Nicholas Pavloff Photographer Extraordinaire

Visionary Work
Dawn Bonner

Nicholas Pavloff is my personal pick for best modern day black and white print photographer. As well as landscape in color and black and white, commercial, portraiture, and stock photography.

Love Ansel Adams, yet after being exposed to Pavloff’s work, Adams enamor has worn off, not that his work isn’t fabulous, it’s just that Pavloff’s work is so fresh, crisp, and with a charismatic point of view, am no longer able to go back to the everyday scenes which grace so many walls. When you see Pavloff’s work, you, too will be unable to forget the images he has captured.

Pavloff has a keen eye that sees the world as a place of beauty, inspiration, and patterns. His work is articulate, lush, and multifaceted. He prints black blacks, dream sickle clouds, smoky waters, and silvery fogs. The artist’s compositions are compelling and interesting with a modern, hip, edge to an age old subject, that of landscape photography.

In the Beginning

“My grandfather gifted me with my first camera when I was 12 years old, then he took me to Yosemite a few times for a photo-op. From then on, art was always part of my life. It showed up in the form of painting, illustrations, and camera work,” said Pavloff.

“It started with corporate work, quarterlies, and annual reports. Then, those jobs got better for me—where they involved more travel. I would schedule in a couple of days downtime for myself and go out and do the things that were photographically interesting. Real stock subjects, such as the floating produce markets and river long boats, the meaty travel subjects that attracted visitors to the area,” said Pavloff.

His clientele list reads like a who’s who in business, to name a few; Kellogg’s, Saab, BMW, Microsoft, and the Mandarin Hotel Chain, which took him to locales such as Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, and all over Asia.

“I did the corporate work for a good part of 20 years, and it just sort of lost its luster. Corporations started cutting back on budgets and the printing got cheesy. Upon the advent of digital photography, many companies decided they could do it themselves and most didn’t have the talent to do it well,” said Pavloff

Doing His Own Thing.

At this point, his stock photography was thriving financially, creating a natural path for Pavloff to follow his proclivity for black and white landscapes. Pavloff’s award winning fine art and landscape photography have been shown in galleries throughout the world; Japan, Jerusalem, Israel, Germany—at the esteemed Hasselblad exhibition in Cologne, Germany for their 60th anniversary show, “Beyond Words.”

“One thing that influenced me when I was younger and still does today, I liked John Ford movies, the strong effects and I will always remember something Ford said. It made an impression on me,” said Pavloff.

Ford said, “Working with color is much easier for the cameraman, it is a cinch to work in if you have any eye at all for color and composition. But black and white is pretty tough—you’ve got to know your job and be very careful to lay your shadows properly. Black and white is real photography.”

Ernest Hooker, a fan and proud owner of one of Pavloff’s landscape photography said, “He [Pavloff] is one of a kind. They don’t make many men like him, professionally or personally. He’s a good man with great talent; his passion is evident in his work. It is meticulous.”

Pavloff said, “I’m drawn to isolated forlorn places, places that have trees growing out of rocky outcrops which to me evoke a special place and tranquility, even though they might have been shaped by harsh winds and storms—I like to photograph survivors.”

Co-owner of the gallery, Vickie Taylor Bassetti said, “Way before 9/11 I had a lot of people from Chicago coming in. One guy said you should see Nick’s work, the man was a visual person, in advertising and he sees a lot of images. It impressed me that he loved Nick’s work. I checked it out, and he was absolutely right. Nick doesn’t go for tricks, or grandstanding. He is a gentle man with a lovely sense of humor and a great perspective on life.

Currently, Pavloff is working on a few personal projects, one is finishing up the wetlands, “It is a subject I haven’t done much of in the past. It is full of design and pattern, great texture. All of the ingredients you want for exciting landscape photographs,” said Pavloff.

More Fans

Art lover and talented, abstract black and white photographer, Jenny Arevalo saw his work for the first time at the O’Rourke Gallery in Benicia, Calif. “His work touched me. It stayed with me for a long time. I looked him up and found I love all of his work.”

The Taylor Bercier Fine Art Gallery in New Orleans (TaylorBercier.com at 504.527.0072) has reopened and features Pavloff’s work.

Bassetti said, “Don’t know how somebody captures dark lakes…you can tell it’s chilly. How do you capture chilly? A Cold damp day, atmospheric? His work is like nothing I’ve seen before. So gentle, honest, and responsive. You get to see the world through his eyes.”

He is also preparing prints for a July showing at The Benham Gallery Show in Seattle. Recently returned from a trip to Japan and last week from Dublin, Ireland. He will be going to Iceland in the near future, and then back to Japan to add to his repertoire.

In the era of digital photography, film and printing are going by the wayside fast. Pavloff’s prints are increasing in value because he still prints in his own darkroom—and he is a master printer. Each photograph is carefully printed to absolute perfection by Pavloff. Also, the resources of film and paper are disappearing rapidly as the digital phenomenon takes over Pavloff’s photographs are extremely well priced, ranging from $700 to $1250 for a handcrafted masterpiece. His landforms are especially appealing when you are looking for unique and stunning work to grace your home, and have pieces that continue to appreciate in value. Pavloff’s style fits in well in any decor, from the minimalist, traditional, contemporary, modern, deco… Any room graced with a Pavloff print will show the multifaceted and unique personality of the owner.

It is evident Pavloff’s passion for photography is still as strong today, as it was when he was a young boy. No matter where his career led, no matter how the market changed, he has always found a place for this passion to be used.

Luckily for us, the click’s still got him.

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Tagged black and white, extraodinary, Nicholas Pavloff, photographer