Interview with Photographer Michael Seewald

Cameras are everywhere we look these days. Thanks to smartphone technology, anyone can take a picture or record video. But the difference between a "photographer" and just someone with a smartphone is stark. While most of us take "selfies" and pictures of the macaroni we made for dinner, professional photographer and artist, Michael Seewald, creates something much more. Using advanced techniques and pulling from his deep well of experience, this local San Diego artist captures the essence of a place in time.

Seewald began his artistic journey when he was just a child. "My mom taught me painting," he said. "She got me doing one of those paint-by-number kits... of course I would just throw away the paint-by-number kit instructions and just start painting the little things myself and start drawing my own little things." Seewald was only thirteen when he won his first award. "I beat all the kids in a window-painting contest for Halloween," Seewald said. "I won a gift certificate so it was kind of neat. My first income." But where painting was - according to Seewald - "both laborious and hard," he found a tool with which to let his artwork blossom: the camera. "A little Box Brownie Camera," he said, "and I couldn’t wait to take the film down to the pharmacy because they always gave you a free roll of film when you got your pictures developed."

Seewald kept developing that film and also began to develop his own style of photography. He recalls a specific college class assignment that really had an effect on him. "It was a dream series," he said. "I photographed my roommate’s girlfriend out on the pier in Long Beach in a night gown at twilight." Seewald used long exposures with tri-pods, "creating some really ghostly effects, which I really thought were interesting." This method is one of Seewald’s trademarks, and can be seen in many of his popular pieces. "I’ve just been fine-tuning it ever since," Seewald said. "Some people call them angels, other people call it ghosts - but there’s always some ethereal effect going on with people. Which, in a way, conveys the fact that, you know, we’re not here forever." Seewald tends to use a large building or other structure as the focal point of his shots to form a juxtaposition. "In Florence, there’s a bunch of statues and people walk among the statues, but in the picture it shows that the statues were there before them and will be there after them... they’re like ghosts walking among the statues because of the over-exposure."

Though he has been funded by sponsors to travel all over the world in the name of art (62 trips in all), Seewald keeps his collection here in San Diego. You can check it out at Michael Seewald Galleries in Del Mar, where his Cuba Series is currently on display. While you’re there, you can buy his art right off the wall, sign up for photography classes taught by Seewald, or even become a sponsor for some future artwork. Some of his sponsors include the current President of Pepsico, as well as Dr. Charles Cantor who has 46 pieces of Seewald’s artwork, "40 of which he sponsored," Seewald said. Plus, come Christmas, you can catch his latest project that was centered around Argentina, which he shot last May. "It will be my 33rd Annual Christmas-party-slash-new-release," said Seewald. Like the statues in Florence, it seems Seewald’s artwork will be here long after we are. Remember to come see Michael Seewald a man of art.

Michael Seewald Galleries located at 1555 Camino Del Mar, Del Mar, CA 92014