Member Since: January 2011
A Kansas native, Jon Bidwell has been a freelance natural light portrait photographer and graphic designer since 1996. In 1998 he began experimenting with the production of all digital photography in his spare time. His goal was to shoot digital ph... more
| Gender: | Male |
| Artist Statement: | A Kansas native, Jon Bidwell has been a freelance natural light portrait photographer and graphic designer since 1996. In 1998 he began experimenting with the production of all digital photography in his spare time. His goal was to shoot digital photographs which look as good, if not better than their film counterparts. In 1999 he quit shooting film entirely and began producing images 100% digitally, despite warnings from his contemporaries that digital photography would never be accepted as a "real" art form. Jon continued nonetheless, and in 2002 began producing limited edition, hand-signed, pigment-based prints. After his first exhibition at The Panacea Gallery in November 2002, the popularity of his unique vision grew dramatically. He has since exhibited at various venues around the city, The APEX Gallery in The Crossroads District, The Overland Park Convention Center as well The Plaza and Hidden Glen Fine Art Festivals. Two of Jon's photographs are part of the permanent H&R Block art collection and he was selected as a top ten finalist for The Smithsonian Magazine’s Photographic Image of the Year in 2006. There were over 8,000 submissions. In the fall of 2009 Jon was asked to be a guest lecturer at The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art to discuss his experience as the only fine art photographer in the city who had been working in a 100% digital workflow for a decade. Today Jon’s prints hang in private collections in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Montreal and in cities across the United States from New York to San Francisco. |
| Education: | B.A. University of Kansas. Photoshop A.C.E. |
| Awards & Distinctions: | Top 10 Contender 'Digital Manipulations' Category for Smithsonian Magazine's Photographic Image of the Year 2006. |
| Artistic Influences: | Michael Kenna |
| Artist Tags: | kansas, abstract, kansas city, trains, bridges, urban |
