We are making
to understand what our lives mean to us.
P h o t o g r a p h s
~Ralph Hattersly
Fine Art Portrait photography is very close to my heart. I learned studio work and lighting before I moved on to all other genres. My grandmother always encouraged me to follow my artistic dreams and she gave me boxes of her old darkroom equipment to get me started. When I was just 19 I took every class offered on photography, art and welding at the local community college where I grew up in Carson City Nevada. From that point on, I shot thousands of hours of film and spent years working in a darkroom at an old Indian school on the Washoe Reservation.
Although I enjoy people and I am often mistaken for an extrovert, solace and time alone is what I crave. I perfected my craft in the darkroom and my camera soon became an extension of my arm, so natural and such a part of me. I find it hard to explain the feeling I get when I'm in the zone with my camera and my subject but the world around me seems to disappear ..Movement, lighting and my camera become one.
Port
rait Photograp hy
Horses are my passion, they are my calling and my refuge. They are my career and my free time. I watch them from my kitchen window as I wash dishes each day and as I draw the shades on my bedroom window each night. They are the best friends to my children, they are the meek, they are the powerful.
They are wonder and beauty in motion.
They are my most challenging subjects and quite honestly, at times I feel unworthy of capturing their beauty and grace.
I am blessed to lay in bed at night and hear their gentle nickering and chuffing as they fall asleep.
They ground me to this earth and draw my heart ever closer to the sky.
They own many of the wrinkles on my face and each callous on my hands, the scars on my body bear the name of each.
A love so deep and near, they remind me of the goodness in everything and the ever present hope that is sewn into the human spirit.
Equine FineArt
Commercial
It may be difficult to believe but Commercial and product photography is something I am passionate about. As much as I enjoy creating images of living creatures, I have almost as much fun working with inanimate objects. I have worked for large corporations such as Omron of Japan and local small businesses such as Clothes Pony LLC in Old Town Fort Collins. I have created images for authors, jewelry designers, tech companies, clothing shops and designers and of course custom images for special projects and websites. I truly love working on special projects with dreamers! Catching someones vision for their business is my specialty. I can say with utmost honesty that I have NEVER had an unsatisfied client! I have found the key is great communication, lots of samples and fun strategic sessions with great coffee and occasionally fine wine if the ideas continue to flow after 5pm!