ISSUE ONE

May 28

A scene from the First Baptist Church fire in downtown Dallas, Texas. / Ryan Orebaugh

THE RAMBLINGS OF A GUY WITH A CAMERA.

This publication is the result of having thousands of photos sitting on my hard-drive with nowhere to go. Shots Fired is a one-part photo zine, one-part subculture magazine; and above all else: a creative release valve for a guy with a little too much time on his hands and an Adobe subscription.

So without further fanfare, here’s issue one. Buckle up and maybe wear a helmet.

Let Take A Little Walk - Why I shoot street photography, and why you should give it a shot
Joyful Noise - Concert photographer Jakob Jenkins on touring with Slow Joy and capturing the essence of a mosh pit
Behind the Screens: Ryland Maserang - The raw and unfiltered story of documenting beekeepers for Local Hive Honey
Contact Sheets - A conversation with gallerist/artist Sierra R. Aguilar on the state of modern photography
Photo Gallery - A photo feature free-for-all, no theme just killer work

LET’S TAKE A LITTLE WALK

This is how I stay sharp, and more importantly, sane. Endless hours walking the streets, camera in one hand, some over-priced coffee in the other. Street photography is a weird habit, there’s no two ways about it. You’re walking around taking pictures of people going about their day. Shuffling around, attempting to go unnoticed, while also sticking a camera in somebody’s general direction. At the end of the day, it’s about the rush of documenting life in front of you; it’ll never be today again, and that’s worth the all the weird stares, questions, and all your disposable income. This is history we’re talking about.

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IS A RUSH

I’m not really an adrenaline junkie but the feeling of photographing the world around me is addicting. When you’re first starting out all you’re really doing is trying figure out how to use the camera in public. Lots of the back of people’s heads, a shadow against a wall, you know, the usual. But as you begin to get more confident, that’s when the fun starts. I’m an incredibly introverted person; but a camera is like a free pass to belong somewhere. When I’m taking photos, it makes me feel like I’m “allowed” in, like I’m there to capture what’s happening in front of me. It’s the ultimate conversation starter, translator, a weapon of mass communication, and has lead me to some of their weirdest scenarios and the most beautiful interactions of my life. Collecting memories at 1/250th of a second, and as far as my legs will take me.

STOP THINKING AND JUST SHOOT.

It’s a constant hunt for the perfect photo.

My white whale, a feeling in the pit of my stomach that the next time I go out I’ll finally capture it. The chase is what keeps me going, the addicting, obsessive compulsion to click a shutter will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. I can’t really put into words how much it matters to me but hopefully these photos and interviews will get it kinda close. Some people do drugs, I take pictures.

JOYFUL NOISE

Concert photographer Jakob Jenkins on touring with rock band Slow Joy and capturing the essence of a mosh pit

A sea of people are pulsing to the distorted guitar riffs coming off the stage. It’s 9pm on a Tuesday in Deep Ellum in Dallas, Texas and the show has just begun. Through the chaos photographer Jakob Jenkins documents every head bang, two-step, and stage dive the crowd will throw at him. This is just another day at the office for Jakob, who’s been on tour with alt-rock band Slow Joy for the last few months. We bonded over our mutual love of local music and the rush of trying to take photos while not getting punched in the face.

Esteban Flores; singer-songwriter behind *Slow Joy* / Jakob Jenkins

Jakob at the office, stage-diving at a *Slow Joy* concert at Club Dada in Dallas, Texas / Ryan Orebaugh

“Honestly, I really try to capture the energy in the room… because the people in the room will never have the same experience again.”

- Jakob Jenkins

“I feel like I’ve gotten really lucky to capture people really feeling their feelings.”

- Jakob Jenkins

Seconds before a mosh pit started / Jakob Jenkins

“This rock shit. It makes you want to move. So if you want to throw down, then throw down.”

-Jacob Jenkins

Jakob isn’t a gear junkie. He’s moving with the crowd and reading the room like a photographic shark hunting for the right moment. For him, it’s all about capturing the energy of music up close and personal. A long time musician himself, photography was a way to document shows for his friend’s bands and evolved to touring with Slow Joy. You can really feel the energy in his work, this isn’t just a job, these photos are the result of hours on the road and having a real connection to the scene.

