STUART RATNER:

“In these images, I strive to evoke emotions associated with the earliest memories of childhood, fragmentary memories of striking experiences and vivid dreams, formed at an age when the line between dream and  reality is not yet completely fixed. In adult life, I find that these memories return more as brief gusts of raw feeling than as detailed records.  

I try to summon these early emotional memories by capturing moments in which the feeling of a childhood dream permeates into the real world. A shimmering play of light, a surrealistic combination of elements, an enveloping shadow, can, for a moment, imbue objective reality with the primal joy, thrill, longing and dread of those early childhood experiences. Nocturnal scenes are, of course, ideal places for dreams to merge with reality. I hope that the resulting images stir echoing emotions in the viewer. 

Among my main influences are the surreal and expressionistic imagery of the photographers Man Ray, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Mariana Yampolski, and Andreas Feininger.  Great cinematography has also had a strong effect: the chiaroscuro lighting of John Alton, the saturated and symbolic color designs of Jack Cardiff and Russell Metty, the deep velvet shadows of Gordon Willis.”

Stuart Ratner is an art photographer based in Detroit.  He learned photography mainly from his father, who had been a commercial photographer.

Having spent his early childhood in Manhattan, Stuart grew up an urban romantic, seeing cities and waterfronts as places of soulful beauty, where every location is suffused with echoes of past lives, dreams, joys, and losses. Stuart’s current residence, Detroit, Michigan, is a perfect place to put this vision into practice.  Landscapes are another favorite subject, though even these images seem to wind up carrying a sense of loss and yearning. 

Stuart has been active in the Detroit photographic community . He has been a member of the Motor City Camera Club since 2020, and has participated in their monthly juried competitions, as well as regional competitions of the Greater Detroit Camera Club Council, winning numerous prizes. He has also exhibited in local print exhibitions, most recently The Scarab Club’s “Archi-Texture” show, held in August 2024 at the Grosse Pointe Artists Association. 

Stuart would now like to introduce his work to a broader audience, and to participate in new photographic scenes. 

IMAGES FOR SALE-

Toward the Dawn – 11”H x 14”W
Archival Paper
$150 unframed
Signed on back


Night on Zug Island – 11”H x 14”W
Archival Paper
$150 unframed
Signed on back

 
Waterfront Club – 11”H x 14”W
Archival Paper
$150 unframed
Signed on back

Contact Stuart Ratner
studetroit@gmail.com

www.stuartratner.weebly.com
www.instagram.com/sturealist

THE NOCTURNAL HOURS HOME:
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-nocturnal-hours-diana-h-bloomfield-constance-rose

FIRST PLACE:
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-nocturnal-hours-diana-h-bloomfield-constance-rose/first-place-stuart-ratner-waterfront-club----/1

SECOND PLACE:
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-nocturnal-hours-diana-h-bloomfield-constance-rose/second-place-gosia-machaczka-hollow---/1

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-nocturnal-hours-diana-h-bloomfield-constance-rose/honorable-mentions-helen-fong-dinner-douglas-hill-night-flight-no-32-stefynie-rosenfeld-a-world-of-quiet---/1

BEST SERIES:
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-nocturnal-hours-diana-h-bloomfield-constance-rose/best-series-stuart-ratner/1

EXHIBITION #1:
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-nocturnal-hours-diana-h-bloomfield-constance-rose/exhibition-1/1

EXHIBITION #2
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-nocturnal-hours-diana-h-bloomfield-constance-rose/exhibition-2/1