Location during Art Walk EAST:
Stop 16
830 Exposition Avenue., Ste. 215

Artist story and creative journey
I first picked up a camera my freshman year in high school (1989/90), when the photo editor of the school newspaper walked into my journalism class and asked if any one wanted to help her get some photos of a school event. My hand shot up when she said we could get out of class to do it! I am a keen observer by nature, interested in how things work and why things are they way they are, so it seems natural I would gravitate to photography. I like my work to feel natural and not manipulated, like coming upon something in everyday life. I love sharing my experiences and showing people things I see. Photography is a way for me to connect and feel connected.

Inspiration and artistic perspective
Curiosity and the desire to share experience are the drivers of my photography. Serendipity and enchantment are the catalysts that inspire me to look closely at the world, while my desire to share those feelings motivate me to frame a scene, push the trigger, then show it to other people.

Creative process
With my World Portraits I was working intuitively, capturing the scene in a way that, hopefully, communicates how I felt at that moment. I was driven to show the uniqueness of each person and culture I photographed, enhancing the beautiful and soulfulness that transcends our perceived divisions. I approach the portraits I do for my business in the same way, working to capture the individual essence of each person even when the overall portrait is similar to others.

Experiences that shaped my work
At the beginning of my travels, in Kenya, I was in a market and was randomly photographing the scenes and some of the people. A woman began yelling at me to not take her photo and another man started throwing his produce at me. It made me examine my own intentions and subconscious beliefs about the people I was photographing. I realized I was not photographing them as people, but more like exhibits or animals on safari. And I hadn't asked their permission. It was humiliating and very difficult to confront these underlying beliefs, but it made me a better photographer and a better human.

What do you want visitors to know
In my work, I strive to show the beauty of the world, but more than that, I hope to communicate the humanity of people. I want a viewer in the U.S. to see a person in a photograph as they see themselves. I want the viewer to wonder about the life of the people in the images and ask questions about them they might ask of their friends, humanizing questions. What is their life like? What are they thinking about? What do they want from their life? What makes them laugh? Whom do they love?

I am also a headshot and portrait photographer offering my services to wide range of clients, from large international corporations to individual actors getting started in the industry.

Website: www.mgmarshallphotography.com
www.rtwphotos.com
Instagram: @mgmarshallphotography
Email: mgmarshallphotography@gmail.com