Artist Statement: As an artist, I value the oddity of the world and enjoy seeing the aspects of the world that go unnoticed by the untrained eye. Too often do we let buildings rot away and lay in waste and fail to see their beauty, the beauty in abandonment. We often fail to recognize the unique intimacy that exists beyond ourselves in subcultures that exist in the underground of our society. As an artist an and as a person in general I enjoy immersing myself in these things which are oblong to our everyday lives, and seek to capture them and their natural state undisturbed by the outside. We coexist with these oddities every single day, yet never exactly realize the world in which we live is so full of outsiders, both dark and unique. I also enjoy capturing images of the things the world would shun for being different, for not being popular or normal. I aim to capture a world that none care to explore. Welcome to my portfolio website and thank you for taking a little time to learn about me! My name is Brandon Wathen, although I very obviously prefer to go by Brandon Dylan. I was born in Sandwich, Illinois on September the 26th, 1998. I'd describe myself as kind, fun, compassionate, and friendly considering I enjoy the company of others, although I may be a bit picky in this area sometimes. Ever since I was young I've always had a fascination with things like photography and film, specifically the types that show the darker and less seen parts of the world. Occultism, abandoned places, the inner workings of machines, and rusted metals are just a few types of my favorite things to look at. As for film, I enjoy movies about war stories and documentaries on different subjects like history and ghosts or whatever. Normality bores me. I always prefer to see something new that I have never heard of before, and I hate repetition. For me, individuality is the most important thing in the world because as the world grows older, people continually grow closer and closer together in a giant ring of conformity. I prefer to be on the outside of that ring (as edgy as that sounds.) Besides film and photography I have a variety of interests such as anime, video games, music, and of course food. I am through the roof obsessed with this video game/anime series Danganronpa which is a murder mystery type game based around an all out battle of hope an despair! My favorite character is Nagito Komaeda, for anyone who is curious! Other than that, I also love the Assassin's Creed series of video games, the Metro 2033 games, Portal, Half Life, and basically anything else made by Valve, although I don't fancy myself a Counter Strike player. My favorite musicians are Aesthetic Perfection, Rotersand, And One, Incubite, [X] - RX, Motionless in White, Perfume, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, and REOL. But my music taste ranges way beyond just these musicians! I pride myself on having the widest music taste than anyone I know. From American Rock to German Pop and Italian Speedcore I love all ends of every spectrum (except American Pop and Country music.) I also am one of those people who loves to go out to eat, and I have loads of different things that I love like sushi, tacos, burgers, salads, taco salads... You get the point! I'm also a huge candy fanatic and I love Jolly Ranchers, Starbursts, Snickers, Nerds, and loads more. My goal in life has always been to be a musician. There's just something so amazing to me about the idea of going up on stage and reaching in to the very hearts of your crowd and feeling that connection with them the way musicians have done to me. Also, touring the United States and Europe has always been a dream of mine, and is the gold standard I'd go any length to succeed at. Beyond that, I want to become talented at Digital Imaging and things like coding for the computer. I personally believe that as we continually grow towards our future, more and more aspects of our daily lives will become infused with technology, and I want to become part of that revolution. I think that's one reason I've taken an interest in photography. I'm a person that will never settle for less than perfection, although perfection doesn't exist. I want to capture the moments that not only define my life, but the evolving lives of musicians and computer craftsmen around the world as it constantly evolves in this new and interesting age we inhabit. Several decades from now we will be things of the past, and the foundations we lay as people of our time will forever be remembered by photographers like myself and my friends will be the memorabilia of the past and I think that's pretty awesome. Ultimately, I want this world to succeed undivided and I want the way we live now to be a distant memory of the way things "once were." That is my hope. Other Basic Information: Favorite Colors: Pastel Pink and Electric Blue Favorite Animal: Bunnies Favorite Food: Taco Salad Favorite Video Game: Super Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Favorite Anime: Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!/Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School Favorite Cartoon: The Amazing World of Gumball Favorite Artists: Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman and, Kazimir Malevich Favorite Musician: Aesthetic Perfection |