My Artist Statement

When you decide to participate seriously in any activity that is considered “artistic”, you are required, not by law but by the code that rules your specific art genre, to write an “artist statement”.

I have been taking what I consider to be continuing education courses in the art of photography. This is the second course I’ve taken where I’ve been required to write an artist statement about my work. It is difficult – I don’t like doing it. I take these classes to shoot, not to write. I’m not a writer…you’ve seen my blogs! My husband is the writer, I’m the photographer. We worked it out that way. We each decided we would not marry someone with which we shared the same level of artistic skill, thus avoiding the ugly spousal competition. I’ve been out of “regular” school for years yet always seem to wind up in a class where the instructor instructs you to write an essay. It’s a requirement to complete the class. It’s not like we get a grade, it is strictly a P or F kind of world, but that P depends on doing the required work assigned within the class, specifically, this time, an artist statement. Have I mentioned how much I do not like writing an artist statement? It takes someone with much more talent and skill than me to adequately put into words a description of my photos or series of photos. Below is my rough draft. I would like to go on record to say that it was painful; painful for me to write. Unfortunately, it will be just as painful for you to read!

Artist Statement

Life-changing moments. Our lives are littered with them. Blink and you just might miss one.

Life inspires me. I’m often accused of staring at people but I don’t consider it staring. I’m observing……and waiting. Watching what they do and how they do it so that I can mentally capture an image and hopefully carry it to print. There is a couple sitting on a bench; they’ve hired me to take their engagement portraits. I sit. I watch. I wait for that perfect moment when she leans in to whisper in his ear….click….got it! Their special moment can now be presented to them to share with their friends and family….or to keep just between themselves.

Eleven years ago, as I watched with awe an image appear in a tray filled with developer, a friend told me that I would never be able to take photos or be a photographer because I was too uptight and controlled. I instinctively took that as a direct challenge and set off to prove said friend wrong. I started shooting portraits of my friends and their children. I read everything about portrait photography that I could get my hands on and then started taking classes to improve my technique. Since then, I’ve been taking photos of anything and everything, at every opportunity.

People, along with their habits and characteristics, fascinate me. I love being able to capture a facet of someone’s personality when they are in front of my camera. To me, you learn a lot about that person…if they are bold, shy, confident or a little unsure of themselves. However, there are those that believe if you capture their image on film, you’ve taken something very valuable: their soul. Do I believe this? Yes. Why? Because when you photograph someone, you are in essence, taking a piece of that person along with you. And, if you’re lucky, you get the opportunity to capture someone’s life-changing moment.

To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s mortality, vulnerability and mutability. – Susan Sontag