Charity Janisse

The first piece of abstract art pictured here that I have entitled “Battle Scene” was a colorful patch of rust on a dumpster next to an abandoned gas station. Yep… I was driving down the road and pulled into an abandoned gas station to take photographs of a dumpster. People look at me like I’m crazy and I call myself an artist. When I first started taking pictures back in 2011 my favorite subjects were rust, old buildings, cars, city streets, trains, graffiti – things like that, and I loved it. Rust is absolutely fascinating. It is art that creates itself in completely random and unique forms. I love capturing it and sharing it with other people who wouldn’t think to look for art at the bottom of a telephone pole. I realized recently that I had gotten away from this kind of photography when I decided to create a more Spiritual Themed Website late 2012. I started taking a lot of beautiful nature photos, which are also lovely, but personally for me, it is not my passion. I was doing it because people seemed to like it better than the rust stuff. Well one of the fun things about really finding myself the past few months is that I’m not so concerned about what’s more popular or well liked, I just want to do what I love. I want to photograph what fascinates me, I want to create art that makes me happy even if other people don’t get it or like it. So I have decided that I am definitely going to be doing more urban and industrial photography, it’s what I adore. Granted nature is pretty damn beautiful too and I’ll capture that when I travel as well because it is all art. But I’m not going to be thinking so much about popular opinion when I am out taking pictures anymore, I’m going to photograph what speaks to me, what moves me, what draws me in and I’m going to have a blast with it.There is so much that fascinates me, so much that I am passionate about and I will keep exploring that and sharing it for as long as I live because it is what makes me happy. It is what I love. And when we do what we love there is a quality to our work that is indescribable. When we pursue what we are passionate about there is an energy and vibe to our work, and that energy is lacking when we do what we feel we are supposed to do or what others expect us to do. And I spend all day telling others not to worry about what people want or expect from them and to just do what they adore most. I encourage people to be raw and honest and get to the core of who they are and express it in a way that no one else ever could or ever will. Because each of us is here for a reason and until we honor ourselves completely we will never know that reason and we will not be satisfied with our work or with our lives until we discover that reason and pursue it. So if I’m going to talk about honoring and expressing our true selves all the time I sure as hell better be doing it myself ;)!And this is what I love! Here are some of my abstract and industrial photos and I will be chasing rust and exploring urban areas more often again so I can capture, create and share more of one of my favorite Random Acts of Art ;)! Cheers!

Charity