POET OF THE VISIBLE
Photography is a game played out between the camera (the machine) and the photographer (human being). The game is almost hopelessly loaded. The machine is so perfect. So many so easily allow themselves to be dominated by, to be used by it. No wonder. There is such a tremendous power at your fingertips. By pushing the button, you release the forces of technology that is akin to setting the chisel of Michelangelo into motion by itself.
But Michelangelo is not famous for his chisel. He is famous for what he sculpted. When somebody asked him if it is difficult to create a sculpture, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "No, not really. When I get a slab of marble I see the sculpture in it. All I do is to chisel until I remove the excessive material". A chisel, or a camera, they only serve us to isolate what we feel, we know, we sense is there.
Bill Mitchell understands this very well. His pictures are masterpieces of isolation. His colours are used -- often to monochrome effect -- as a heightened sense of isolation. He uses shapes, forms, texture, the essential elements of any photograph with admirable mastery. He selects and explores unexpected spaces. He selects and uses times that have the greatest promise of discovery. Being there, where nobody is, is the unique talent of Bill. Some of his most memorable pictures were taken in the early hours of the morning, on beaches, meadows, and in mystical forests.
His pictures surprise, delight, enrich our life. His ventures lead to new insights, new symbolic realities. Ultimately, his pictures show not only the outside reality, but reveal the inner reality of Bill Mitchell himself.
Earlier I suggested that photography is a battle between the perfection of the machine and the inner reality of the artist behind it. And that the temptation is so great to let the machine do it all. I often say that the ordinary photographer uses the camera. The artist uses himself.
Bill Mitchell is an artist.
He is a poet of the visible.
- Denes Devenyi
Denes lectured and taught extensively on photography. He taught photography at U.B.C. and wrote monthly articles in Photo Life Magazine.
Technical Note - All of Bill's images are from 35mm slides, without filters and not manipulated, they have been scanned and colour corrected to match the slide only.