Featured Artist Carl Kravats

Artist Carl Kravats presents a collection of fascinating digital imagery that translates floral photography into bold, dynamic design. Find more of his portfolio on his website.

 

 

I went to The School of Visual Arts in New York City after graduating from high school in Danbury, Connecticut. Originally I went to become a fine artist, but after attending only a short time, I realized that wasn’t going to happen.

 

 

I muddled through my first year and then decided on a new direction. I went on to attend The Film School and The Photography School, both at The School of Visual Arts.

 

 

After graduating, I worked as an assistant and darkroom specialist until I opened my own studio. I did mostly still life, magazine and book cover art, model and actor portfolios, bands, musicians—anything anyone wanted to hire me for.

 

 

I also worked on a number of personal projects like parades, county fairs, New York City street photography and protest marches.

 

 

Eighteen years ago, I realized that I couldn’t take the cold and snow anymore. I decided to leave the east coast and start out anew in southern California. Once I moved to California, I got involved with photographing the car culture, folks who made their own instruments (like luthiers) and children’s photography. I even dabbled in pet photography for a short time—very short. (I couldn’t make them smile or stay!)

 

 

In 2007, someone hired me to photograph the food in a new restaurant in Temecula where I lived. They happened to like what I did, and it just snowballed after that.

 

 

I’ve been doing just that for all this time, and have worked on eight cookbooks so far. Meanwhile, at the same time, I started to travel. I have been to India twice, Romania, Ethiopia, Myanmar and all throughout Mexico. Covid put a stop to that for now.

 

 

I have a close friend who came out to California about the same time who has a beautiful market garden. Her flower garden looks just like a storybook garden, the kind you see in movies. I started to photograph her flowers and have done so for about the last ten years.

 

 

A lot of people photograph flowers, and there are many beautiful images out there. I felt I needed to do something different with this subject. I started to experiment in Photoshop by flipping, mirroring, creating multiple imagery, changing colors and using my limited graphic knowledge to create something different.

 

 

What you see here is what I’ve been creating. I’m having the time of my life. I can’t stop; I’m having wayyyy to much fun!

 

Artist Carl Kravats invites you to follow him on Facebook and his Food, Musicman and Professional Headshots website.

 

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