Robert Cattan Photography

I was born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay and immigrated to New York as a teenager. My interest in photography was sparked by a high school art course. Photography gave me a means to communicate in a country where the language and culture was foreign. I later attended The School of Visual Arts and have been involved in making images commercially for the last 30 years. I am now concentrating on creating personal work. I am not interested in just recording what I see, but creating a spiritual interpretation of the subject. Inspired by the style of the Hudson River School of Art, I am exploring the relationship between landscape and the human spirit. Man's separation from the flow and rhythm of our natural environment creates a spiritual void in our existence. We have lost the connections to the forces of nature and have built an emotionless wall. I try to unveil the essence of each subject I photograph. Given my methods, the subject must sit still for an extended period, as all photographic subjects did in the late 1800s.  This stillness creates a sense of peace, but also leaves the subject vulnerable and thus allows the inner self  the self that we hide from in our frantic, hurried lives to come to the surface. The initial digital capture is a facsimile of the subject. I then proceed to enhance the image adjusting color,light and texture leading to a sense of discovery and wonder.

School of Visual arts