THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF TYLER GUPTON
Photos and Words by Cameron Dorsey
When I approached Tyler for this interview, my main source of information was his work available on his instagram. But when Tyler invited me in his home for our meeting, it was almost as if I stepped into his brain itself. In his childhood home, I met his father, his daughter, saw his assortment of analog cameras, vinyls, and prints of vintage Stussy ads and it put so much of his work into context. In such a comfortable setting, we dove deep into his art, motivations, mental health and more, so much to the point where about 60% of this interview got cut but that just speaks to his passion and how much he can go on about the thing she really cares about. Read below for what I can only call a sneak peek into The Wonderful World of Tyler Gupton.
Just tell me a little bit about your upbringing, what was life like for you growing up?
So this is legitimately the house I was born in. I was very blessed and fortunate to be in the same house my whole life, with two loving parents, very cared for, seen, and loved. They always told me I was spoiled but I was never a spoiled brat, so I was very fortunate to be taken care of and brought up the right way. And now that I'm a father, I'm trying my best to do the same for my little girl, but I was born and raised here. It's definitely a quiet neighborhood. I definitely grew up as an introvert because we didn't really go out much, my whole family is kinda introverted. So I probably say I'm the most extroverted out of my whole family, in the sense of getting out but yeah.
So it seems like you do like 10,000 different things. You do photography and videography, and you make music as well?
I don't produce but I'm familiar with it. I would not feel confident at all if someone was like, hey, can you produce this for me, I mean I'd try. But funny enough, before I got into any other type of art, it was music for me. Like when I first started getting into expressing myself artistically, it was through music, I feel like my music defines who I am. And the thing is, it's like, I know it sounds so corny, but I legitimately listen to everything. Like I use YouTube music so I'm already a dork. But I feel like I can listen to anything, classical, heavy metal, pop, hip hop, almost everything. But the reason I put music down and I don't pursue it as hard as I do with videos or photos is because I love this sense of collaboration. There's a lot of people making music, but they do it through digital audio, like, you know, FL Studio, they make beats and stuff, which that's no hate on it whatsoever, it's just a whole different world. I'm very much into analog, I like physical touch and connection to what I'm playing. So I played a lot but I knew literally no homies who played instruments. So, whenever I tried to collab with them, the connection just wasn't there. So I didn't really push it because I wasn't surrounding myself with other creators.
So where did visual art come in for you?
I got into photography just hanging out with the homies. I had a family camera, just like a Canon Rebel ELS, like the infamous family camera, and we would just go out and shoot on it, and they liked it. And I liked the idea of like, “Oh, y'all digging it?”, like that little high you get, so then you keep doing it. And then I knew a homie, Baker McFall, awesome dude, he's the one who got me my love for all analog shit, all the old stuff. He put me on to film because he developed his own film and I knew nobody else who did that. I had a little bit of experience because we had the black-and-white film class in high school, and I'd be like, “Oh, want me to develop your shit?”, just because it was fun. So I linked up with him and we started working, he’d let me borrow his camera, I’d buy some film, and eventually, we'd come together and develop it ourselves and I got a ton of fun out of that. So then I just started, I bought my chemicals, my own camera and then the rest is history, man.
So what do you think drew you to the analog world?
I'm a hipster dog. I like doing shit that nobody else does. I have to admit it. Like I feel like it's foolish to say but that's the fun part. It's like, oh, ain't nobody on this wave, or if they are, it’s very limited., I feel like I know a lot of the people who shoot film around here, it's a very niche community. But I love the concept of, oh, I could fuck it up, or like y'all gotta trust me. Because like, when I first got into it, and I was hustling, making money, and getting paid for shoots I'd always be like, hey, pay me half upfront, but don't pay me fully because there's always a chance all these could all be fucked up and just not work out. And then, fortunately, that never happened and I feel like I definitely hit the mark on most of my shoots, but I do like the idea of like, A: fucking up, I have to do it right, and then B: because it's so technical, you really got to understand what it is you're doing. And a quote I heard that I really live by with photography, at least with film is, since you can't see what you shoot right until the very end, you got to take the photo before you take the photo. And this is entirely manual, it's all completely hands-on so there's a lot of room to fuck up and I like that. It forces you to really be a part of what you're doing. You can't just like shoot away, and no hate on digital at all, digital is its own world, but film, I like the idea of, again, oh, I can fuck this up.
