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Patrick Crowley

Photography

I am a photographer.

In a culture of images, our eyes are always teaching us. I try to share what I have seen.

Play slideshow More on Flickr ↗ More on Instagram ↗

01 My work is about color

A white plastic chair and an empty Heineken case against a red wall
Imported 2004
A bright blue wall on a dusty Tijuana street, with a pigeon in the foreground
Blue wall 2005
A painted mural of a road, with a goggle-eyed green creature and a ladybug side by side
Ladybug and …? 2005
A Blimpie sign painted on a bright yellow brick wall
Blimpie 2002

02 My work is about composition

A man walking down a dim, yellow-tiled subway staircase
96th Street 2002
Two empty restaurant tables set with white plates, forks, and napkins
Dinner 2002
A painter on a ladder adding to a huge mural of a face on a blue wall as people walk by
Mural 2005
A pale green waiting room with a potted tree, a wall-mounted TV, and a glowing light fixture
Savannah Station, 2:54 a.m. 2003

03 My work is about discovery

A wooden staircase with railings winding down a hillside toward a hazy, sunlit ocean
Myst 2005
The off-duty light on a New York taxi’s roof, with blurred buildings behind it
Off duty 2003
A crowd in silhouette, looking up at a sky glowing from fireworks
Spectators 2003
An empty Krispy Kreme at night, with a neon Doughnuts sign glowing through the window
Krispy Kreme 2006

04 My work is about irony

Two restroom doors crisscrossed with yellow caution tape
Restroom 2006
Stacked chairs and round tables facing off inside a white party tent
Tables vs. chairs 2004
A wrecked white van with its door hanging open, crushed against an orange shipping container
Crash 2004
A fire hydrant between two posts, one topped with a traffic cone, in front of a graffiti wall
D, N, S 2002

05 Paris

Open gallery →

A year and a half of living in Paris, posted to Instagram as it happened.

2013–2014 · 15 photos

A figure silhouetted against a tall arched window of patterned glass in a dark church
Saint-Sulpice 2013
The neon script sign of Le Train Bleu restaurant under the arched glass roof of the Gare de Lyon
Le Train Bleu 2013
A path running through a tunnel of green trellises and climbing plants
Promenade plantée 2013
A woman photographing the glowing red windmill of the Moulin Rouge at dusk
Moulin Rouge 2013
Toy sailboats with bright red, blue, and yellow sails crowded together in a park
Tiny boats 2013
The sun rising under heavy clouds over the long platform roofs of the Gare de l’Est
Sunrise over Gare de l’Est 2013
The Canal Saint-Martin curving between autumn trees and cream-colored apartment buildings
Autumn in Paris 2013
A faint rainbow arching over a Paris rooftop and its chimney pots
Rainbow 2014
Apartment buildings and bare trees reflected in the still water of the Canal Saint-Martin
Spring has arrived on the canal 2014
A street painting of a girl with long blue hair holding a paper boat, on a weathered wall
The girl with blue hair 2014
A line of red and gray Citroën 2CVs stuck in traffic on a narrow Paris street
French traffic jam 2014
Lightning glowing inside a storm cloud above dark rooftops and a TV antenna
Thunderhead 2014
A man dressed as Superman dozing on a seat in a Metro car
Super tired 2014
The front of Notre-Dame lit gold by the setting sun under a dark sky, with a rainbow beside it
Another amazing sunset in Paris 2014
A woman with a clear umbrella walking past a busy café, its red lights reflected in wet cobblestones
Rain! 2014
Open gallery →

06 Amtrak

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Photos from the open rail.

2002–2004 · 10 photos

A silver Amtrak car with a red, white, and blue stripe, stopped at a station platform
Dinette 2002
A painted United Finance Company sign on a brick wall, framed by the train window
United Finance 2002
An Amtrak attendant in a vest standing at the end of an empty cafe car
Cafe car 2002
A dining car booth with red curtains, and the word South painted on a wall outside the window
South 2002
A station office with an Amtrak logo on the wall, a desk with poinsettias, and an empty office chair
Amtrak office 2003
A cab driver in a Yellow Cab cap leaning on the back of a station chair
Talking with Howard 2003
An older man in a train seat gazing out a bright window
View 2003
Passengers gathering their things in a dark train car lit by orange light
Arrival 2003
A white water tower and sunlit trees blurring past a rain-speckled train window, under dark clouds
Storm 2003
Two old water towers and a tree silhouetted against a hazy sunrise, seen past the edge of the train window
Water towers 2004
Open gallery →

07 In print

A stop sign and a green road sign pointing to Lerdo Highway and Shafter, 14 miles, beside a flat, empty road
Shafter 2005

Published in

Rude World

100 Rudest Place Names in the World

Rob Bailey and Ed Hurst · Boxtree, 2006

My photo of a road sign for Shafter, California, is entry 48.

amazon.com ↗
A cannon aimed over the border fence at the beach, with a man in midair above the ocean and a net on the far side of the fence
During 2005

Published in

Borderwall as Architecture

A Manifesto for the U.S.–Mexico Boundary

Ronald Rael · University of California Press, 2017

My photo of a human cannonball flying over the border fence into the US, at Playas de Tijuana in 2005, runs across a two-page spread.

borderwallasarchitecture.com ↗

08 Questions

How did I start?
When my dad gave me a Minolta X-270 in ninth grade.
Did I study photography?
I majored in photography at the Savannah College of Art and Design, but I really consider myself self-taught.
Do I freelance?
Possibly, yes. So far, I’ve avoided having any ambition for my photography other than taking cool images. It keeps things pure.
Is my work in galleries?
I’ve been in one or two shows, but exhibition has really been tangential to my aims as a photographer. At some point, though, I’d like to have a solo show.
Do I only shoot digital?
Yes. I will always hold a special place in my heart for film, but the future is inescapably digital.

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