Photographer - Bridger Swinimer
Coffee Shop - Iggy’s
City - Detroit, MI
Date - October 29, 2023
Q - What camera did you use for Cameras and Coffee?
A. -I primarily use a Canon 7D Mark II with a 24mm 2.8 pancake lens and a Godox V860 speedlite mounted on my hotshoe.
Q. How long have you been taking photos?
A. I started taking photos as a kid of my family but I didn’t get serious about it until 2018. My background is in Beauty pageants and visual journalism.
Q. Why did you start photography?
A. I started taking street portraits in 2020 as a way to curb my intense social anxiety. Once I became more comfortable around strangers I fell in love with meeting new people and collecting images of the people that I meet.
Q. What motivates you when it comes to photography?
A. Sometimes there’s nothing to motivate me so in those moments I just have to create the motivation and just jump in and do it. I have to go out and see things, I have to see cities that I’ve never been to before and I have to talk to people I’ve never met.. Photography to me is more about meeting people and discovering new ideas, places, people, and art, the camera is secondary, a tool for me to meet people I otherwise wouldn’t. Loneliness is probably my biggest motivator.
Q. What motivates you when it comes to photography?
A. My photography style is always evolving but right now I would describe my style as action/documentary photography. I use a 24mm prime and incorporate flash in almost all of my images as a way to enhance my subject. With a wide lens and a flash, my goal with my style is to get close and create images that shock the viewer.
Q. Explain your Instagram name.
A. My Instagram name stemmed from my experience working on journalistic projects and posed photography. I never liked how I was told what to show and what not to show. I’m not a fan of censorship of any kind so with photography I want to photograph exactly what I see and how I see it (what I see is what you get) Everything on my page I want to be unfiltered and as real as I remember it. I chose Humans Unscripted to reflect that.
Q. What are your photo goals for the next year?
A. I’m currently working on a project that I will hopefully be releasing next year. I will be printing and designing a zine by hand accompanied by a short film. The project is about human nature and the realities of life. Love, peace, violence, and friendship all blended in a non-linear collage of existential dread, and hope.
