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Raechel
M. Running
Raechel
Marie Running, a freelance photographer that has traveled the world
pursuing her muse, has developed an amazing style that is in many ways,
difficult to define. Perhaps it's because her style draws its inspiration
from such eclectic sources: the great Impressionists of Europe, Native
Americans of the Southwest, Chicano artists, and long list of others. Her
technique of combining hand painting, Polaroid transfers, and other media
is example of how she blends disparate elements into a beautiful and
unified whole. Raechel often works alongside her father and mentor, John
Running in the studio they share in Flagstaff, Arizona. Her
photographs have appeared in British and China GQ magazines, Newsweek
Japan, Native Artist, Smithsonian Air and Space, Mountain Freak, and her
work has been exhibited in New York, San Francisco, and throughout the
Southwest.
Artist
Statement: I grew up looking at pictures of women. My father is a
photographer of women and it is through photography I learned about being
a Woman. Her many facets, the faces of her seasons, the sensual depth of
her maturity, her innocence, her strength. She is supple, and she is ever
changing, her body, like the horizon line, of the sea, the landscape,
inspires me to gaze at her beauty. The real and the imagined, her
archtypes, the warrior, the mother, the lover, the Goddess, the muse, in
everyday women. I love photography in the the same way I love nature. I
feel connected to life by doing it.
Photography for me is creating visual poetry. With the new digital tools,
my imagination has a bigger playground to explore more ideas conceptually.
I love the immediacy of the digital camera, and being able to scan images
and mess around in Photoshop. I still feel inspired by the smell of Dektol
late at night and I love the smell of photo oils and the feel of fiber
prints and colors on my hands. The processes overlap more often than
not.
Photography invites us to explore, to play, to dress up, and to strip
down. We as artists and models, pay homage to the muse. We love Betty
Page, vintage pin up, we punk it up, and give it our own spin. This
portfolio covers years of collaborations. One of the muses passed away a
couple years ago and yet I am still inspired by the work we made. The
inspiration I feel is a way for us to commune beyond death. Her light, her
energy lives on. Together we look into the mirror and recreate ourselves
and live on.
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