About Me

“ISO, aperture, f-stops, depth of field… A few months ago I didn’t know what any of that meant. Photography just sounded too complicated and I didn’t want to get started with yet another complicated hobby.”

That’s my answer when people ask why I only recently (October, 2009) picked up a camera for the first time. People who know me think it’s silly given my background as a fine furniture designer and builder, pottery studio owner, fine art gallery owner, and for the past 15 years, partner, programmer, database architect, and system administrator for our internet consulting and development firm, Bare Feet Studios LLC. They think it’s crazy that I would consider photography and painting to be more complicated than programming large content management systems.

I studied architecture and design in college but eventually found my way to the Fine Arts department. I worked my way through college and the Painting and Photography fees were too expensive. I ended up in the Ceramics and Sculpture departments and graduated with a B.F.A. in Ceramics with minors in Sculpture and Drawing at the University of Iowa. I really liked fast, gestural drawings on the large rolls of paper that I would tack up on the walls.

So now, almost 20 years later, I find it very interesting that I’ve started painting and exploring photography, and specifically abstract photographic processes, as a way to create photographic abstractions that at first glance appear to be gestural paintings, complex line drawings, or digital creations either created or modified on the computer and/or in Photoshop.

Most of my photographs are created by experimenting with Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) and by manually adjusting aperture, focus, and shutter speed with my Canon DSLR. They are then imported directly from the camera into Aperture. I don’t use filters or plugins of any kind. What you see is what I shot.

Others are entirely shot and edited on my iPhone and iPad.

My favorite element of this work so far is that my pieces are entirely unique and unreproducible. Even by me! I can’t return to the place I took the photographs and reproduce them. It’s a combination of light, luck, technique, and being in that moment. Even if someone stands next to me, with the same camera, lens, and settings, and mimics my movements, we won’t create the same image.

Living in Hawaii we are surrounded by beauty. The sunsets. The beaches. The flowers. The people. So much beauty everywhere. Surrounded by it every day. I am excited that I’ve found a way to capture the hidden beauty around us and present it in a fresh, new, contemporary way.

~~~~~ Other places you can find me online ~~~~~

http://twitter.com/shane
I have a love/hate relationship with Twitter but if you’re on Twitter, let’s follow each other!

http://facebook.com/shanerobinson
Similar to Twitter.

http://facebook.com/shaneart
I created a Facebook Fan Page where I post info and updates on my photography and painting.

http://barefeetstudios.com
My 14 year old consulting and development company at which I’m a Partner with the brilliant, lovely, and exceptionally talented Ms. Roxanne Darling (and yes, we’re partners in life also).