist Murjoni and how they focus on sculptures of facial expressions and emotions. But I am also inspired by things that are completely opposite of that such as; contemporary dance, the relationships that I’ve had with women, sex, the color gold, pastel colors, etc. You just have to ask me about my art inspiration.
The most rewarding aspect of creating is just being able to express myself. I feel so much better when I am able to just let my feelings out.
-BirthofSOl
Are you very detailed in your work or do you just flow with the moment?
When I am working on my personal work, I am very much so into detail. Before I go into a project I create a color palette, write a poem to go with it, and find elements that I want in a muse that match what I’m trying to convey. With my client’s work, I try to still be very detailed by capturing things naturally, as I see it. But clients want specific things so with that I flow.
What are your goals with BirthofSol?
I want BirthofSOl to emerge into a small art museum that I own. I want to mainly showcase, but not limit it to just; sculpture art, ceramics, interactive art, and erotic art. I want to curate art that moves me in such an intimate way. I am currently in school majoring in Museum Studies. I also want my own photography and film studio. I want to be able to have the space to create what I see in my mind. I don’t feel as if I’m portraying everything that I want to portray but if I had space I could.
How did you learn the art of photography and film? Are you self-taught?
I am self-taught with some things and some things I learned from going to art school or being around other like-minded artists. I love learning and I am always going on youtube or skillshare to learn more from different people, from all different types of backgrounds.
What is the most challenging aspect of being a photographer?
I think the most challenging part about being an artist, in general, is that I am ever-changing and so is my art. My work changes quicker than I realize. I believe that you can tell my work is my work just by looking at it, but I definitely don’t think that I have an aesthetic – though I do try to have one when working on certain projects, just so that everything flows.
Are you very detailed in your work or do you just flow with the moment?
When I am working on my personal work, I am very much so into detail. Before I go into a project I create a color palette, write a poem to go with it, and find elements that I want in a muse that match what I’m trying to convey. With my client’s work, I try to still be very detailed by capturing things naturally, as I see it. But clients want specific things so with that I flow.
What are your goals with BirthofSol?
I want BirthofSOl to emerge into a small art museum that I own. I want to mainly showcase, but not limit it to just; sculpture art, ceramics, interactive art, and erotic art. I want to curate art that moves me in such an intimate way. I am currently in school majoring in Museum Studies. I also want my own photography and film studio. I want to be able to have the space to create what I see in my mind. I don’t feel as if I’m portraying everything that I want to portray but if I had space I could.
How did you learn the art of photography and film? Are you self-taught?
I am self-taught with some things and some things I learned from going to art school or being around other like-minded artists. I love learning and I am always going on youtube or skillshare to learn more from different people, from all different types of backgrounds.
What is the most challenging aspect of being a photographer?
I think the most challenging part about being an artist, in general, is that I am ever-changing and so is my art. My work changes quicker than I realize. I believe that you can tell my work is my work just by looking at it, but I definitely don’t think that I have an aesthetic – though I do try to have one when working on certain projects, just so that everything flows.