Artist Database / Member Artist Pages

Artist/Photographer Member Dion McInnis

Artist Statement

Anyone can take a photograph. Push a button. Snap. It is the seeing, not the taking that predominates my thinking and creative process, my thoughts and inspiration, and it is what directs my use of images and words to enhance my goal of sharing with others what I see: ultimately, each gaze shows me beauty. I utilize all five senses to enhance my ability to see.

Light is my mistress. I return again and again to be satisfied by light´s ability to reveal discoveries, answer curiosities and tantalize my senses´ roles in creating images and words. While my equipment and technique may be described as simple, my process of listening and interacting to explore that which, or who, inspires me is sophisticated and nuanced. When photographing a person, I strive to celebrate, honor and respect the individual and all humanity which the person represents in the moment. My intention, by process and tone, is to have others choose to reveal themselves to me intellectually, emotionally and physically. This may be for a moment or for hours.

Women

When photographing a woman, I reach into an even deeper well spring of inspiration. As Kahlil Gibran wrote for the main character in his book "The Prophet," "A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman will bear me." Each photographic experience produces rest, inspiration and motivation to create more. Each enables my creative rebirth, time and again. My work inspires my presentations and writings, and vice versa. Sometimes I convey my words to paper, and sometimes onto the woman who inspired them; some are directed to presentations or poetry, and some to books. In the silence of the image are two voices: She says, "show me who you see in me," and I say "let this be part of your voice." Most women and I get connected at a time when they seek some sort of visual measure of who they are. Call it serendipity. The place where she reveals herself can best be described as Sacred Ground, and there I create based on who I see as I have listened.

MAY I HAVE © Dion McInnis 2003

May I have
1/700,000 th of your lifetime
That´s all—
To let me birth the words and images
Developing in my heart, soul, brain, imagination
Because of you
Only you.
Sit, talk, lay, listen—but God, don´t pose.
Be you.
May I have
The you I see
For one hour
To create and then show you in images
Describe to you in words
How amazing you are—
A muse.
May I have 1/700,000 th of your life
For me
To create a mirror of art and ink.

Please



Environment

As with people, much of the environment´s appeal to me is the imperfectly perfect beauty that comes naturally. The concept of wabi-sabi weaves through my vision as I see beauty in textures, lines, context and contrasts whether the environment is flora and fauna, or simply the surroundings in which I find myself in the moment of inspiration. This philosophy espouses beauty is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete." The transience can be measured in seconds, days, years or decades.

Strangers and Friends

In all strangers and friends, I seek in the moment the chance to reveal who I see with respect, integrity and insight. The transient nature of beauty can be seen here, too: expressions, movement, and touches accentuate features, reveal feelings, convey stories. Essentially, I believe that the human experience involves and conveys beauty at all moments. It is the seeing, not the taking, that reveals it to others.


www.dionmcinnis.com

dion@dionmcinnis.com