MEREDITH MULLINS
En Dehors du Temps - Vue de l'arc De Triomphe 2
Meredith Mullins is an award-winning, fine art photographer and photojournalist living bi-continentally in Paris and California. She has traveled and exhibited internationally for decades, immersing herself in the heartfelt spirit of “Vive la photographie.”
Tell us about yourself and background.
I have had a camera in hand since I was five, growing up in Maryland (USA), tilting the camera this way and that to be different from the way others were capturing the world. I wanted to really SEE, and I sensed that my surroundings and the constant parade of characters were more fully articulated by making photographs. I was training my eyes and heart to really look at things —to feel each moment through all the senses—and to share those feelings with others. After many years—studying, making images, and teaching photography—I still feel the same. Photography was (and is) my destiny.
I am not myself without a camera. It is a body part . . . and a significant piece of my soul.
Tell us about your work.
My work is diverse—from Paris street photography to free floating figures weightless in water to the artistry and strength of the circus arts. The underlying theme always centers on time and space— the moments that expand between the ticks of a clock . . . and movement that challenges the standard rules of mass and matter. The images are about defying gravity . . . and being set free.
Le Cirque Series - Descent
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En Dehors du Temps - Le Quai
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What makes your work unique?
I have spent most of my life rebelling against cultural norms, sometimes even rebelling against myself, but my images often speak to the timeless beauty of traditions, or vanishing eras. I work primarily in black and white to reveal the essence of a subject and to create a mood through the powerful elements of light and form. I studied journalism and filmmaking at the University of North Carolina, but I’m now drawn to dramas that are captured in just a fraction of a second. Photography encourages the viewer to take that millisecond and expand their interpretation of time and storytelling to the edges of their imagination.
Le Cirque Series - Without Gravity
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En Dehors du Temps - Ile De La Cite Jardin
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Le Cirque Series - Genesis
Tell us about some of your achievements.
I am honored to have been featured in more than 50 solo and group exhibits worldwide and to have appeared in numerous publications in France and the U.S., including Camera Arts Magazine, Carmel Magazine, Paris Magazine, OIC Moments, France Today, and National Geographic Education. My work is represented in museum and private collections in Europe and North America, including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and The Weston Gallery in California. I have also received several prestigious awards, including the Grand Concours Photo sur Paris, the Paris Photography Prize, the Photographer’s Forum Award, the Worldwide Gala Award, the Julia Margaret Cameron Finalist Award, and the California Visual Artist of the Year Award. The most meaningful achievement, however, is to touch people in some way with my photographs—to inspire people to pause in their busy life to connect with an image that evokes emotion and has meaning for them.
Tell us about some of your achievements.
I am honored to have been featured in more than 50 solo and group exhibits worldwide and to have appeared in numerous publications in France and the U.S., including Camera Arts Magazine, Carmel Magazine, Paris Magazine, OIC Moments, France Today, and National Geographic Education. My work is represented in museum and private collections in Europe and North America, including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and The Weston Gallery in California. I have also received several prestigious awards, including the Grand Concours Photo sur Paris, the Paris Photography Prize, the Photographer’s Forum Award, the Worldwide Gala Award, the Julia Margaret Cameron Finalist Award, and the California Visual Artist of the Year Award. The most meaningful achievement, however, is to touch people in some way with my photographs—to inspire people to pause in their busy life to connect with an image that evokes emotion and has meaning for them.
En Dehors du Temps - Palais Royal
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What are your sources of inspiration? I am inspired by all the arts—music, dance, theater, literature, and visual arts. I am most empowered by music—classical, rock, blues . . . you name it. Music goes deep in me—vibrations straight to the soul—and lifts me to another universe. The benefits are many, but I know that having music in my life makes me feel more intensely when I am connecting with a visual subject to make a photograph and provides the lyrical movement so necessary in a photograph. I know, too, that the arts make me more open to the stories to be uncovered every day—about the unending mysteries of humans and the surprises of our planet. What are you passionate about? I want the power of the arts to continue its worldwide reach. I want young people in all countries to be introduced to all genres of music and a range of artistic media and to understand that individual artistic expression should know no bounds. I teach photography to adults and children in the hope that creative expression will continue to be a part of people’s lives. I especially envy the uncensored, unselfconscious free spirits of children. We should all be so lucky. I was also a co-founder and director of the International Fine Art Photography competition to recognize emerging and mid-career photographers and share their outstanding work with the worldwide photographic community. |
Le Cirque Series - Into the Dust
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En Dehors du Temps - Promenade
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En Dehors du Temps - La Gare
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Tell us the back-story of some of your projects.
I traveled for many years, photographing exotic places and recording memorable moments with local people who taught me much about life (Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Kenya, Tanzania, Nepal, Morocco, Senegal, India, and the Seychelles), but my heart kept coming back to Paris. In 2005, my book In A Paris Moment was published. I was on a promotion visit to the magnificent City of Light, when I found the perfect apartment (a 17th century former boulangerie on the Ile St-Louis). With no hesitation, I took the apartment and uprooted myself from California to begin a new life chapter. Fifteen years later, “Je ne regrette rien!” Paris offered multiple layers of culture and history, as well as infinite photographic opportunities. The streets and the endless cast of characters became my subjects. “Decisive moments” leapt out like wild animals. I fell into Paris rhythms, like singing a familiar song in a strikingly new way. Every day, something hidden revealed itself. And from the streets, I have now entered the extraordinary world of Paris circuses, a project I have been working on for the past four years. I’m a circus addict. I am mesmerized by acrobats flying fearlessly through the air, contortionists folding themselves as if they were origami, and all the improbable feats of strength, balance, trust, and gravity defiance that are part of the circus arts. I come away with a desire to fly . . . and, more important, the belief that I can.
Meredith Mullins
"I traveled for many years, photographing exotic places and recording memorable moments with local people who taught me much about life."
Le Cirque Series - Leap of Faith
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Le Cirque Series - Le Cirque d'Hiver
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Share with us your upcoming projects.
I am quite moved by the events surrounding the end of World War II in France. I am working on projects at the D-Day beaches in Normandy for its 75th anniversary and in Oradour-sur-Glane, a village in Limousin where all the men, women, and children were massacred by a Nazi Waffen SS regiment four days after D-Day.
Tell us about where you are based.
I live bi-continentally in Paris, France and on the Monterey Peninsula of California—two of the most beautiful places on Earth. Both, also, are rich in photographic traditions, strong in their artistic communities, and filled with inspirational footsteps from the talented photographers who were based here in the past.
"I want my photographs to take viewers where they’ve never been and at the same time make them feel a part of the story."
En Dehors du Temps - Le Tango
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Free Floating Series - Swept Away
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Free Floating Series - Refuge
How do you feel about art and its role?
In this world of conflict, divisiveness, and distractions, we desperately need a unifying force. A way to reach back inside ourselves for the values and emotions that make us caring humans. The arts are an answer. I hold out hope.
How do you want your art to affect the viewer?
I hope my photographs provide a glimpse into worlds that people might not ordinarily enter and that they feel the magic that I felt when making the photograph. I want my photographs to take viewers where they’ve never been and at the same time make them feel a part of the story. I want my photographs to set them free.
Website: www.meredithmullins.artspan.com
Read about Meredith's adventures in Senegal. : https://www.oh-i-see.com/blog/2017/02/13/not-just-another-day-at-the-beach/