A Bit About Pat

Greetings!  Welcome to Pat's Photography art collection.

I photograph the quiet places where life reveals itself — in a pair of working hands at a beauty salon, the curl of a petal, a shoreline at dawn, or a musician’s fingers moving like a whisper across strings. My camera has always been a tool of curiosity. I don’t chase grand moments; I follow the small ones. The ones that people overlook but never forget once they’ve been seen.

Raised around all types of music, storytelling, and a deep love of craft, I’m drawn to the rhythm of work — bakers at a coop bakery, rolling dough before sunrise, carpenters shaping wood, musicians losing themselves in their art. I move close, listening with my eyes. Whether it’s a harpist at a street fair or a gardener tending to a bloom, I’m looking for the moment where concentration becomes poetry.

I also seek calm. Many of my photographs offer a place to rest — a chair by the sea, a soft horizon, the gentle language of florals. People often tell me my images feel soothing, like a breath they didn’t know they needed. I treasure that. If my work provides comfort, reflection, or a small sense of healing, then the photograph has done its job.

Every image I keep has a meaning; it’s the one or two that rise from a hundred. Those chosen moments — discovered, not staged — form the stories I share. My work is an invitation to pause, to notice, to remember that beauty lives in the everyday: in hands that create, in places that breathe, in light that wanders, and in the music that moves quietly through us all.

A proud moment: My solo artist/interactive show at RAC: “Barbershops & Beauty Salons – Good Hair vs. Bad Hair Smackdown” of my photo journal travels. "Through 17 detailed photographs, I portrayed the vibe of Oakland’s old barbershops/hair salons, with rich examples of black culture, unique tools of the trade", she cites. The exhibit was featured in SF Chronicle’s Datebook magazine: http://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Barbershop-Exploring-an-informal-institution-3252185.php  (Next project: To bring that show back & soon)!

See Youtube channel and more: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/PatPatterson 

Contact Pat, who loves inspiring adults and youth to pick up a camera, brush or pen. info2@patpatcreates.com or 510.499.3392.

Thank you!

(Photo credit: Duane Conliffe)