ABOUT

“Photography pushes us to stop and smell the roses, but then after smelling, it continues to push us to capture those roses for others to see and smell.” - Marshall Foster Edward Marshall Foster, 31, has always called Texas home. He discovered photography in 2009 while in Venice for work. He says “I borrowed a camera from a friend in hopes of documenting some our trip. I was hooked the second I looked through the viewfinder. The camera pushed me to look for beauty in the world around me. Lights, shadows, lines and colors where coming at me from everywhere, and I couldn’t turn it off. My eyes were opened in Venice.” Over the next year he would immerse himself in photography by reading books and magazines, watching videos and studying the work of other photographers. "If I saw a photo I liked I had to figure out how to do it which really pushed me to learn editing and lighting techniques." After his first year as a budding photographer, he would be introduced to film photography and Lomography through a friend. “My friend Cameron showed me this film camera called the LC-A that could capture double exposures. I was amazed at the possibilities it offered. The LCA was the creative tool I had been searching for.” Lomography would prove to be the door that would lead Marshall to another world of inspiration, experimentation and creativity. Marshall continued to study other photographers and artists, and one in particular would really change his perspective on photography. “Miroslav Tichý's photos really had a major effect on me. When I first started taking pictures I was so concerned with taking and making the perfect picture. Tichy believed that it wasn’t how good you could make a photo but rather how bad. His photos were taken by his homemade cameras that produced photos with so much character. I now find beauty in the ‘Perfect Imperfections’ that come with film and old cameras.” Marshall has chosen to showcase only his film works with RAW. He says, "I want people to see the amazing things you can do with film photography. Most of my art is experimental; some photos are even accidents. All the photos you see are composed in camera; mainly using a splitzer. (A Splitzer is a little plastic piece that fits on the front of a camera that allows the photographer to expose only parts of a film frame.) I want people to see that you don't have to rely on Photoshop to compose creative pictures, and that film is not dead!" In the future, Marshall hopes to branch out into other art forms. "I really admire Salvador Dali. He became versed in as many painting styles as possible. I feel these influences lead him to develop his own styles that we love him for. I hope to do the same with my art." You can find more work from Marshall on his Flickr page at www.flickr.com/MarshallFoster and on his website www.MixedMarshallArts.net.

FAVORITE THING ABOUT RAW

RAW provides artists with resources to shine...which promotes creativity in us all.

MAKES MY WORLD GO ROUND

The whole wide world.