Wings of Grace, Photograph, 1994
STATEMENT
I come to photography through music. Composers like Barber, Bartok and
Brahms have a particularly strong influence on me with their rich musical textures and complex layering. I am also a composer and have discovered that music can feel as beautiful to my fingers as it sounds to my ear. Certain chord progressions and harmonics reveal moments of timelessness and endless creativity. These are moments of presence that change my life.
Do these moments happen only in music or can light, texture and color create “photographic songs” that can inspire similar experiences?
Like great music, I believe great photographs tell powerful stories that transport the viewer to an experience, an opportunity to connect with the past, present and future, and the chance to better know oneself.
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My work begins with questions. What is the essential reality of our being and our relationship with nature? Is it sacred? How is it evident and can I capture it in a photograph?
Is it possible to create sensual and divine “clothing” by layering textures from the natural world on the human form? Can I celebrate the sensuality of the human form without depicting it as merely naked?
P: 415-474-7707
E: Paul@PaulMahderGallery.com www.PaulMahderGallery.com

For example, layering textures on the human body masks individuality, revealing essences and subtleties unseen in single images. This process detaches a figure from the contemporary context and carries it towards a more timeless and contemplative plane. Ironically, intricate textures and layering can uncover the simple and pure.
I am looking for a photographic language that goes beyond the sentimentality of “oneness with all things” to opening an actual dialogue and learning experience between nature and us. For example, what does the 400-year-old tree bark have to say about my skin? What is my emotional response to decay, age or the lines on my face? Is it a thing of beauty as in the tree?
I think of myself more as a photographic explorer, discovering as much as
I create. I am curious about unseen realities. When I dream of flying it seems completely natural, so what happens to that "nature" when I awake? How real are things I imagine, how real can they be? These questions inspire me to photograph the human form in motion and in flight.
Presence can appear direct and immediate as in the images of flying nudes, or it can be subdued and mysterious as in the textured nudes and textured landscapes. Even when our sense of self and presence are overcome by nature, I believe we are present in every element... our story, as yet untold.
I am grateful and honored by the trust given to me by those I photograph because I approach photography as a hallowed act. My work represents these shared moments of "truth telling" and the unearthing of the visible world, for the mystery of the sacred within it.
Technical Considerations:
My photographs are taken with the large format, 4" x 5" Wisner Technical
Field Camera. This film size delivers superior image quality and clarity and permits my work to be enlarged to wall-sized prints without a blurred or grainy appearance. Some photographs are single black and white or color images, while others are combinations. With these, I create layered perspectives of the human form and textured landscapes.
These photographs are unaltered by any digital process or printing technique.
What you see is what I assembled by hand on my light table. 
 
 Prints are made using an Océ Lightjet 430 on Fuji Flex archival material and limited to editions of 15. Within each edition I offer a range of sizes from
16" x 20" to as large as desired. 
 
 I have worked as a professional fine art photographer for over 17 years. My work has been shown internationally in museums, galleries and churches and in private collections worldwide.
P: 415-474-7707
E: Paul@PaulMahderGallery.com www.PaulMahderGallery.com

BIO
Born - 1959 Pontiac, Michigan
1984 - Graduated Webster University, Missouri. B.A. Arts Management
1994 - Began taking photographs with large format camera
2001 - Founded the Blue Room Gallery, a nonprofit art space in San Francisco
2007 – Founded the Paul Mahder Gallery in San Francisco
Solo Exhibitions
August, 2011
September, 2006
June, 2006
September, 2004
Paul Mahder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
St. Gregory’s of Nyssa, San Francisco, CA
Magnet, San Francisco, CA
Darnell Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
September, 2001
August, 2001
1999 – 2005
August, 2000
Mussi Artworks Foundry, Berkeley, CA
St. Gregory’s of Nyssa, San Francisco, CA
Pacific Showrooms West, Chicago, IL, San Francisco, CA,
Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX
Professional Medical Bldg., San Francisco, CA
March, 2000
February, 2000
September, 1999
August, 1999
May, 1999
January, 1999
August, 1998
September, 1997
Lierre Theatre - Paris, France
Bay Club Bank of America Center, San Francisco, CA
Peter Alexander Art & Furniture Gallery, San Francisco, CA
St. Gregory’s of Nyssa, San Francisco, CA
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA
Architects & Heroes, San Francisco, CA
Kenneth Winslow Gallery, New York, NY
Plaza Frontenac, St. Louis, MO
March, 1996
October, 1995
November, 1994
Selected Group Exhibits
Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis, MO
Center for Photography, St. Louis, MO
Center for Photography, St. Louis, MO
October, 2009
May, 2008
October, 2007
October, 2006
January, 2006
Paul Mahder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Coastal Arts League, Half Moon Bay, CA
Paul Mahder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Photo NY, New York, NY
Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle WA
P: 415-474-7707
E: Paul@PaulMahderGallery.com www.PaulMahderGallery.com

2001 - 2005
February, 2001
April, 1999
November, 1996
April, 1996
March, 1995
Blue Room Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Radiant Light Gallery, Portland, ME
Coastal Arts League, Half Moon Bay, CA
Schweig Gallery, St. Louis, MO
Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis, MO
Center for Photography, St. Louis, MO
January, 1995 Center for Photography, St. Louis, MO
Selected Press & Awards
August, 2011
January, 2011
May, 2008
May, 2008
Artbusiness, “Natural Conversations”
"Why Photographs Work" by George Barr (featured photographer)
Px3 Prix de la Photographie Paris – 2 Honorable Mentions
Kellicutt International Photo Contest – 3 rd Place
February, 2008
August, 2007
July, 2007
May, 2007
April, 2007
Best Magazine, 8 page article
PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris – Honorable Mention
Photographer’s Forum Magazine Annual Contest – Finalist
Royal Photographic Society, London, 150 th Annual Exhibition Finalist
Art of Seeing – Creative Photography 2007
December, 2006
October, 2006
June, 2006
May, 2006
September, 1998
Focus Magazine, 4 page spread/bio
International Photography Awards, 3 honorable mentions
1 st Place, International Juried Photo Competition: Nudes
Bay Area times – feature article
Blue Magazine, 8 page spread/article
P: 415-474-7707
E: Paul@PaulMahderGallery.com www.PaulMahderGallery.com