Jurors – SHOTS 11
Tom Meyer
I’ve been using a camera seriously since about 1976 when I lived in Upper New York State. There I made my first picture with Kodachrome 25 and a 30 year old Argus C-3 camera given to me by my father. He was a compulsive amateur photographer whose father was compulsive amateur photographer. I was 23 years old.
My personal artwork attempts to convey the visual and metaphorical qualities of a physical subject while downplaying the technical extremes excesses so common in 21st Century photography. A contradiction lies in my exclusive use of 21st Century processes while exhibiting an almost 15th Century aesthetic. I have a great affinity for those subtly beautiful contiguous moments, available to any interested observer, which are often missed in the din and press of modern life. I work to re-present these moments as faithfully as possible on the printed page.
I am inspired by the physical characteristics of any subject and how its history is presented, and its future implied by its condition in a particular moment, and within the constraining syntax of photography. I have been exhibiting my images as artworks since 1986. I have worked as a professional photographer since 1994, exclusively so since 2001.
Sheila Pree Bright
Sheila Pree Bright is a Fine Art photographer based in Atlanta. Her large-scale works combine a wide-ranging knowledge of contemporary culture, while challenging perceptions of identity. Bright received national attention after winning the Santa Fe Prize from the Santa Fe Center for photography in 2006 for a series of work entitled The Suburbia Series. The series takes aim at the American media’s projection of the “typical” African American community and depicts a more realistic and common ideology of African American life. The series also explore the variations and similarities of an existence that subverts lifestyle and culture, particularly as it relates to Americanism. As a result, Bright has emerged as a new voice in contemporary photography with her edgy portrayals of urban and suburban themes, as well as her provocative commentary about American beauty standards. Recently, Bright has embarked on one of her most ambitious projects to date called the Young Americans which was underwritten by a grant from the Aetna Foundation and premiered as a solo exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in May 2008 and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in September. In 2009 – 2010 The Young Americans series is a traveling exhibition and Bright is now working on her two upcoming series.