| Neil MacLean | ||
| Photography | Arlington, Virginia |
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A native of Rhode Island, Neil MacLean moved to the Washington DC area in 1996 to pursue a degree in Sociology at the University of Maryland. A self-taught photographer, he began shooting in 2001 on his honeymoon, spurred by a desire to document his life on film. In addition to documentary photography, he moved into portraiture beginning with shooting family and friends, including local hip-hop artists. More recently, he has traveled the world documenting local cultures and attempting to capture present and past in an ever-developing world. | |
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Hip-hop and urban culture have had a great degree of influence over my work and life in general. I was born in 1977, and have grown up with hip-hop, beginning at the age of 6 or 7 with the Fat Boys and Run DMC, followed by Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy. The ideas these artists introduced me to have had a great influence, and allowed me to see the world in a different light. Having never been one to feel that I'm on the "inside", I prefer to remain an outsider which helps me maintain a critical eye toward mainstream society, a stance that hip-hop culture has taken throughout its existence.
My aim is to shoot people and landscapes as they are, trying to bring an element of truth to light that say something about the artist and society as a whole. It's to find beauty in that which others have overlooked. Hip-hop is about representing life as one sees it at the time the art is expressed, regardless of whether it makes people feel comfortable. I don't want my images to simply be pretty but to have an edge to them that makes you look deeper than the surface. Artist's Website: ndm77photography.com |  |
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