“[For people] like this is night out for them, they paid money to be here. If I can capture the feeling and the emotions of them enjoying themselves then my job is done.” Jakob says, to him it’s not just about the photos and selling some merch, he’s performing once the music starts too.

He sees himself as apart of the action, there’s a certain spectacle to local rock shows and every bit matters. The music is one part, but the community and the mosh pits are a whole other piece of the puzzle, something Jakob is no stranger to hopping in. When I caught up with him at a Slow Joy show at Club Dada in Dallas he front flipped into the crowd halfway through the set, right after shooting bits for a new Slow Joy video. His images feel like you’re in the crowd, the motion blur, the grungy colors, and the compositions vibrating with the feedback of guitar solos and spilled beer pull you into the moment. The rush of dodging blows while the sounds of head-banging music fill the room is something hard to beat. Where there’s a mosh pit, there’s a good chance Jakob’s there snapping away.

Check out Jakob’s work here.

Behind the Screens:

Ryland Maserang

The raw and unfiltered story of documenting beekeepers for Local Hive Honey

It starts as a low hum, it’s about 6:30am outside of Fort Pierce, Florida and the air is buzzing. Beekeeper Barry Tesno and his team just brought pallets of beehives in to the bee-yard to start pollinating for the day. That humming, it’s more of a higher pitched whine now, like the air is almost annoyed with us. We zip up our protective bee suits and start walking into the clearing to start the day. As we’re approaching the hives, our suits begin to vibrate, like your foot fell asleep except it’s outside your body. First it’s just a few taps, soon its all over, and we’re now acutely aware of thousands of eyes are watching us as Barry and his team get to work. Smoke, wax, and honey start to fill the air, it’s time to get to work.

A smoker being lit at the start of the day, these smokers confuse the bees and make them more docile so beekeepers can work safely. / Ryland Maserang

Beekeeper Barry Tesno checking on his hives at twilight / Ryland Maserang

A bottle of Florida honey on a hive / Ryland Maserang

Ryland Maserang is no stranger to documenting the craft of beekeeping, for the last few years he’s been all over the US and Brazil telling the story of how a bottle of honey goes from hive to bottle with only a few stings in between. I sat down with Ryland to talk about his process and how he keeps a cool head in the thick of it. Also, selfishly, as the art director responsible for the photographic direction of a few of these projects, I just wanted to know if my ranting about Alex Webb and photographic storytelling make sense when you’re trying not to get stung by bees in 95 degree heat.

Ryland taking a break in the car after 3 days of photographing beekeeper Barry Tesno in Fort Pierce, Florida for Local Hive Honey. 36 hours, thousands of photos and about 9 stings later it was time to head home. / Ryan Orebaugh

Stacks of old bee hives and “honey supers” outside Barry’s home. Honey supers are extra boxes added on top of the hive to store the honey above the main hive structure / Ryland Maserang

Ryland photographing Barry (center) and the rest of his crew / Ryan Orebaugh

Ryan Orebaugh: Ok so how did you get started photography?

Ryland Maserang: I came up in the production assistant and camera assistant in the commercial world, this is my tenth year in the business. Through those years every time I was on set I would take a camera with me and try to get the most creative BTS and travel on my time off try to do the most artistic work that I could. I started to see Alex Webb’s work… and it really inspired me and looking back that travel work I’m glad that hobby turned into what my career is now, if I hadn’t explored like that I wouldn’t be where I am now.

RO: So where did the beekeeper work come in, how did you get started with that?

RM: So the first job was outside of Houston in Katy, Texas. I had gotten involved with the company [Local Hive Honey] doing some smaller projects but this was the first one to get on the road for. The one thing about shooting on location, without lights, with accompanying video; Is that you gotta work fast. You also have to be at the mercy of whatever weather you have and whatever nature gives you. When we got there, if I remember, it was cloudy all day we’re out in this wide field an there’s basically nothing in the background. So as composition goes it can be challenging. The next day though we got up before dawn and the beekeeper had these hives by a tree line, the clouds broke and we were able to shoot the bees flying through the god-rays and smoke from the hazers and that’s when I realized, this is luck, this is gonna look amazing because that’s what nature gave us.

Beekeeper Jake Moore outside of Houston, TX / Ryland Maserang

Bees amassing on a hive outside of Houston, TX / Ryland Maserang

Ryan Orebaugh: So now that you’ve shot more, how has your approach changed or stayed the same, what get’s you excited to keep shooting these projects?

Ryland Maserang: Well we’ve been to Houston, California all the way up the PCH, Brazil, which was a journey, and then Florida right after the hurricanes had blown through. I prepare for these projects by looking at the work I’ve done before and seeing what I felt I missed out on. I think it can be a challenge to know going in, what you’re going to be a experiencing at the locations. You only have a Google Map image and a few reference but it’s hard to know what you’re gonna get. I go back through the work we’ve done on previous jobs and artists I aspire to and I look at some of the lighting and I like to take inspiration from those things. There’s a checklist for sure, you want to establish a story, but to be honest once I get there a lot of it is riding of feeling and instinct. Even when we got the shot we orchestrated, because there is also video on these projects, and I’m along for that ride. but I can look to my right and see people cleaning out beehives and whatever else is going on… because part of my process is capturing the atmosphere going on. It’s a short run, we’re only there for a few days so I’m looking to get as much variation as I can. The hardest part, when the light is just right, you’re locked in and you’re focused on getting those shots but ultimately you can’t just walk away with a few shots.

“You ask honest questions and you get to know the person a little bit in the short time you have with them.”

- Ryland Maserang

Ryan Orebaugh: Ok so how do you connect with your subjects, make honest portraits in such a short time?

Ryland Maserang: That’s a great question and something that’s not talked about in photography. That’s the big thing that people need to hone in on is getting to know people and to work with them and not go into the projects thinking their a subject but that they’re a person. They have their craft, and their interests and it’s an organic thing. When you ask them questions about themselves and you open the floor to their conversation and dialogue I think it makes them a little more comfortable with you being around them. You have to bring that essence of comfort and ease, that comes with time that comes with multiple interactions with people. When I first started it was so nerve racking to get up and have to focus on the technical aspects of the camera while trying to make conversation with people and make them comfortable but over time you get used to it. Then over time, your camera becomes like a third hand it’s natural. I can move fast with it and not have to think about it.

Local Beekeepers outside Ceará, Brazil / Ryland Maserang

“Over my career I have honestly realized that the thing I appreciate the most is people’s passions that I’m getting to photograph. ”

- Ryland Maserang

Cameron smokes his hives to check on them / Ryland Maserang

RO: How do you deal with the danger of the bees?

RM: Ok so here’s a little story I’ll recount the stings. In Houston, I don’t know what it was, just the essence of the bees it felt right. I didn’t cover my face for it I didn’t wear the hat, it was kind of in the way and it was so hot and I wanted to hold my camera up to my face. I was thinking, ‘they’re not sting me, it’s ok’, and I didn’t get stung the whole job. It made me delusional, straight up delusional. When we went to California, it was really nice and beekeeper was moving quick and I had my [beekeeping] pants on but I just had a hoodie on. That was my first bad run in. One got me in my ear, one stung me on my neck right in the jugular, and a few got in my hood and so I got about five stings there. It was painful, but they’re rolling sound and rolling camera, ran off to the side and quietly took it. I didn’t realize that if one stings you they’re all gonna try to attack you so I learned a hard lesson. Once you get stung, there’s way more fear… like ok this can happen at any minute and you have all this protective clothing but, eh you never know sometimes they can get through it. Then in Brazil, I didn’t get stung the whole time until I was flying the drone and that agitates them, so they followed me from a mile away and as I was rushing to get the door closed one got me on the finger. In Brazil they have the killer bees so a week later I got hives an felt like I had the flu so that was not fun. But I’m kind of a madman and the pains gone and the experiences are still there so I’m all for the adventure.

Check out Ryland’s work here.

CONTACT SHEETS

A conversation with artist and curator Sierra R. Aguilar on the state of modern photography

I’ve met a lot of really amazing creatives in my day; but whenever I need a 2nd set of eyes when I’m sequencing my own work, Sierra is the first person I call. We’ve known each other for years since meeting at SCAD and nerding out about film, now she’s a gallerist and artist based out of Detroit and we caught up and talked about curation, photography, and her thoughts on being an artist.

