Paul Mahder - Fine Art Photography

I have worked as a professional fine art photographer for over 11 years. Most of my photographs are created by superimposing 4-inch by 5-inch photo negatives and slides of natural textures with images of dancers in motion and at rest. I work primarily with dancers, as I am fascinated with motion and the honesty of expression that comes while in motion. When photographing landscapes I sometimes combine several natural images into one single image. My photographs are unaltered by digital computer methods or printing techniques. They are not computer art. I use special lighting techniques that result in textures that appear to wrap around the body rather than simply lying over it, creating a more natural look and feel – and because I also use strobe lighting, I can freeze the motion of a dancer in mid-air. These are real people and real textures, photographed and layered to create fine art photography.

I use a large photo format, 4″ x 5″ Wisner Technical Field Camera. It looks like the old-fashioned wooden cameras of the early 1900′s. This camera delivers superior image quality resulting in photographs that can be enlarged to wall sized prints without a blurred or grainy look. All photographs are archival, museum prints and limited to editions of 15.