Michel Proulx - photographe
Webmaster's Note: Michel Proulx was one of the founding members of Spirit of the Hills and it's first President.
Biography (from 2001) by Michele Fairfield
A spur-of-the moment question to a friend over 30 years ago led Michel Proulx to become an architectural, industrial and corporate photographer. Almost 20 years later, Michel retreated to the country from Toronto -- to get away from work, he says. However, in the 13 years he has lived near Campbellford he hasn't stopped working. He remains passionate about photography, the creative process, and the arts in his community.
CIL Detonators
photo © Michel Proulx
Michel's photographic vision communicates with vibrancy. His lasting images include buildings, industrial materials, neon pictures, art, and nature.
Michel's work in photography began when he consulted friend, FranÁois SÈguillon, who was the chief cameraman and head of the cinematography division at the National Film Board in Montreal, seeking guidance on what to do in order to become a photographer. At first he undertook a variety of assignments to do with photographing people. "Cinema-VÈritÈ in still images," recalls Michel. "I came back to him with disastrous results on that particular subject but, in the process, discovered a great affinity and ability for taking interesting photographs of all sorts of 'inanimate' objects that happen to attract my attention." "For me, the big difference between the photography of people and of buildings is that my subjects don't move, I do," says Michel, "therefore, I am able to carefully control the moment and conditions under which I can get the best views."
Positive Axial Energy
photo © Michel Proulx
As an architectural and industrial photographer, Michel traveled extensively within North America and abroad. although he is still influenced artistically by the built environment, the beauty of our ever-changing countryside gives him pleasure and artistic motivation. Recently, Michel has been exploring digital photography and finds great excitement in the creative possibilities it offers. He compares the process to having a Polaroid camera with him and a darkroom at home.
Inspired by Deborah, Monet and Photoshop - Dec 2000
photo © Michel Proulx
Digital technology allows him to view the results as the image is taken, improve the composition by making immediate changes to the position or lighting as required, retake if necessary, and, using his computer as if it were a darkroom, manipulate the digital image until he arrives at a satisfactory final product. He applies this same approach to both his commercial and his own creative work.
He notes that photographs are never exactly the same as the subject: "They are two dimensional visual translations which, hopefully, succeed at communicating the essence and energy of the three-dimensional originals". "I am convinced that the amount of inherent energy in a work is related to the intensity of energy infused at the moment of creation. For me, this translates into being in a sort of suspended animation at the time of the exposure--a merging or fusion of your vision with the camera, which, if successful, will even affect the 'film' with transmuted energy. This marriage, I feel, applies to all successful creative acts."
In addition to photography, Michel has worked in commercial interior design, product design, and sculpture. He believes that "Art really lies in the creative exercise of the brain. Photography is but one form of its expression." Michel also believes we should augment, for the better, whatever we touch. "For me," he says, "most of the time, it translates in visually depicting my surroundings as they happen to strike me at the moment, or inventing and fabricating new solutions to fulfill a purpose."
Michel is a former member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers,and has had work exhibited broadly and published extensively. He has received a number of industry and graphic design awards including The Chicago Award for Design Excellence, and, amongst others, recognition from the New York Society of Publication Designers and the Art Directors Club of Toronto. A book of images taken from his extensive collection of photographs of neon signage, 'Electric Art', co-published by Rizzoli, New York, and Oxford Press, Canada features some outstanding examples of this disappearing art which he found while traveling through Canada and the United States.
Last summer, Michel taught digital photography and Photoshop at the Haliburton School of Fine Arts. He is the founder and past-president of Spirit of the Hills Arts Association.
Always looking to the future, Michel likes to see himself as a start-up project manager, and is presently working on a number of community and arts-related projects to do with his hometown of Trent Hills.