You have a few short films on your Instagram and they always have somewhat of a message to them. So how do you go about implementing those messages in your films?
So it really just kind of comes along as it goes, if that makes any sense. Something I really like to say is that all my work has depth. I feel like depth is vital in the sense that you can come back and see something you didn't see or understand something you didn't understand at first. Like none of my stuff is Hollywood films and that's on purpose. The way I go about it is just simply shooting, like I’ll have a very, very, very, very large, abstract idea that's nowhere near the final form, and then as it goes on, you're kind of just winging it, like 90% of it is just winging it. And then I feel like where the magic really starts to happen is editing. So what I used to do was so janky man, I would set up a camera right here, it's got a little monitor, and I would grab my phone and I would legit like zoom in and then record the screen, I would chop it up in sections and then it's like, okay, how is this gonna work? Because again, almost every video is kind of just large abstract ideas and editing is where I bring them together. There's not a single shoot where I’ve planned it out scene by scene. I definitely feel like the magic is in the moment. But I feel like one thing that really sticks out is that I heavily entwined the video with the audio. So like I said, I'm a huge music nerd. So when I pick a song, I let it inspire what I'm about to do and then I shape the video to this audio, and then from there, I will see what can work when it's all mixed and balanced.
I want to ask you about fatherhood and how that adjustment has been for you. How has that affected your journey as an artist?
It did obviously change everything in all honesty. Like I remember going into fatherhood I promised myself I wouldn't retire the stuff I love because I feel like that'd be doing her a disservice. That's guilt on her, like as she grows up, she would inevitably think oh, I was the reason why my pops stopped doing what he loved and stuff, I'm not doing it for that sole reason. But what I've taken away from parenthood is, I have a lot less patience for bullshit. I see everybody as a little baby, like I don’t view people as final forms anymore, instead, I see them in the process of becoming who they wanna be. Because of that, I felt a maturity shift in myself where I’m more patient with people. I feel like all adulthood is, at least if you're a conscious person, is seeing what went wrong as a kid and now you're fixing it. I have a lot more patience for people in that sense and I feel like it made me appreciate just genuine connections with people. I mean, I was working full time, a full-time student, when she was first born, I was working overnight, so it was brutal. I was also trying to chase my career, I still am but at the time I didn't land my career yet so it was like a lot was on the line, still trying to manage a relationship, trying to manage my art and my creativity. A lot was, I won't say sacrificed but adjusted to, it definitely made time not critical. And like the thing is, I didn't have time for a social life because that's so much going on, but I found my social life through my creativity. I feel like that's what made my shit special, like when we're linking up, like you’re paying me to do a project right, but at the end of the day, I'm hanging out with you. Like this is my getting out, like let's go get dinner after this, let's go hang out, chop it up. And so that's why I feel like it really made my work more intimate because it was like this is legitimately my chance to be up and do things I want to do.
So what do you do, if anything, to deal with juggling all of those things? Is there anything that you go to to bring yourself a little bit of peace of mind or is it just kind of like you're just kind of pushing through it?
I feel like every day I give myself little accomplishments. There's a part of me where every day it's like I need to think long-term because I'm a parent and things are riding on me, a career, my daughter's livelihood and stuff of that nature. But at the same time, I'm aware that if I don't prioritize the moment, then it's like, the stories of all the hard working parents that's absent because they were so focused on the goal, when really it's the moment that matters the most. So I tried to do just little things like go on a walk with my daughter or just play with her. I try to divide things because I'm ADD as hell and I will let everything come to me in one large thing. But being very conscious of where I am mentally, emotionally as well, I'll try to analyze how am I feeling? What do I need to do to adjust? Am I pissed off? Am I confused and overwhelmed? Overstimulated? Am I happy?
Talk about the collaboration between you and Kashkobi, Muse Me.
So me and Kobi had been wanting to create a project together for ages, but we knew if we did something, it had to be valuable to not just us, but the community and culture. At first we wanted to do an individual project but we realized we had a concept that became something much bigger. So after a while, we came up with Muse Me, to be a stepping stone for all creatives in VA. Our goal is to be a strong muse for creatives and show off and highlight the talent that’s around us because Hampton Roads is very slept on and we want to show how beautiful it is.
