The Art of the Personal Project: Glen McClure

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:  Glen McClure

Photography, for me, is an adventure. I’m always searching for what’s next: the next human face with great character or the next incredible natural wonder. As I travel across Virginia, or to Ireland, France, and Italy, I strive to make the finest portraits of the people and places that I encounter.

My “street portraits” reveal people in their natural habitats. Through my lens I try to capture the nuances of my subjects’ expressions, attire, and surroundings that tell their stories or inspire the viewer to want to learn more. A face, an attitude, a gesture can resonate so much. The right photograph can search out the complexities of person’s character, and through my images, I strive to forge a connection between the person in the portrait and the viewer.

My landscapes are studies in the mysteries and patterns of nature. I am fascinated by weather and atmosphere—light, shadow, rain, clouds, lightning—that set a tone or mood through which to view lakes and oceans, mountains and sand, meadows or forests from new perspectives.

I work in black and white, and in color; the scale of my work varies from large too small. I always let my subjects determine my approach to convey new insights into them. Love of detail and texture define my work—hair, beard, eyes, skin, fabric, mist, leaves of trees, grain of wood—infinite ingredients and subtleties that inform the composition. And, ultimately, fine quality is what I seek—from the click of the shutter to the final carefully crafted print—to serve my subjects as well as I can.

Paul Strand, the pioneer of 20th-century American photography, said it best: “the material of the artist…lies in the world around him.”  My photographs offer the viewer an opportunity to take the time to notice, to look closely, and to see.

To see more of this project, click here

To purchase this book

The Gallery Show runs from Feb. 3-March 30, 2024 (Norfolk, VA)

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 advertising and in-house corporate industry for decades.  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.  Follow her at @SuzanneSease.  Instagram