We arrived at Mr. Quiring’s studio a few minutes before he
did. Looking at his suite door painted red it stood out from all other
warehouse doors creating a seductive sense of curiosity to what lies behind the
door. Once inside I was amazed at the layout and how the studio was set up to
maximize space. We sat at a sofa and coffee table where a bronze mermaid statue
dove to the floor with her fish tail reaching upward to the open ceiling.
I started the interview like the others trying to get at the
heart of how Gary Quiring started his career. Gary told me he was always
artistic working in numerous other mediums; design, sculpture, and metal work
were the areas he spent most of his time in school at Yuba City JC. Soon he
made it over to Butte College, the early days where the campus was more spread
out. Here Gary took photography as any young student and found that he took to
it very well. He was soon in the darkroom at all possible times, sometimes over
night teaching himself the craft with the blessing of his professors.
Gary has been doing photography for more than 40 years. He
started shooting in his home and through the years moved into the space we were
meeting as the business developed and out grew the space in his home. Gary
revealed another transition like moving his studio that caused some issue,
which was moving from film photography to digital photography. Gary who I
quickly found had the knack of story telling told me how he saw the writing on
the wall that digital photography was going to take over yet he went kicking
and screaming, as they say, before the purchase of his first digital camera
body setting him back $5,000.00. From that moment Gary realized what he had
been missing with digital he found he had much more control and it became very useful
in showing progress through out a shoot as the shot would be readily available
on the lcd screen on digital cameras.
I asked Gary if there were any photographers who he looked
to for inspiration and he mentioned Helmut Newton, a favorite of my as well. He
said he liked Newton’s Black and White photos and his ability to wed fashion
and erotica in his work. In a way this influence has shown up in Gary’s work,
as he does a lot of commercial and product work, but his focus on tasteful
boudoir and erotica photography was apparent. Gary’s love of his work comes
from his innate ability to be social he loves to make people feel good, feel
beautiful. One of his greatest memories comes in another story where Gary
talked about a model that was extremely self-conscious of her body. At one
point in the shoot she asked if she could see one of the shots. Gary showed her
on the LCD screen and the look on her face was incredible Gary said she had
never realized how beautiful she was till that moment. That is the type of
moment Gary thrives on and, which shows his genuine interest in people giving
them an ego boost with each shot.
I mentioned Gary was a very sociable guy that had a pletora
of stories to tell, more than I could put in this post. Yet through our talk
Gary told me of trips some self-assigned working trips, some just for pleasure
to places like Thailand, Mexico, and Cambodia. Gary even went on to share with
me his love of wine making, a hobby he does in his free time even giving me a
bottle of Syrah to take home with me.
Finally I asked Gary if he wasn’t doing photography as a
profession what would he think he would be doing? As an always-creative person
Gary said it would be hard to say yet he believes photography for him was the
best choice of all, as it has afforded him the ability to live and work in his
home town and abroad building a lifestyle that suits his person. Yet if he
could have been doing something else it may have been metal sculpting or some
other form of creative outlet.
I saw a great deal of myself, or at least what I aspire to
be in Gary. 40 plus years of working in an industry as photography says a lot.
Weathering technological changes, to relocation and development of his studio
shows his ability to adapt and become something more, which is the sign of a
progressive man. If you’d like to schedule your own shoot with Gary or even
just get a quote you can find him @
garyquiringphotography.com, email
gqphoto@comcast.net or call 530.342.2602.
...GO!!!
