Meet Paul Grecian | Fine Art Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paul Grecian and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paul, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I had been selling my work part-time for seven years before deciding to make the career switch at age 40. I wanted to more fully explore my creative potential and to be my own boss. I had achieved enough while being a part-time artist to be confident that going full time was likely to be successful, and knew that I would always question myself if I didn’t try.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My medium of photography is highly misunderstood, even by other photographers, but especially by artists working in other mediums. As a fine art photographer offering my work primarily at fine craft/art shows, I have to deal with art show organizers that may define photography as a craft and therefore not jury me, or craft show organizers that define it as a fine art, thus also not jurying me. It restricts me from doing shows I’d like to do. There is also the “easy” factor associated with photography that I have to battle all the time, especially now that the medium has gone primarily digital. The truth is that the digital aspect makes it much more necessarily to take full control of the process, something every artist should want. I’ve become a much better image maker since adopting the digital process almost 20 years ago. Within my medium though, I’m a bit of a platypus. Many people think my works are paintings, not because I try to mimic brush strokes, but because of my style of work. I like minimalist, soft light, formalist type of images, and that’s not something most people associate with photography. I also have people believe I travel “all over” to make my work, but I mostly work close to the studio (I’ve actually never been on an airplane). Even in this age of extreme travel, and “trophy” style wildlife and landscape images, my work has been awarded an IRMA (International Regional Magazine Award) for work I did for a regional Pennsylvania magazine, and I’ve been Short-listed in both the Bird Photographer of the Year and Close-up Photographer of the Year international competitions the last three years. People are attracted to the quietness of my images and that is both my motivation and my brand.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in the “middle-of-no-where” Pennsylvania on a small 7.5 acre farm with my artist wife. There really isn’t much to do around here, but there are a couple unique natural attractions. We are about three hours away from Philadelphia and New York City so museum hopping would be on my list. Eating out here is just not something we do so that would have to be saved for the city trips as well. One of my favorite places to hike and photograph is Ricketts Glen State Park here in PA. It’s a deep gorge hike full of waterfalls and definitely worth a day of exploration. Not too far is the town of Lewisburg where my wife and I offer our work at a cooperative gallery and in one of the other shops there. It has some nice dining and antiquing. Beyond that I think we would hang out behind the farmhouse, build a fire, and chill.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I can’t say that there was any one overwhelming person, book, or organization that I can identify; it was more a culmination of all of my life experiences and interactions with people, my own research, and the groups that I belonged to in totality. My road was a rather independent path, most people thought what I was doing was brave but not particularly wise. I don’t think one should consider becoming an independent artist without acknowledging that failure is a possibility. Hard work and risk has to be your game plan. Twenty-one years later, that’s still the case.

Website: www.paulgrecianphoto.net

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulgrecianart/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulGrecianPhotography