Kevin Saunders keeps a home in Cashiers, North Carolina and in Villars, Dordogne France. British by birth, he attended Stowe School in England and then Merton College, Oxford University (with an MA in Modern History & Economics). From 1981 on, during his ‘career’ years as a British solicitor and an American attorney, he lived in Atlanta, Georgia. He studied for an MBA and was a Woodruff Fellow at the Goizueta Business School, Emory University, Atlanta. In 1985, he started his own law firm and advised on business and commercial real estate matters through 2001. With a significant career change in 2001, his photography moved to the forefront. And several successful exhibit followed. In 2007, a move to France brought a hiatus for that year as a new ‘Gluten Free’ full Board holiday business opened at Chateau de Villars in the Dordogne, France. New images, a new darkroom and new exhibits mean that photography is back on track in 2008!

Kevin has always been involved in his community. While in Atlanta, he served on the Boards of the Atlanta Opera, The American Friends of Stowe, The Merton College Charitable Corporation, The Atlanta Center for Contemporary Art (f/k/a Nexus), and the Midtown Assistance Center, an organization providing assistance to the working poor for prevention of homelessness in Atlanta. In 1988 he was co-founder of the Atlanta International Museum of Art & Design (now known as "The Museum of Design") and was President and Chairman from 1988-1993.

Kevin has taken photographs from a very early age, starting with a Brownie 127 camera at age nine. Until 2001, these were always color images, but after joining a Black & White darkroom course at The Showcase School in Atlanta, he discovered his love of that medium and particularly his love of printing Gelatin Silver prints. That love of printing, and its meditative environment, propelled and changed his photography.

"Whether referring to my gelatin silver prints or my color pigment prints, my photographs convey my deep interest in landscape, whether natural or architectural. In my broad concept of "landscape" and in my search for beauty, I find intriguing visual aspects in the natural order and forms interpretations, sometimes quirky, of its mystery, patterns, juxtaposition, form, shadow and light. My sensibilities result in assimilating the traditions of the past, with an 'eye' for the contemporary, expressing continuity spanning time and place in many beautiful and interesting ways, creating a personal vision of the world of today often through the rich filter of the past.

I use elements of landscape and architecture to create images that, paradoxically, are both concrete and abstract. My images have an emotional directness that place them firmly in the now, while their formal structure and technique mark them as part of a timeless tradition. My visual poetry allows each viewer to make intensely personal associations. My work is not about mere 'description,' it is about 'sensation' and discovery. The actual locale is, in the end, unimportant, because I focus in on some element, some detail to which everyone can respond regardless of time, place, and experience. This imparts a sense of humanity, even though people, per se, rarely appear in the photographs.

The common becomes uncommon, and the moment in time is uniquely captured, as a result of being, with some element of serendipity, in the right place at the right time with my selected camera, lense and film, and finally through my processing and printing of the image. These images are full of contemplation, often quietness and minimalism, and always beauty.

The word "Photography" comes from two Greek words meaning "Writing with light". In the case of my gelatin silver images, this dovetails with my "playing with light", when taking the image and when processing it. I enhance the natural drama of the scene and the depth of tonal range to arrive at my goal for my prints of quietness and beauty. All gelatin silver prints or color pigment prints are archivally printed, limited editions, signed and dated accordingly. My selected mat and frame are specifically chosen to enhance the qualities of the image."

Kevin Saunders, 2008

Kevin Saunders' images are in national and international collections, including in his native Great Britain and in Georgia. In particular, his images are in the permanent collections in the USA of The Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA, The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA), Atlanta, GA, Emory University, Atlanta, GA and The Fine Art Center, Bascom Louise Gallery, Highlands, NC.

