JONATHAN CHERRY: What got you started with photography?

PATRICK DRISCOLL: The short answer is photography was an excuse to hang out with my friends and not skateboard. I often got hurt while skateboarding and turned to video taping my friends doing what I wasn’t able to do. The long answer lays somewhere along the lines of finding a moment that I liked and could immortalize. Using cameras felt comfortable and natural to me; they still do. It’s a wonderful mental and physical process.

JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?

PD: I’m not sure what exactly constitutes emerging, but Ben Lepley, Neilson Tam have been my long standing favorites. I think they both began as skateboard photographers too and grew into the artists they are now. Will Govus is also out of this world. We all joined an online forum for skateboard photography at around the same time and are vaguely connected through there. They are the only artists in my age group that I look to for inspiration. I rarely, if ever, talk to them though. 

JC: Whats your current project all about?

PD: I continually shoot without a project in mind. Sometimes there are time-related projects that I set up for myself. I go on summer skateboarding trips with friends and try to create a book filled with images shot during that time frame. I finished one recently titled Treehouse. Other than that, I choose not to have a series in mind while shooting. Maybe one day, though. 

JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?

PD: I live in Oceanside, CA. It’s largely uninspiring and dull for me. I moved out here for an internship with a skateboarding magazine and have found out over time that this is actually a horribly static place to live. Ryan Allan lives nearby, as well as my friends Marisa and Dylan. If I’m not up in LA, I’m with a combination of those three or my girlfriend. 

JC: Any big plans for 2012?

PD: I’m on a great streak of getting enough sleep at night and balancing work with photography. If I can continue that, it’d be a nice year. I do commercial assisting work with Scott Pommier occasionally which is a blast. I’d like to land some gigs of my own and see where that goes. I’ve never done that before and I’m interested in taking on assignments and seeing what I can do with them. 

JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?

PD: I never went to a school post-high school for art so I have no credible advice. I applied to SVA twice and was accepted both times but couldn’t buckle down and commit to school. I’d say if you’re looking at school for photography, I’d strongly consider which direction you’d like to go with your work before investing years and a near fortune in school. School is a great place for connections, but the reality is that its 2012 and a lot can be achieved through an email and being in the right place. Either way, work experience will make you grow and learn at a much different pace than school will. 

JC: Favourite tree?

PD: The ones with houses in them.