Growing as an artist
Reviewing my artistic journey over the past year and a half has brought me to some significant realizations with how I’ve grown both with my art and as a person. In December of 2012, a few months after having finished the photography for my Identity series, an incident and discussion with a past friend happened that was very telling of our differences. In the end we moved on and I wished him well but I was struck with a comment made at that time, that maybe my Identity project had changed me more than I realized? This idea remained with me for some time and I would revisit it in my head often. After much internal reflection and soul searching, my friend was right. The Identity project had and has changed me forever. What this realization also brought attention to, for me, was that if my art and my dialog around my art fail to have a profound impact on me, how can I expect it to move, inspire or create thought and dialog among the people I hope to have the art connect with?
The best part of my Identity project experience was the private discussions that took place prior to the photography. Truly honest, respectful and at times emotional conversations that made me feel honored, proud and in some ways humbled to be part of the experience. With the end of the Identity project I was searching to fill a void that for six months was so rich with human experience and had manifested itself in the images created for the series.
I was looking at my photography and at the same time looking at how I could slow the whole process down to create an environment that became more conducive to what I experienced with the Identity work. So in February of this year I chose to go back to film, not only film, but back to my view camera which I hadn’t used in over twelve years, since I converted 100% to shooting digital. I continued to create portraits, many of them nudes and what I found was that my subjects also responded to this slow process of creating images. It became a shared experience greater than what I’ve experienced shooting digital, which often times is, all about quantity and quickness. My slowed down “new” old process allowed me to see with more clarity, compose with more precision and feel with more intensity both the craft and the art of photography. My subjects, many of them never having been photographed in this manner also embraced this slower and more personal experience.
Maybe it is the fact that I’m well into middle age and that honest and shared experiences and developing personal relationships is way more important and meaningful to me than capturing the next cutting edge or cool image. Most of my artist statements have usually included a line or two, that for me, it has always been more about the journey than the finished product. This has always been my mission but it didn’t resonate as strongly as it has since experiencing the Identity project.
I by no means am saying that it is the correct process for everyone but it works for me. It has enriched both my personal and professional life that fits with where I am in life and I don’t see it changing anytime soon. I would love to hear about your process? What drives you as a creative person? What is your achieved outcome with the work you create?
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Take a look at his website below...
And make sure to catch his new show Identity, at Frank Juarez Gallery, opening October 24th.
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