Today we’d like to introduce you to Ian Blue.
Hi Ian, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am a photographer, artist and musician based in Austin, TX. I grew up partly in Portland, OR but have spent the last 27 years traveling the country as a (mostly homeless, mostly on purpose) but still professional, artist and performer. Both of my parents lived worked and traveled making music and selling art at festivals around the country before I was born, my mother was a jeweler and leather worker and my father was a percussionist. As a matter of fact, I was literally born at a festival in Colorado. My mother went back to school to become an occupational therapist when I was young so at around age six, we moved to Portland where I went to school until I dropped out of high school and went back to travel and work festivals. My interest and expression in photography is spawned from this life experience and reflect the needs and circumstances of living that life.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
What is smooth!? Is it uncomplicated? Unstressful? Uncompromised? Feeling lucky? Like most folks, I guess I’ve been on all sides of that coin. I feel very lucky and fortunate where I sit now and it is easy for me to find a million examples of harder lives… If I am being honest the greatest challenge for me CURRENTLY is decision fatigue (see, it’s not that hard over here haha)! trying to decide which direction to throw my energy when I have a million interests and can see the value in all of them. It’s funny to think about making supposedly “fun” or “creative” decisions that for me can often border on excruciating hahahahaha (head in hands). I can see why limitations are often (always?) the defining factor in any art form. It is literally what makes it an art form right? it makes me think of the near infinite musical possibilities of just three chords or two colors in paint and how that can not only define an art form but an artist. Otherwise, it’s just chaos… which I guess is also fun…at least for a while.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a photographer, my work tends to reflect my surroundings and the needs of my community. Often with a flair for drama, costumes and fantasy, be it dark or lighthearted. I like to think my images often call back to old masters (or at least laymen) or other times in history, attempting to make full use of time and space in their expression. In capturing the world around me I try to maintain authenticity while simultaneously expressing how things feel, not just how they are visually and I see little point in delivering an image without a deliberate evocation of time, place, or emotion. I feel that an image can straddle the line between reality and felt reality to create a “more real than real” feeling… or at least that is the hope… to create images that reflect an honest feeling that subverts typical values in visual communication and expresses a deeper “felt” truth. As such my interest mainly focuses on documentary, event, fantasy and portrait photography. id say the thing that sets me apart most is my access. as the overused quote from the famous war journalist Robert Capa goes “if your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough”. I photograph pretty much only the world I have intimate access to and some of those worlds are not the easiest to get into and kind of interesting.. at least to some. it should be noted that Capa was blown up at 40 by a land mine while on assignment in Vietnam.
Contact Info:
- Email: texasianblue@yahoo.com
- Website: ianbluephotography.com
- Instagram: @ianbluephotography
Image Credits
All photos by me Ian Blue Johnson