Sierra R. Aguilar, curator, artist, Detroiter

Sierra is someone who truly lives and breathes art. Her commitment to bringing accessibility to the often cagey and pretentious-feeling art world is why we get along so well; recently she founded the online gallery Ninety Seven Modern to help emerging artists have their voices heard. I spent a some time catching up with her about her hot takes on the art world.

Ryan: So tell everybody a little bit of your background how’d you get started in all this?

Sierra: So I started as an equine photographer when I was like 14 until I was like 18. So I’d spend my summers shooting and when I went to college I got really caught up into what photo was supposed to be. That kind of spurred the work I’m making now, which is not normal representational photography. I fell in love with the gallery world as it is right now, which is a very interesting place to say the least. It’s not an approachable field and I’m very aware of that and I’m working really hard to make it an accessible and approachable space for everyone. I was thinking a lot about how my work looked on the walls and how my friends work looked on the walls and how they correlated. As I’ve grown in my career and gotten my masters in contemporary art history I’ve started looking more at the way mediums relate to each other and how artists relate to each other as individuals too.

R: So talk to me about what makes a good photograph?

S: This is a huge can of worms that you did not want to open. I get so crazy about it because we can talk so much about other mediums and how they’re so subjective and people can see abstract expressionism and be like, ‘I don’t fuc*ing get it, I don’t like it. They’re scribbles’. That can be subjective. But let’s say you’re looking at [Edward] Weston and you’re saying, ‘oh the form and the shape is beautiful…’ Ok well I can give you 10 different painters that do the same thing but you don’t like it because it’s subjective. So, the intent to make a photograph is what makes a photograph for me. If there’s a reason you’re shooting right here right now, that’s what makes it for me.

“My hot take is that there is no such thing as a good photograph… I think intent is what makes it, I don’t think there’s something definitive like color and shape and form that we’re all gonna say is the best.”

-Sierra R. Aguilar

“There’s nothing better than an image made with intent.”

-Sierra R. Aguilar

R: How do you go about curating a show?

S: So I don’t know if there’s a right process but for my process I have what’s called my curatorial wish list. It’s a document explaining all of the wild and random ideas that come to me at insane times about shows that could be interesting or that should be more developed. Some curations can be really self-explanatory, but some times it starts with dreaming. What would I like to have a conversation about, what do I know other people want to have a conversation about? It is important to consider trends and what mediums are doing well; for me it’s about serving the community and exposing people to new artists looking for a platform.

Where It Rests #1, 2023 / Sierra R. Aguilar

R: So let’s talk about bodies of work, I’d love to know you’re thoughts?

S: There’s obviously no right way to make a body of work. It’s so individualized because we’re so individualized… As a whole, stringing images together there has to be something going on, even if it’s just the energy of an image. I think it goes back to intent, right now I’m working on a body of work called Say My Name it’s a complete 180 from photo, it’s oil on wood. It’s about the women in my life and their names and all of the wonderful, resilient that they’ve done but also the horrible things that they’ve experienced. The intent is them; good, bad, whatever, in a non-representational way. You can make a body of work out of anything, you don’t have to have some profound trauma to make work. You don’t have to have some crazy life-altering experience, you don’t need that. You just need your energy, focused into a single channel.

“Anybody can make a body of work about anything”

-Sierra Aguilar

R: Last thing, let’s talk about making work as an artist.

S: There’s this dichotomy in my head at all times because on one hand it is so serious. Creating art and revealing your deepest, darkest secrets to the online world and everyone around you. But also, it’s so not serious, you can make work about a pretty butterfly you saw passing by and that work is still as important as work about your friend that passed away. It’s still as valid, it’s a privilege to make the work so make the fuc*ing work.

Sierra’s passion and enthusiasm for artists and making art is something that really resonates with me. When you talk to her about art she is truly giving it the gravity and weight that it deserves. To some it may just be a silly picture but to people that need to make art to get out of bed in the morning it’s so much more than that. In a world that reduces art to “content” it’s refreshing to find someone who really cares enough to champion art the way it deserves.

Check out Sierra’s work here and her gallery here.