Last fall, I took a class called Developing Your Creative Vision and a Cohesive Body of Work at the Center for Fine Arts Photography in Fort Collins. The class was taught by Cole Thompson.
The class focused on photography as art, not as a gadget-laden lobby. Conversations about gear or technique were discouraged when not banned outright. The focus was on creativity and vision, and I loved every minute of it.
Throughout the class we put together a portfolio on a subject of your own choosing. I wanted to shoot new photos, and with a busy work schedule, early sunsets, and unreliable weather, I chose an indoor subject “Everyday Surreal.” During the last class session, we presented our portfolios, complete with artist’s statement and professional packaging. Hamidah Glasgow, the executive director of the center provided a portfolio review.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be presenting the images from this portfolio. I’ll start with my artist’s statement from the project. I printed it as shown above, keeping in synch with the “Everyday Surreal” theme. Here it is in plain easy-to-read text:
Everyday objects- you walk past them daily without a second glance. A pile of children’s blocks. The old broken motorcycle in the garage. The liquor bottles on the table after a party. Or even just a freshly picked vegetable on the kitchen counter. Small children are fascinated by everything, but as adults we no longer even see these objects. Whether these objects are in motion or at rest, we don’t notice their colors, their textures. We’ve lost the capacity to truly see them.
What would it take to see them again? To notice them, as an adult, for the first time? Bright saturated colors, heavy deep shadows, the blur of motion? Would you once again notice the nuances and subtleties of every day life if they were…
Surreal?
Das Haus von Ruh 