» Find an artist by name or medium

Michael McAreavy

Michael McAreavy considers "chasing light" to be his life's purpose. Driven toward translating nature to medium and large-format film with a painterly eye, he fully explores the artistic expression capable within the realm of photography. Inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederic Chopin, and Ansel Adams, he consciously strives to present an emotionally charged scenic landscape within his work. His philosophy remains quite simple, i.e., make repeated visits to a location in order to get a true sense of its spatial and elemental qualities. By simply showing up with a very open mind (and showing up often), he feels that his chances of "meeting with the muse" are that much greater. Remaining completely true to this process is what it's all about.

A self-taught photographer, McAreavy recently implemented sophisticated scanning techniques and LightJet image-enlarging capabilities into his printing process. His images are now printed on Fujiflex Professional Crystal Archive paper. This is a departure from his long-standing practice of traditional production, i.e., Ilfochrome Classic Deluxe prints made directly from original transparencies. Simply stated, the digital age has introduced unprecedented exposure control to the printing process. With a digital recipe in hand, a print can now be created wherein the visual characteristics of the final production more closely match those of the original film transparency. Until now, it was oftentimes an arduous, frustrating process to replicate true colors and preserve detail within the shadow areas of a landscape composition. These prints have been tested to be fade-resistant for 70 years; much longer than the former standard of about 25 years.