January 2014
Artist’s Statement
For me there is a tremendous amount of joy in making portraits and being given the opportunity to do so. Nevertheless, writing about them is just about as difficult as arranging for and making them. Although these photos were selected from a variety of portfolios they were almost all made within a couple of miles of my house, of people who are integral to my life, and whose strength of character, grace and beauty compelled me to persuade them to let me photograph them.
Biography
I am a photographer and printmaker quietly living and working in the small, north Florida, Gulf island community of Cedar Key. Fascinated with photography since I was a child, I laid it aside after graduating from high school in Virginia and entering college. I did not seriously return to photography until after retiring from the Marine Corps and taking photography classes at Florida State University, eventually enrolling full time and receiving my MFA in Studio Art. This gave me the opportunity to occasionally teach photography and art at FSU in Tallahassee and Florence, Italy. Perhaps the best thing about receiving my MFA was that it gave me “permission” to make any kind of photography my heart desired. I just retired again after a stint of teaching photography and managing the Photo Lab at FSU.
http://christianharkness.tripod.com/
