Fine Art Photography by Steven Patrick

I have always enjoyed taking snapshots with point and shoot cameras as a way to document vacations or gatherings with family and friends. That enjoyment turned in to a passion in March of 2006 when I purchased my first SLR, a Canon Rebel XT. With the help of lessons and mentoring from Mariah Rae, photography quickly became the hobby that would allow me to explore my creative side. I am now enrolled at the New York Institute of Photography to receive formal training in the fine art of professional photography. The most valuable lesson I have learned is that photography is more than capturing a moment in time that you display on a desk at work, or hanging on your wall at home. A photograph is the product of each individual artist’s view of the world, and the interpretation of the viewier.

Fine Art Photography by Mariah Rae

I have been behind a camera in one form or another since I could pick one up. I shot my first pictures on a Kodak 110 mini camera, many of the negatives I still have in my archives. My cameras have evolved over the years and by the time I was in high school I was shooting photographs on a student camera, Pentax K1000. At the age of 16, a family friend began to give me informal lessons in camera use and my passion for creative photography began. I spent as much time as possible behind the camera, learning new techniques and experimenting.

After high school graduation in 2000, I went on to study philosophy and pursue a degree in art with a focus in photography. I spent several years inside a darkroom learning the technical side of photography, and in the classroom I learned the metaphysical side. Thinking about art has consumed as much of my time as actually producing my works of art. During my last years in school I shifted my focus from classical film photography to the digital world. I finally got behind a digital camera and began my work in a digital darkroom. I view digital photography as the culmination of a truly postmodern medium.

My portfolio consists of both film and digital genres, as my knowledge in one discipline grows, the knowledge transfers to the other discipline. Embracing the new digital technology, my old medium, film, and my new medium, bytes, can live together.