Marc Jaffe - Maker Monday's August

Marc Jaffe

Marc first started exhibiting in 2006, and received his first award in 2008 at the Bristol Art Museum. His involvement with SCAA began in 2008, when he entered his first show here...and wasn't accepted into the exhibit. However, he continued to submit his work to shows every year thereafter, and in 2009 he received the Best Photography award in one of our exhibits. Since then, he and his wife, Bonnie, have won a number of awards throughout Rhode island and Southeastern Massachusetts at such venues as the Providence Art Club, Wickford Art Association, Attleboro Art Museum, Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, Warwick Center for the Arts, Newport Art Museum, Bristol Art Museum, as well as SCAA.
Follow him on facebook and instagram to see more of his work.

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Where are you from, and what do you make? How long have you been seriously pursuing art?
​I was born in Rhode Island, left at an early age and found my way back in 1981 to do my residency in OB/GYN at Women & Infants Hospital. I have loved photography since about 8 years old when I picked up the family camera and began shooting my family and street. Along the way I used a Kodak Instamatic, Polaroid Swinger and got my first SLR by saving up my babysitting money at age 15. I used to take my camera to school and besides candids, I took pictures for my high school yearbook and newspaper. Even then I liked taking pictures of people, which led to my love for street photography today, and I developed my sense of composition and light. For a number of years life and career kept me from pursuing photography as an art form, but I was always the one with a camera when we went to events or on vacation. Later, I met my wife, Bonnie, who shared my interest in photography, and we began to take things to a new level, truly developing a passion for the art.

What inspires you to create?
​I truly get a dopamine rush just from the act of pressing the shutter. Now, with the advancement of the iphone cameras, I am never without my camera, and I find it impossible not to be shooting constantly. I shoot when I'm on the street, waiting for food at a restaurant, at a funeral, in a museum--everywhere. And if I get something good, it's that much sweeter. I find that my observational skills keep improving with time--for me it's all about seeing the world around me and capturing whatever I find interesting at the moment.

Which artist outside of your chosen medium has had the most impact on your art? What do they do and in what way do they influence you?
​Outside of photography, perhaps I have been most influenced by Norman Rockwell--his ability to capture those special moments has always appealed to me.

Is there a work of art that has changed your life or how you view the world in some way?
​I can't think of one particular work of art that has had that effect, but my life experience and all I have seen and lived through has, I'm sure, affected the way I see the world.

As a member of SCAA, what do you like most about us?
​I love the warmth of the staff and members of SCAA. I have always felt it to be a welcoming place to visit and exhibit.

Tell us a joke.
​Did you hear about how the photographer died? It makes me shutter to think about it.