Artist Statement

My senior project, .Raw, is a guide for amatuer photographers to understand the need for professional photographers who own their craft. Our phones have made photography easily available to the masses which is good, but the idea that everyone can take good photographs diminishes the concept of the professional photographer. My project focuses on broadening my technical skill as an amatuer photographer in different disciplines of professional photography.The title of my body of work reflects my intent to show my subjects as raw and true to how they perceive themselves. .Raw is not only the file type commonly used when shooting manual photographs but also how I wanted to capture my subjects. When I am editing I will not crop the image down unless it was a small hairline. All cropping should be done when shooting and not during editing. Most well-known photographers can be identified by their framing or perspectives used. When you crop after it can lead to inconsistencies and low quality imagery.The background should not carry more weight than the subject. They should complement each other. After accumulating a large body of work it was time to be selective in choosing the final set.  I looked for similarities and differences such as color or perspective when grouping them together. The typography on the cover is supposed to be minimally invasive to the imagery. I found that this intrigue with the overlay only occurred in some areas and was a necessity in tying the designs together.