"Fay Gold Selects", Group exhibit curated by Fay Gold, October 2001 - Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
"Photographers Choice 2002", Group exhibit Spring 2002, Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
"Only in 2002", Group Exhibit curated by Jane Jackson, October 2002, - APG, Atlanta, GA
"Trees, just Trees", Group Exhibit, Fall 2002, Summit One Gallery, Highlands NC
"Shadows and Light", Solo Exhibit, January/February 2003, Showcase School, Atlanta GA
"Photographers Choice 2003", Group Exhibit, Spring 2003, Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA
"5 Photographers at Floataway", Group Exhibit, April 2003, curator Anna Walker, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
"Emerging Visions", Group Exhibit, August/ September 2003, curated by Jerry Cullum, - APG, Atlanta, GA
"Three Photographers", Group Exhibit, September 2003, High Country Art & Antiques, Blue Ridge, GA
"Flash", Group Exhibit, October 2003, Raiford Gallery, Roswell, GA
"Slow Exposures: Southern Landscape", Group Exhibit, Oct. 2003, Pike County Historic Preservation, Zebulon, GA
"Pin Up", Group Exhibit, October 2003, Showcase School, Atlanta, GA
"Now & Then", Thos. Deans & Company, Solo Exhibit January 2004, Atlanta, GA (Art04)
"Hip Art", Stowe School/Christie's Fine Art auction, May 2004, London benefiting The Stowe Preservation Trust.
"Swan Coach House Interpretive", Swan House Gallery, May/June 2004, Atlanta, GA
"Thos. Deans & Company Solo Exhibit", May/June 2004, Tallahassee, FL
"Summer Pleasures", Thos. Deans & Company Group Exhibit June/July 2004, Atlanta, GA
"In the Details", Thos. Deans & Company, Oct. 2004 (Atlanta Celebrates Photography), Atlanta, GA
"Selections", Thos. Deans & Company Group Exhibit December/January 2004, TULA, Bennett Street, Atlanta, GA
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) GA Auction and Artist Market April 2005, Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA
"Myanmar: Hand & Eye", September 2005, Visual Arts Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
"Three Photographers", October 2005, Thomas Deans Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
"The High Lands in Focus", November 2005, Summit One Gallery, Highlands, NC
"Myanmar" November 2005, Brenau University, Gainesville, GA
"Kevin Saunders, Photography" December 2005, Schedler-Minchin Fine Art, Birmingham, AL
"Visions of Myanmar: In Color" Spring 2006, PierceMartin, ADAC West, Atlanta, GA
"2006 Alabama Symphony Decorators' ShowHouse" May 2006, Birmingham, AL
"Landscape" May/July 2006 Arnall Golden Gregory, Atlanta, GA
"Eye on Myanmar" June/July 2006 Atlanta Airport Atrium, Atlanta, GA
"Eye on Guatemala" September 2006 Latin American Association, Atlanta, GA

Thos. Deans and Company, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Schedler Fine Art, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Raiford Gallery, Roswell, Georgia, USA
Sandpiper Gallery, Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, USA

Kevin Saunders uses 35mm Pentax film and digital cameras, as well as a medium format Bronica. He generally travels with two or three cameras, loaded with Black & White and color film. He sees his photographic subjects either in Black & White or color, uses the appropriate camera and mentally titles the image as it is taken.

The Silver Gelatin printing process was made famous by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. This printing process produces beautiful, rich prints made from bright luminous whites, deep blacks, and a full compliment of tones in between - the traditional, classic black and white print.

This process has remained largely unchanged since it was introduced in the 1880s. The fiber paper is coated with gelatin that holds light-sensitive silver particles. The image consists of silver compounds suspended in the gelatin-based emulsion. The image from a negative is projected onto the paper, exposing the silver particles to varying degrees of light. The paper is then placed in a chemical developing solution where the exposed silver particles are transformed into tones of gray corresponding to the amount of light received by each particle. The wide spectrum of gray tones produced ranges from full black to full white and creates what is called the "black and white" print. With correct processing on fiber-based paper the result is a museum-quality photograph that will last for centuries.

Each toned silver gelatin photograph is printed individually and archivally in small limited editions. Each final image is as much a result of the extensive time Kevin Saunders spends in the darkroom, as of the negative he has taken. In the darkroom, exposing his selected photographic fiber paper to the negative photographic image, he uses various techniques to control the time and degree of light, so as to enhance the natural drama of the scene and the depth of tonal range.

Client and Gallery demand has led to a return to the color image, of which several are in Museum collections. Guided by his Gelatin Silver experience, he insists on making all color prints himself to achieve the control he wants over the final print.

While his interest in early techniques have involved Kevin in photographic processes, such as platinum palladium prints, he is also keeping pace with the digital age, scanning negatives prior to producing archival quality prints. The use of archival Epson inks on watercolor papers, for example, give his color work a muted but vibrant appeal. This is an ever expanding medium. With manipulation of his original photographs, Kevin produces images similar to Image Transfers, Infra Red and Platinum Palladium prints, or more familiar Black & White and Color images.

"Exploring the Elastic Boundaries of Time": Jerry Cullum, Atlanta Journal & Constitution, February 8, 2004
"Figures, Photos translate Culture of Myanmar": Jerry Cullum, Atlanta Journal & Constitution, October 9, 2005

reviews

www.chateaudevillars.com (Bed & Breakfast, self catering cottage and ‘Relax & Learn’ themed holidays in the Dordogne, France)
www.chateaudevillars.co.uk (‘Gluten Free’ Full Board holidays in the Dordogne, France)

links

Images are available either direct from Kevin Saunders or at any of the listed galleries which represent him. If interested in purchasing, please make contact for the current catalog of images and pricing.