Still Lifes by Billie Mercer

This is a very personal portfolio. I had a new iPhone and I was taking care of my husband who had lung cancer so I was pretty much confined to the house with him. Nevertheless, my eyes are always looking for images and I wanted to try out the iPhone and apps. Mexico is colorful and lively but our lives were not at that time. So I found an app that seemed to fit my emotional state: subdued, blurry and a little grainy. Living in the moment, whenever I saw a shape or the way the light fell on something, I grabbed the iPhone and took a picture. Over the weeks these images started to add up to gently tell the story of living together in a home we loved. None of the images are set-ups but they called out to me. I knew that this bit of time was precious and would never be again.–Billie Mercer

Bio: 

My love of photography started when I was a child and would pore over black-and-white photographs in the family album and in magazines like Life and Look. When I was about 12 years old I received a camera for Christmas and I have been photographing ever since. Most of the time I photograph the commonplace and although I’ve done a number of projects in color, my real love is still black-and-white.

University classes and workshops have provided me with technical information but I’ve learned the most from shooting. I shoot anything from a 5×7 view camera to a holga to a digital camera to the iPhone. Whichever tool is best suited for the work.

My photographs have been in a number of one-person and group shows. They can also be found in the public collections of the Harry Ransom Humanities Center at the University of Texas, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, The David S. Rosen Collection at the University of Michigan Museum of Art and in the Federal Reserve Bank in Houston. Also I have work in a number of private collections.

I am currently living in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.

Contact: bmercertx@yahoo.com

www.billiemercersma.blogspot.com