Mission statements don’t have to be about dull, corporate stuff… they can also be about the creative process and act as a compass to point you in the right direction. Your photographic mission statement can be about your audience, your passions and your goals.
Example and blank “audience circles” (click for larger images)
Links relevent for this show:
The Candid Frame: Ibarionex Perillo’s excellent podcast interviews with photographers
Jeff’s Video Projects: The videos mentioned in this episode
LensWork Magazine: Jeff’s videos are in issue #67. The advantage of distribution on CD-ROM is that the movies are at a much higher resolution (640×480 pixels) than is practical via the web.
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I’m a believer in writing as a tool for discovery, and think there’s great value in creating artist statements, etc. I’m glad you mentioned the project framework, because it has felt quite useful to me to attempt to explain or present a photographic project in a paragraph. Naturally, this is best done while still engaged in the project. However, although I’ve been pondering the question, I’m not at all ready to create an overall statement of my mission as an artist. I just don’t think I’m settled enough to say something non-trivial, non-trite, and true. For example, I have a project that is totally different from work I’ve done in the past: abstract rather than representational, color rather than monochrome. I have others in mind that are different in other very significant ways. I do plan on some writing, along with lots of printing and looking, to help me figure out where these projects can go, but the larger statement seems too big to tackle for now.
Which leads me to wonder whether you have portfolios other than the Italian architecture (mostly) which is on your website. If so, how does it fit into your sense of your photographic mission? If not, at what stage in the Italy work did you come to see this as your major focus? Is your newer interest in portraiture likely to extend beyond the Italian setting?