Blue Bike, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 2006, by R. A. Mitchell
I haven't sorted out all of the details nor the entire scope of this blog yet, but I've recently been encouraged by a much admired and influential mentor to continue writing (post-completion of an MFA in photography in August 2010) about my experiences as an artist and photographer. After a few months of dormancy, I’ve decided to dust off this blogspot.com space that I’d reserved - and revise or delete the few previous posts that I’d made - and continue my musings through words and graphics on a number of topics that I am passionate for: All genres of photography; color in the manmade environment; relationships between music and color, visual experience, and just about everything; various movements of art through post-modern deconstructivism and whatever the future may hold; the satisfaction and challenges of being creative; artistic careers; and pretty much on and on without too many limits. My intent is to pursue these topics from many perspectives and along any possible tangents.
As an introduction, here is my artist's statement to give an idea of where I am coming from:
“For the images I create, I choose from a variety of subjects including landscapes, urban environments, still lifes and people. I also enjoy location-based and travel photography, venturing both close to where I live and far away. But these subjects aside, the most common denominator in my images is color exploration. When I first started to take myself seriously as a photographer, I sort of tiptoed around my impulse to make images that included lots of rich, vibrant colors. I thought it wasn’t artistic enough or maybe too childish or simple. But I would come home from shooting excursions with loads of colorful images that illustrated my true visual instincts. With time and experience, I succumbed to the wisdom that “you can’t push a river,” and I embraced my instincts. Now, without reservation, I hunt color with my cameras and incorporate it into raw imagery or manipulated results through photographic montage. I believe that color can be a reminder of many joyful things in life – childhood, play, music, love – and can itself be a source of happiness.”