Artist Statement

Mia Boudreau

Time can be stopped, memories recorded, and moments forever captured, all in a single frame.
Photography is the tool that allows us to do this, and it has always been something that has captivated me.
I am so glad that I was able to spend the last semester focusing on creating these frames.

I often find myself wondering what my creative process really is. I try to pinpoint it, define it, but
when I step back and stop trying to analyze it, I notice a pattern. I have found that my best work does not
result from having a pre-assigned prompt or an already planned out photo, but instead from allowing
myself to work and create freely. My creative process is very in-the-moment, organic, and natural. I tend
to get a lot of my inspiration when I am working, and that is why I don’t like to overly plan out my work.
Planning work and pre-assigning prompts were major components of my work this year, especially in
“Advanced Digital Photography” class. This challenged me in new ways because it forced me to alter my
creative process and work differently than I normally would, with a clear goal/prompt in mind when I
took photos.

Throughout this process, I began to notice trends in my photography. I noticed that my photos are
usually centered around people, or have people as the main subject. I think that I gravitate toward
capturing photos of people because they show so much emotion and personality. While I do like shooting
pictures of other subjects, such as landscape, objects, etc., I found that I worked with people the most for
my projects. With a trend in subjects, I also saw a trend in my editing. I usually edit very simplistically,
unless I am making something graphic or digital. I think that a lot of this comes from taking pictures of
people because I don’t want to edit them to the point where they or the photo looks drastically different
from the moment, unless that is my explicit goal.

The trends that I noticed in subject matter and editing were definitely present in my portfolio this
year, but was not the connection I chose to carry throughout all of my portfolio photos. I really wanted to
challenge myself with my portfolio and focus in on a couple skills so that I could work on and improve
them. After completing the 31 Nights project, I noticed that I used some graphic editing and design
elements in my photographs. This is what I choose to focus on with my portfolio work, and I
implemented it in many different ways. In some of my photos, like “Pieces” and “Flutter,” I used white
paint in photoshop to draw and create something new in the photo. In “Ethereal” and “Only,” I used text
to create graphics on my photos, and in “Sir Thomas” and “Lovely” I used collage techniques to overlay
photos, color blocks, and patterns. Each one of these editing techniques challenged me to become more
familiar with Adobe Lightroom, and especially Adobe Photoshop. After completing my portfolio, I feel
more proficient in both of these programs and I also feel like I know more graphic design skills.

Overall, I like the work that I produced this year, but I do have some favorites as well as some
less than favorite photos. The photo I like the most in my portfolio is “Lima.” I like this photo because I
think that it has a strong contrast with the black and white editing and the lime green colorblock. I also
like this photo because I really enjoyed this shoot as it resulted in many other photos that I like, as well as
good memories. Originally, I did not want to add the color block to this photo because I did not want to
cover up the subject’s face. By adding the color block, however, made me stick to my portfolio theme. In
contrast, I think that my least favorite photo in my portfolio is “Only.” I do not like this photo because I
think the words are very dramatic and aggressive in a sense. The colors also did not turn out like I wanted
them to. This pushes me to keep creating, keep making, and to always be imaginative so that my work
and my art can continue to improve.