Artist Statement My vision for “The Art of Being Human” is to draw attention to the uniqueness of each individual’s face through lighting, pose, and natural reaction. I want to steer clear of heavy editing to keep the appearance of the real person in hopes that my images will showcase what it means to be human and how we are painted in another light in someone else's eyes. For instance, throughout this journey I’ve had plenty of subjects arrive saying they aren’t models and that they are completely oblivious on why I want them. I want these types of people in my books because they have so much more to offer than what they are aware of. Each one of them is a new version of the genetics their family passed down to them, making each one of their faces a unique piece of art. Often enough these people are unaware of the unique beauty and story they alone can tell. With my help, I’d like to photograph them how I see them, as this one of a kind work of art. I do this with the hopes that they too can see the beauty that only they can offer the world. As an artist, I love mapping out the human face in order to study how everyone is different. Due to this I was drawn to portrait photography, a popular subject that has always existed in art. Although I want to take the basics of that and apply it to specific parts of the body in order to give more meaning towards things we would typically overlook. The inspiration for this particular book comes from famous portrait photographers such as Philippe Halsman who narrated a person’s personality through photographs. In his time, he documented the faces of countless celebrities, politicians, athletes and artists; each shoot captured their own unique face and style. Halsman’s photographs inspire me to aim for a similar goal, I want each section to help lend a different narrative to my viewers about the models personality. Mihaela Noroc has a different approach when it comes to photographs. She is a more modern-day portrait photographer who charts the world taking spontaneous photographs of women. Each woman is of different skin color, origin, body type, religion and style. This demonstrates Noroc’s message of the worlds vast amount of beauty. Both artists have influenced my desire to photograph features uniquely and provide representative photos in my book “The Art of Being Human” April 1, 2019

Click here for more in depth information on some of the artists that inspired me:https://spark.adobe.com/page/vktAjoMRV4hqc/

I found that expression was adding another layer to my photographs.

Eventually Crunch time hit and I was in need of more models to offer diversity throughout my book.

Riley

Alex

Hayley

Karley

David

Eileen

Creating this book has been a roller coaster of surprises. What I thought was a solid idea got changed multiple times. Although, with each change I believe we were able to see more and more of the real person I was photographing.