Stacee Shelly, Artist Statement

While growing up in Midland, Michigan, I started getting interested in photography. In my teens, I would put together photo shoots using my friends as models. We’d go to gritty, rundown abandoned areas to photograph.

After high school I enrolled in a fashion/photo school where I was able to expand my knowledge and have access to a dark room. I’d often make prints of my work then experiment with alternative post processing, sometimes burning the edges of my prints to create an interesting framing of the photograph. Instead of traditional matting I’d use thick thread with large crude stitching and sew the prints to mat boards to create more of an art piece.

As time went by my interest in art changed but came full circle back to photographing where I discovered my love for street photography, shooting what I saw while being out and about. From there, I started shooting more street portraits.

My subjects are people and things I find interesting and humorous. I enjoy looking for people who like to express themselves creatively. I discovered how much I loved talking and connecting with the people I photographed that otherwise I’d never have the chance to without photography.

“There is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness in the proportion.” Edgar Allan Poe