The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before. In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find. Please DO NOT send me your work. I do not take submissions.
Today’s featured artist: Cam Camarena
The concept behind the “Awkward” series was to explore the Inner Awkward that each of us experience. Sometimes it’s an alter ego, sometimes it’s a feeling we express or experience either by choice or involuntarily within certain situations. I believe the human condition we all share includes those moments when we either say the wrong thing, laugh at the wrong moment, or make an attempt at a joke that nobody else seems to relate to. We have all been there.
My artistic objective of “Awkward” is to visually recreate some of these emotions. Finding that precise moment of having just put my foot in my mouth, the butterflies created when that pretty girl looked at me in such a way, or that struggle of faking my way through a conversation in which I am totally lost. These are all occasions we feel vulnerable or maybe even disconnected. However these experiences do not always have to be uncomfortable, they can be exploratory and even liberating, and many times down right funny.
Central to my work and process is connection. There has to be a human connection to the process of creating these images, and that’s where my job becomes important and for me one of the best elements. I truly enjoy working with people, connecting with them and letting each do their thing/be themselves with some guidance and instruction. Through this process I guide my subject, they guide me, somewhere something will get Awkward, and together we create our images. It’s my goal for the viewer to possibly identify with something within this series as it invokes an awareness to a visceral moment in time, remember that time, and smile about it.
To see more of this project, click here.
APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s. After establishing the art-buying department at The Martin Agency, then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies, she decided to be a consultant in 1999. She has a new Twitter feed with helpful marketing information because she believes that marketing should be driven by brand and not by specialty. Follow her at @SuzanneSease. Instagram
Success is more than a matter of your talent. It’s also a matter of doing a better job presenting it. And that is what I do with decades of agency and in-house experience.
