Ever wanted to peer a little deeper into the souls of your fellow writers, artists, dreamers and thinkers here on Buzznet? So have we. That’s why we’re letting our curiosity off the leash (down boy!) and building a new feature, Get to Know, in which we sniff out the most intriguing community members we can find and shake them until we figure out what makes them tick.

We’d like to get things started with Shannon, who you all know as Skintight.  She’s a self-described “funemployed” photographer and unabashed New York enthusiast; her experience with life in the Big Apple, combined with influences from her mother, have brought her to Buzznet, where she shares her stunning and revealing self-portraits with everyone. —Mark Oshiro, Community Manager, panasonicyouth




What made you pick up a camera and start taking pictures?

I have been carrying a camera around with me basically every day since the 7th grade (excluding times my camera broke). I've always really just liked documenting everything around me. Back then, it was just all my friends and the s--- we'd do, but as I got older, I started to explore the city more and see cool things, so I just took pictures of all of it. I wasn't really trying to be artsy or anything. I just always wanted to have proof of the world around me. I grew up (and still am) in one of the greatest cities in the world and no one believes half the s--- I tell them. But after you show someone a picture of dudes dressed as knights in the middle of a park in the dead of night, they tend to believe you more. (THIS IS A TRUE STORY.)

What is the 365-day project, and why do it?

I started the 365 project for several different reasons and it basically has nothing to do why I first picked up a camera. When I was in high school, I took this college course called Literature and Psychology. We read mostly Greek stories and did a lot of art projects. So I did this one project on the persona and masks, where I took (seriously) like 50 photos of myself, all in completely different ways, different body parts, etc., because it was all about how one person could be so many different things with just a slight bit of angle and a different set of clothes.

I also used to be really into sketching and painting, and whenever I had an idea I would just draw them, but after a while I stopped doing both. But I still had all these crazy ideas for pictures in my head that needed to come out somehow, and drawing them wasn't working. So I started the 365 to get them all out. After a while it just became a really good way to express myself. I used to be a writer, like I have so many f------ notebooks filled with all [this] existential high school whining, but after a while (just like painting) I found I couldn't say what I wanted to anymore. But through 365 I found a way to still express what was still going on in my head.



What have you learned about yourself (and your face) after all this time?

I'm not really quite sure what I have learned about myself. I have definitely discovered more sides of me in the process of taking so many photos. I've also learned that there is this one angle if I take photos on, where I have really fat cheeks. I know you are probably looking for a deep answer here, but that’s really it. Fat cheeks.

What kind of camera do you have?

Currently operating a Canon Powershot A650. I had a nifty little Nikon before, but I broke it while in the midst of my 365, and while looking for a decent replacement I discovered this one had a flip out screen, which made the whole thing a lot easier. Plus, it had full manual settings and it fit my budget pretty well. If I land this job at the pharmacy, as soon as I make enough money I am going to buy either a Canon Rebel XTi or a Nikon D60. I have enough money saved in my bank account now where I could theoretically buy one now, but something like this, I want to know I worked for and paid for it entirely on my own.



Your photos tend to contain cigarettes, decay, blood, unhappiness...a lot of (seemingly) darker themes and motifs. Why express yourself this way?

I have grown up surrounded by a lot of really hard imagery. My mother loves vampires; she has an obsession with deformed people. (She took me to the Muter Museum when I was 7. Look it up, it’s not for 7 year olds.) [She] absolutely loves The X-Files. There was always just a lot of really dark s--- going on. Not even literally but figuratively. My mother has a lot of problems and its rubbed off on me through the years. Anyone can take pretty little portraits of models on chairs wearing skimpy clothes and pouting their lips. But it doesn't say anything, its not really what’s going on. There is a dark side to everything. I'm all about ripping myself open and showing everyone all the demons I've got. Everyone has got something bad inside them, most people want to cover them up. I have no problem showing the world my scars. Blood is scary to people for some reason, but it's what’s inside of us all, and everyone at one time or another bleeds. Am I making sense?

As for cigarettes I just smoke way too f---ing much. I'm also told they make you look cool.

You’ve mentioned that you eventually would like to be eventually employed someplace where you'd get to use your camera. What kind of job would you like? Do you think your work on Buzznet is helping you get there?

I'm not really sure what kind of job I can get taking photos. I mean, ideally it would be awesome to make a living taking photos that I love to take. But I mean, how the f--k did David LaChapelle or Annie Leibowitz get to the places they are at, where they get paid to make celebrities do whatever they want for them? Was it just luck? I have no idea, I should look into that. Or sell my soul to Satan or something, I don't know. But really I would have no problem working in a portrait studio or being a wedding photographer. It’s still taking photos that someone is going to really appreciate and have with them for a really long time. I know photographers who refuse to do that, but I don't find it that bad.

Buzznet has given me an audience, where I previously just had a few friends who would look at my photos and tell me they were okay. It’s definitely opened up what I thought I could do with photography.



How did you end up on this site and why do you stay? You seem to have little in common musically with most people here.

I am not gonna lie, I originally wound up on Buzznet just making fun of fangirls. I had no idea this was originally a photo website till I looked at the photo page one day. I mean it’s frustrating when you want to exchange music tastes with people and they have their heads stuck up Pete Wentz's ass. But I have met a lot of cool people on this site. Ikky, Jerry, Sara, Melody, Alex. Me and Alex are real life friends now! She is like my little sister and I'd never have her if it wasn't for Buzznet, so I have you guys to thank for that. So there may not be many people here who care about World/Inferno Friendship Society, but there is more to people than the music they like (well, sometimes). I’ve got some cool friends and there is still a pretty decent photo thing going on here. So I just ignore All Time Low and stick with it.

When did you first decide to picspam a post? Do you remember the post? Why do you do this to certain topics/stories?

LOL SRS QUESTION. I wish I remembered. I know it started with something having to do with Project Mayhem (oh God, remember that?). Me & Alex did something to someone & it just snow balled from there. What matters is that we do it & as long as there is fail in the world we will continue to do it.

Sometimes people just need to be shut down cause they are being retarded & making no sense. And sometimes the only way to deal with that is post a picture of a small Asian girl & a yak fighting.