Michael Hanson and the Impact of Visual Arts

Michael Hanson is a visual arts teacher here at North Quincy High School. Teaching both graphic design and photography, Hanson is a very talented artist. His career in arts is very interesting and stemmed from his years in college.

In a recent interview, Hanson discussed the role of photography in his life and how it has impacted him for the better. The edited conversation follows.

What initially got you interested in photography?

I was an aspiring musician in college and a radio DJ. I found that I was starting to photograph the concerts I went to as well as designing album covers and t-shirts for bands I worked with. Eventually, I found out that was where my talent and passion lied. Music introduced me to photography, so everything came together for me: art, music and photography.

What is your favorite thing to photograph? Is it human subjects, nature or as you said earlier, concerts?

Concerts are still my favorite. I also enjoy photographing new places that I’ve never been. My favorite thing about photography has become the ability to capture memories. Now that I have a family and kids, I’ve realized the value of having a picture with a special person or place. A single picture from 10 or 20 years ago can be the only memory you have of a person or an event.

When you photograph a concert, what do you tend to focus on? Is it the musician? The fans? The atmosphere?

If it’s a band or a musician that I know and am familiar with, I focus on the artist. I try and create a profile of them. In my opinion, the best way to put it is that concerts are very comparable to athletics. A concert is one of the places where you feel so much positive energy in one place. Musicians try so hard to capture that energy and cram all of their art and music into a CD or a vinyl, but those never do the experience justice. The live music and performance is where you really experience the energy, not the CD. Photography helps to try and capture the energy of the moment and help the musician.

How did you learn photography? Did you take any classes or learn from a friend?

I initially started taking graphic design classes in college. In graphic design, you learn a lot about different software, Photoshop being the primary one. I was learning Photoshop and how to work with images. I realized I wanted to backtrack and learn how to make images myself. Instead of being limited to editing other people’s photos, I wanted to learn how to use a camera properly and create my own content.

What is your goal as a teacher here at North Quincy?

I try not to force anything upon my students. I don’t want to push my love for photography onto them but more importantly educate them about photography and let them learn to love, or not love, it. My idea of teaching is that if a student takes one of my courses, they simply learn to be a better communicator, in this case a better visual communicator. Hopefully they can also learn to be a more creative thinker and apply their own creative and artistic perspective to whatever they pursue. I’m teaching a skill set more than forcing a student to become a photographer or a graphic designer.

Did you ever sell or aspire to sell photographs?

I sold some pictures but I never pursued photography as my only source of income. After college, I worked for a freelance art company for a few years and made some money working on websites, logos and t-shirt designs. I sold a few pictures, but my goal was never to be a working artist. I wanted to work in advertising. When I realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do, I went full speed ahead into education. I felt that if I could have a job where I am teaching and around the arts all day, it would actually give me more freedom to create the art I wanted. Since I was teaching full time, I didn’t feel required to say yes to clients I did not want to work with.