In a mere three weeks, I will be completing my college education in Digital Photography. I’ll be let loose upon the world to hopefully make a mark. One of the last tasks in our college lives is to assemble a portfolio of work that represents our style and area(s) of focus (pardon the pun). In putting my portfolio together, I thought long and hard about whether I wanted to make my mark commercially or artistically. I decided the latter was more important. Easy for me to say since I have an alternate source of income.
Once that decision was made, I needed to be able to explain my photographs – why I shot them, what they represented and what impact they had on me. Typically labelled an “artist’s statement”, these short spans of text are often poetic and lofty, serving to both reveal and conceal information about the author. By conceal, I mean create some sense of mystery in that the reader would want to know what might come next.
I found my statement fairly easy to write, in all honesty. It’s not that I know exactly why I shoot photographs, but I do know what I would like to feel when I see one of my images. And that’s exactly what I tried to capture.
The full portfolio will make an appearance on this site in due course. Some of it is already posted. In the meantime, here’s the words behind the pictures:
Artist’s Statement – Nina Kirienko
I’ve discovered that a love of photography is a love of the possibility in an image. Textures, lines, shapes, light, even empty space all are magical to me. I have indeed learned to see.
Nowhere is that possibility as pronounced for me as it is in the natural world. The seemingly random designs in a flower’s petals speak volumes.
I also see that same potential in architecture and in shadow-filled glimpses of the human form.
My fascination turns into a desire to commemorate. It inspires the application of techniques to reveal something unexpected. The result is this collection of work.
If you feel the least bit of honour and awe at what the world around us has to offer, I will have done everything I needed to.
oldgirlphotography.ca 