Sean Maung

How long have you been taking photographs?

I have been taking photos in an inspired, motivated manner since 2006.

Where did you start taking photographs?

I think I first started in Olympia, WA. i had spent the summer working in Alaska, catching salmon.
I got back to washington and used that money to buy a fine Dobbs hat and a used olympus om1 film camera.

What inspires you?

People and place inspire me. The random character of people. The camera is a tool to help me facilitate that passion. The camera gives me an opportunity to see new places and talk to people on the street.
When I was living in L.A., I would hop on the bus to downtown. Then maybe drink some whiskey and smoke. Then just walk around, taking pictures, talking to random people off of Broadway, or Los Angeles St. or Main.



Your pictures tend to fixate on places that and people that are in off
moments. What draws you to this?

I guess when I take pictures, I want to showcase aspects of life that are not always mainstream; that don't fit into America's manufactured image of itself.


What do you think this other reality says about more normalized
pictures of life you see in the media?

There is a big facination with "reality" and reality media, but alot of that shit is so fake.
I think as a society, we have gotten so insulated, and have a hard time with confrontation and compromise. People want to know, and connect, but they do it in a very sterile, convienant manner; like watching reality t.v. or texting.

What do you think about concepts of freedom? You seem to like to take
pictures at moments when society is a little broken down, when people
are just hanging out and being themselves but that self might be a
little aimless.

Yeah, and in a way they might be free becuase they are not conforming to certain ideals and values that society has made. And I respect that and i notice that. Maybe it's very simple and a dude wants to wear latex because it feels good, and that gangster is tatted up because it's what you have to do to represent.
so in a way they are so free, and in a way they are so oppressed because mainstream society doesn't accept them. i guess out of that rejection and conflict between freedom and oppression there is intense expression.



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