Short profile
Dillon Versprille lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Fascinated by everyday and curious subjects as metaphors, he captures portraits of himself as well as mundane situations in the world around him. On his Instagram accounts @dillonversprille and @dilldilldilldilldilldilll, he organizes his photographs thematically into portraits and snapshots from his urban environment. In the interview, he talks about, among other things, why he didn't take photographs at all for about seven years, why a theft led him to study biology, and how he goes about editing his images.
5 QUESTIONS TO DILLON VERSPRILLE
Can you tell us a little bit about how you became a photographer?
I got my first camera when I was in high school and was honestly just going to use it to take Myspace photos. After sometime I started going on walks with my camera and would photograph things I would come across in my neighborhood, as well as photographing my friends and concerts. At some point I came across the artist Brooke Shaden and my mind was blown, i had no idea you could make that kind of art with a camera. From then on I started planning what I was going to shoot and tried my best to become proficient in photoshop (I still don't really know what I'm doing with that software btw). I was taking photography pretty seriously for a 17 year old and had applied to go to art school. I got accepted but right after that my camera got stolen, so I decided to go to the local community college until I figured things out. I never really figured things out and ended up getting a biology degree. I never had money to get a new camera, or the time to really shoot, due to school. Once I graduated and got a job I decided to save my money, buy a camera, and re-explore that old hobby of mine. After being away from photography for about 7 years I can now happily say that I've been shooting consistently the past 3.5 years and couldn't be happier.
Photo: Dillon Versprille
Please share something about your images. What is your special interest? How do you choose the colors, composition, themes etc.?
I am interested in how one can interact with their environment and the things that can lead to. When I am shooting I like to think about how I can amplify what is already there, or how it can be used to create something unique.
Most of my images are self portraits, so decisions about composition are usually made once I get the images in photoshop. I like to edit out distractions and have a clean image with the subject in the center. For colors, that just happens from me moving the hue and saturation sliders until I find something I like.
Photo: Dillon Versprille
Where does this interest come from?
I am not entirely sure. I always loved surreal art, but I was never good at traditional art styles like painting and drawing. I think I found something that worked for me and I trusted the process and stuck with it.
Photo: Dillon Versprille
How do you get inspired? And what inspires you the most? Films, books, or magazines? Or what surrounds you?
Locations are my biggest source of inspiration. Most of my ideas are sparked by seeing an environment and thinking things like, "Oh, that would be cool if there was a head there or some legs over there." Then taking my camera out and playing around until something works. If I feel like I need inspiration I will go on a walk. Other artists as well, I get so much inspiration from other photographers I follow on instagram.
What are your plans for the rest of the day?
Probably going to cook some dinner and watch Westworld. Maybe play around on photoshop if I have the energy for it.
