Mike Shipman's photography first caught my eye 20 years ago when I bought an Idaho Capitol rotunda image that still hangs in my office. Two decades and one of his classes later, I've come to recognize what makes his work last. As a professional photographer, artist, and instructor, Mike has a way of revealing the world in front of us, and the wider one around us.
Mike's interest in photography began in a 9th grade photography class. His formal education and first career were in wildlife biology. With a degree from Colorado State University and after attending the Raptor Biology graduate program at Boise State University, he worked for federal agencies and then for MicronPC as a customization coordinator.
In 2004, Mike made the move to full-time photography because he wanted to be an entrepreneur. Mike shares: "I had an opportunity to open my own studio in Nampa and by then I was defiant enough, maybe courageous enough, and I decided to take the opportunity and see where it led. I quit my job, rented a 1,200 sq ft warehouse space a couple months later, and moved in. At my studio I taught classes, did product photography, corporate headshots, and personal work until 2007 when the recession hit."
Now he works from home. "It's great but somewhat limiting," he says. "I miss the space I had in my studio but not the overhead. I've worked around that by turning my garage into a studio. I concentrate mostly on fine art photography and teaching these days, with a few commercial and editorial assignments here and there. I've also branched out into other art forms like bookbinding, linocut printing, and stenciling (pochoir)."
Mike has been an Idaho Commission on the Arts Teaching Artist since 2010, one of the unexpected directions his photography career has taken him. That experience has led him to serve on the advisory boards of the Timberline High School and College of Western Idaho Commercial Technical Education photography programs.
Photography is "a way of life that engages and expands awareness and reveals interconnections between seemingly unrelated things," says Mike. That belief is what brings his explorations to life through his lens, and into photographs we get to enjoy.
Mike exhibits his photographs at the Art Source Gallery, in Boise. His website: www.blueplanetphoto.com