Lance Shields
Lance Shields is a photographer based in San Francisco. He was raised in the mountains of San Diego, CA, and at the age of twelve, he was introduced to photography by his science teacher Mr. Benson. He's published two photo zines "Nothing with a Name" and "Surface Tension". He holds a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, where he studied sculpture and conceptual art. Forty-three years after his first experiments with a camera, he continues to look through a lens to discover the unseen moments of everyday life. He is a member of both Artspan and Center for Photographic Art. Lance has a day job at Adobe.
Artist Statement
My artistic journey, which spans three decades, has been an evolving exploration of perception, participation, and digital experiences. I was initially inspired by Allen Kaprow and Robert Irwin at the San Francisco Art Institute while pursuing a BFA and continuing as a conceptual artist in Osaka, Japan. Later, this foundation inspired my work in net.art in the late 1990s, when I combined photos, animation, text, audio, and code to create online experiences.
Following the dot.com boom, my focus shifted to digital design, where I worked in agencies in San Francisco and Tokyo before co-founding a design studio. This also led to my current job as design director at Adobe. My experience with virtual platforms such as Second Life expanded my artistic expression to include interactive digital performances that combined real and virtual audience participation.
After 35 years, photography has become my primary medium. I am inspired by Rinko Kawauchi, Saul Leiter, and William Eggleston, among others, and hope to capture the unseen treasures of everyday life while exploring the world poetically and vividly. For me, it's about being present to capture that moment when I'm in the right place and my camera frame transforms it into something I've never seen before—a collaboration between myself, the camera, and the world.