Creative Time & Space with Briley Mitchell

You met Briley when I took you to the Farmers’ Market, remember? He’s a Midland photographer who’s doing some wonderful work, and he’s one of the men I talked to at Septemberfest this year—it was his first year to have a booth there, and he had a great show.

Here he is in his booth. Barefoot—I love that!

Let’s talk a little about making time for creativity, shall we? People are always lamenting that they could make more stuff if only they had more time. In addition to a full-time Regular Day Job and then being one of the primary caregivers for his wife and then going out and taking the photographs and then doing all the presentation work—framing the prints, putting the photos in the cards—there’s also all the work involved in going to shows so that people can actually SEE the work. Because that’s one of the biggies that people don’t always think about:  you make the art and frame it or make the stand for it or in some way make it presentable, but if you can’t get it to The Public, so people can see it, you might as well stack it all in your basement.

So Briley loads up the artwork and the display stands and, on the weekends, goes to Lubbock and Dallas and Abilene—all the places that are close enough for a weekend art show. Because he loves what he’s doing and wants to share his view of the world.

(I wish you could see these photos in person—the colors grab you and pull you like a magnet.)

It’s great talking to Briley because his enthusiasm for photography and the subjects he shoots is contagious.

(I love this owl—it was perched on a scoreboard and obviously thought Briley was way, way too close.)

Y’all know I’m no big fan of babies, but listening to Briley talk about a shoot he did with a couple and their 5-day-old infant, and then seeing some of the shots? Man. I was ready to go hang out in a nursery somewhere. (He had the parents lie on the floor with the baby between them and then shot down from above. I swear golden light was flowing out from all of them, making them glow.)

People have this idea of artists—all kinds of artists—as being lazy dreamers who don’t follow the rules and can’t hold down a real job and are just generally kind of floating through life. And then you talk to them and find out what sacrifices they make to do what they do, the amount of extra work they fit into their days, the sleep they miss in order to share the bits of beauty they’ve somehow captured. And wow. You come away with a whole 'nother level of appreciation for everything about them.

Thanks, Briley!