Amarante Bio

I remember the day in 1976 that my mother gave me her old camera. This black, plastic box that held 620 film. No shutter speed, no aperture, no control. I was 8 years old and I fell under the spell of photography. And while those early images were terribly blurry and badly composed, the magic it held for me has withstood the test of time. Almost 30 years later the camera is still a part of who i am.

At the moment I'm a student at the University of Rhode Island working towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with my concentration in photography. Fully immersed in all things photographic. The process of learning and the pursuit of perfection, if there is such a thing, is never ending. I have a long way to go, and the journey is wonderful.

My obsession right now is alternative processes, and all things Polaroid. Image transfers, emulsion lifts, and SX-70 manipulations. What that means is that you'll usually find me with one of my old Polaroid Land Cameras or huddled over my Daylab making prints. But it doesn't end just there. Film is magical and I love spending hours in my darkroom, but I also love working in digital, the immediacy is wonderful. My equipment is too varied and too long to list, but runs the gumut from a Holga toy camera to a Nikon N-70 digital.

Intentions? First and foremost my images are for me. It's my therapy, it's how I work through my own demons. It's how I share my thoughts and dreams. If others can feel a connection to them in some way, all the better, I suppose. I want them to evoke a response, an emotion in the viewer. Then the intent has succeeded.