Long Time Coming

-
"Innocence Lost" 2019

Photography can be so much more than pretty pictures. I can also be used to raise awareness on social issues, to help create a dialogue. Unfortunately in the area I live in, the galleries and people who actually show art work, first think of photography as the step child of the arts and secondly, do not want to show anything even a little bit controversial. It's not that they can't monetize and sell the work, it's because they either are afraid to offend or maybe cause waves, or aren't brave enough to take a stand.

This is not new to me, I have been aware of this since I start exhibiting my work. But I find that more and more people are afraid to take a risk, push the envelope, make a stand. They are happy with pretty pictures to fill their gallery walls.

These pretty pictures are part of the reason that photography still is not taken seriously in the art world.

If I mention Lewis Hines, Dorothea Lange, Walker Evens, W. Eugene Smith, Lynsey Addario, or Alec Soth, you might kind of know their names. Might say, "wasn't she the one who took that picture?" Or think of them, if you do know them at all, and immediately say, they are photojournalist or documentary photographers, not fine artists. But, is there a difference?

Photography can be the mirror to our society. Injustice, human rights, equality, all can be seen through a photographers lens. But if it's delegated to the dark corners of the internet what good does it do. If the photographic artist is brave enough to point their camera at something and shine a light on an issue than we need galleries and art shows to be brave enough to show them to the public. To open their eyes to the world around them, unflinching.

Since Columbine there have been 240 school shooting.

The photo above, "Innocence Lost", is my attempt to try and get people to see this plague on our culture and create a conversation.

Will you help start the conversation?

"Innocence Lost" Archival chromogenic print, acrylic paint and broken plexiglass.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NFT Market, was it a fad or will it come back?

-
Image
  "Over the Edge" by Michael Barone It wasn't long ago that I wrote a long post about how the art world might change with the advent of the NFT market. Non-fungible tokens seemed like they could be another way for artists to get their art, not only out in the world but sold. Well, a recent article might have something else to say about that. "On May 3, the NFT market reached a peak with $102 million USD worth of Non-Fungible Tokens sold just that day. But looking at sales data from the last week of May, only $19.4 million USD in NFT sales was processed. Compared to the $170 million USD in NFTs transacted the week of the peak, the market saw a 90 percent drop. Although NFT collectibles like CryptoPunks and Hashmasks are still going strong, there looks to be a shift from crypto-art to “metaverse” NFTs. It is also important to note, the number of active NFT wallets has dropped from over 12,000 at each NFT category to just 3,900." So as it looks from the data, the a
Read more
-
Image
NFTs or  Non-Fungible Tokens have grabbed the attention of artists all over the world.  With the digital collage art selling at Christie's for $69 Million, artists are not starting to take notice of this interesting way to sell art. But what is a NFT?  And how do I get in on this? We all know a digital image can be copied, shared and duplicated over and over again. This is where NFTs have changed the digital art world. They allow you to create something that can't be duplicated, the actual ownership of the artwork. This is your digital signature or certificate of authenticity of your photo. NFTs allow you to create limited editions of your digital artwork, all while retaining the copyright. What makes them valuable is the ownership recorded on a blockchain. A block chain is a digital ledger similar to the networks that support cryptocurrency. Each NFT is unique and can't be duplicated. They are unique digital artworks no one else can own. Of course, people might have a copy
Read more

Fine Art Nude Photography Workshop

-
Image
Well, it looks like in-person workshops are happening again! Covid kind of put them on hold but they are back. Even though I did a few Zoom workshops over the past 12 months, there is nothing like getting together and working with a live model. My Fine Art Nude Photography Workshop will be  4 hours and will also have a Zoom component where I'll retouch and tweak a few images live so you can see my workflow.  The nude photography workshop will be May 1st at the Art Establishment in Fountain Hill, PA, from Noon until 4:00 I will be focusing on lighting the nude model using only one light source. By using strobes, an LED light panel and an Ice Light, along with various modifiers, we'll create dramatic nude portraits and body scapes. Plus at the end of the workshop you'll be able to work with our model one-on-one to create your own images. For this workshop I was lucky enough to book as our model the beautiful Carissa Santigate.  IG @freshcinnamonrols     If you're interest
Read more