Inspiration Feeder: Daniel Castonguay

Our “Inspiration Feeder” presents to you short interviews with interesting visual artists from around the globe. Today in focus: Daniel Castonguay.

How old are you?

I’m 54 years old … time flies.

Where do you come from?

I was born in the town of Dolbeau, Quebec in Canada. For professional reasons I moved to Montreal in 1989.

How long have you been doing photography?

I started photography as an extracurricular activity in 1979. During the first years I learned the basics of shooting and the darkroom as well as developing films and images purely in black and white, so it’s been forty years. I put the activity aside a few times to focus on my studies in electrical engineering and then on my professional life without completely abandoning the idea that one day I could devote myself to photography in a more serious way and that’s what I’ve been doing now for almost 10 years.

How would you define your style?

I have always admired the styles of Alfred Stieglitz and Léonard Misonne who exploited pictorialism and contemporary artists such as Saul Leiter and Joel Meyerowitz more oriented street photography each with their unique and particular imprints.

In my case, in the field, it all starts with conventional street photography. In a post-production stage, I add a poetic and even a mysterious touch. This allows the viewer to enter a fantasy world. In fact, if we have to find a name, I could call my style “Creative Street Photography”.

How long do you think it took you to find your personal style of shooting?

When I started in photography, style didn’t matter to me. I wanted to learn how to finish rolls, photos on paper and do experiments without really worrying about the composition. It was then that I had a fascination with textures and started to create them in the darkroom and I already knew at that time that it was something that I was going to use on a regular basis one day or the other.

The search for a unique style came to me about 4 years ago and I decided to use my knowledge as to the use of textures as well as the exploitation of a style that can easily be practiced for a city dweller. After several experiences and attempts to find an image finish that I liked, I started to produce my series “Quotidian life”, 2 years ago. As you will see, it is a series inspired by simple moments of the urban life.

What would you say is the thing that most inspires you? / What is your main source of inspiration?

The more my series grows, the more fascinating and intellectually nourishing it is to learn about people’s behavior. All this looks like a big theatrical arrangement where everyone knows their role and I am part of it in my own way and this inspires me and motivates me to try to understand even more.

Each of my images is a small slice of this “scenario” of urban life, each telling a little story that ends up telling us about our “Quotidian life”.

Thanks very much for reading me, hope you enjoyed and have a great day.