Arun Patel

     I was introduced to fine art photography by friends at an annual art auction. Like many photographers, I was attracted to black and white, the portrayal of the grand scene in landscape, the precision of sharp focus from front to back, and the snap of contrast and showing the full dynamic range in processing.

     More recently, I stumbled onto photographs made by Leonard Missone, a Belgian photographer in the early twentieth century. This introduced me to pictorialism or painterly photographs, which are in soft focus or out of focus, often shot into the light, and create a mood that appeals to me. I became interested in creating minimalistic images that were calming; often only emphasizing a single element using selective focus, using long exposure or local contrast, minimizing the tonal range, and photographing in hazy or foggy atmospheric conditions.

     Viewing and reading about Asian landscape painting taught me the principles of creating depth with layers and mist and the use of negative or empty space. This understanding furthered my interest in creating art at the intersection of painting/sketching and photography.

     Simultaneously, I fell in love with handmade Japanese papers (washi) and began experimenting with making digital prints with them. I believe that rather than making uniform prints on one paper, each image may be best suited to a particular paper, taking into account its texture, thickness, and surface characteristics. Lately, based on teachings by Robert Kato, I have been experimenting with applying cold wax to the surface of some prints, and also applying starch to the paper and creating wrinkles in it using a heat press (Momigami). My goal with the use of these interesting papers and techniques is to create a unique and expressive print.

     Currently, I’m working on projects with The Sea Ranch Links,  Artists along the North Coast, Flowers as Portraits, and “Seeing Something New" around Sacramento and Gualala.