BFA Artist Statement

The work that I am wishing to create is that of absent environmental portraiture.  The influence behind this idea is Shelby Lee Adams. His work shows this intimate trusting, yet almost a honest looking photo, due to the fact that he has created this relationship with the people that he is photographing. I want to capture the intimacy that he has created, yet do so without physically having a person in the photo. I want to be able to have the viewer to place a person that they imagine in this photograph, as well as making them almost feel uncomfortable by the lack of a subject in the image. I want the subject to be of a fictional character that creates a scenario that anyone can relate to: the act of doing something that is unnatural to just appear. I want to capture the subject in a way that seems non intentional, yet actually setting up the scenario and strategically planning every shot with lighting, just like Shelby Lee Adams creates his photos.