As photographers, we are visual creatures and writing doesn’t always come naturally. Add to that the ‘feeling’ we just have when we create an image and not the words to go along with it. However, for many reasons, beyond The scope of this blog post, it is important, for you as an artist, and for your viewers, to know what your intention was with creating your work.
Below are a few points to keep in mind when writing your vision statement:
What led you to take a closer look at your subject matter? What intrigues you? (example: How does the changing light over a course of a day alter the reflections in the water?).
When did you start taking these photos? Was there an urgency to capture certain shots?
Where did you take the photos? How far did you travel, and over what time-span? Did you specifically go to locations intent on a particular vision, a particular shot?
What did you discover as you were taking these photos? What did you learn about photography as you adjusted exposures, lighting, viewpoints, horizon lines and focal points? What did you learn about yourself during this process?
How did you experiment and adjust until you reached your final product?
Why are you pleased with the final compilation? How does this six-image essay convey the story you wanted to tell? Why does this matter to you?
And…What NOT to do:
Summarize the resume found elsewhere on your website.
Give a physical description of the artwork.
Sound generic.
Use “art speak”.
Inside Out – Combining Two Passions
“Your strength lies in three-dimensional geometric perception and analytical thought”, said the career counsellor when I was about to embark on the journey to build a lifelong career. I was only eighteen at the time and had no idea what life had in store for me, how many turns and bypasses it would take me on. Eager to start my life, I decided on the stable and honourable career path of Civil Engineering. Little did I know how boring and unglamorous it would be. It took another seventeen years before I decided to change course, grab my life by the wheel to turn the ship around. That change led me to a creative and constant unfolding career as a photographic artist. Even though I identify today as an artist and make fun of my nerdy engineering friends, I can’t deny that even though I proclaim myself as a cool artiste, deep inside of me is a geometric loving nerd. Albeit, now I am a creative nerd. Now, wherever I go, I find myself gravitating towards the geometric harmony in shapes, lines and light.
In my eyes, art is not meant to show the obvious. That is why I find so many of my images are created using daytime long exposure photography. The human eye does not perceive reality like a long exposure image. The juxtaposition of eternal versus temporary, the drama of a streaky sky or the elimination of detail to highlight the essence is what fascinates me. I find myself mainly shooting outside, on the constant pursuit for architecturally compelling subjects. On the rare occasion my addiction to modern style architecture takes me indoors as well. Over the years, I have accumulated a collection of indoor images from my travels that have not made their way out of the womb and have remained in the incubation folder in the basement of my hard drive.
2020 happened. Not being able to travel due to the global pandemic, confined to the indoors, I found myself going through my endless bank of images. Then it hit me, why don’t I take my indoors outside. I decided to combine my two passions, geometric spaces and long exposure to create a surreal series taking the inside out. All those interior shots that just didn’t have the right punch can now be reborn. Building upon their backdrop sets the stage for a more complex story once a long exposure sky was integrated. The results are composite stories that portray aesthetic balance in a dreamlike environment creating their own story. What story do you see?