Harvey Edwards: " LIFE INSPIRES ART "

It all started when I was 10 and got my first camera and took a picture of two people walking by. I then went home and developed the negatives and printed this one image. I said to myself I just stopped time forever for that one picture I captured. From then on I knew this would be my life. To express what I felt or had to say through images. I did take some classes in school, matter of fact it was the first year they offered photography as a class at Massapequa High School where I graduated. It was very basic but it got me started. Then in the Air Force during the Vietnam War I was a photographer and they also taught me solid basics of photography, but it was the desire and the perseverance that pushed me forward to create. Content with creating images and printing every day for years until I perfected a way to express myself. I have had two books published "ART OF DANCE " and "FAIRFAX " working on my third . I also write political blogs as i have been posting many of them on Twitter, Facebook and for the Huffingtonpost. Several images i created titled " LEG WARMERS " and "BALLET SLIPPERS " are known around the world and have sold over 12 million copies and still selling in 86 countries. CBS produced a documentary about my work which received rave reviews. My works are in over 197 TV shows, movies, music videos and commercials. My image, LEG WARMERS is one of the most recognizable dance images worldwide and will continue on selling long after I'm gone. You ask yourself after some 35 years why it's still one of the top selling dance prints and the answer is it conveys one's determination, passion, love of work and most of all it tells a story we can all relate to in life. I am now devoted my time to politics since i feel it's my obligation to help make America a better place to live through words and images.

Art is, for me, a means of communication. Thus, the camera is a tool for focusing my perception, concentrating observation into an image. The result is to evoke emotion. To evoke an experience; illuminations as opposed to explanation. The image as a visual dialogue between the artist and the viewer's perception.

To say that these images are "about" something is to translate them into words, disregarding their power as photographs. If they were about philosophy, they would be better written as thoughts, ideas and beliefs. At best, they are informed by a philosophy. A philosophy of life, evident in every photograph I have created. A manifestation of my political, emotional, philosophical understanding of the world, focused onto the visual plane.

My websites http://HarveyEdwards.com/ and

http://HarveyEdwards.net shows the diversity of my work and that I will continue to create works of art and political statements (link at the bottom to them) till the day I leave this world. Now this brings me to why I have written this short version of who i am and the reason why i create. In my nude, dance and music series the photographs have been shot through my personal sense of wonder, artistic vision and my way of expressing emotions visually. The other images included are to show a small spectrum of my work.

Political Blogs

http://harveyedwards.blogspot.com/

Website

http://harveyedwards.com/

Email

Harvey@HarveyEdwards.com

THE WORK