Philip Ringler, a Bay Area native, has worked as a professional photographer since 1995. He is also a photographic educator, writer, curator and musician. He holds a BFA in photography from California State University, East Bay and an MFA fromt John F. Kennedy University’s Arts and Consciousness program, Berkeley, Calif. For more information please visit his website, www.philipringler.com

I photograph states of mind: emotions, nightmares, memories, energies and artifacts of the human condition. Visual metaphors or photographic poems communicate where words fall short; psychological landscapes; large- scale, silver-based black and white images of suffering and redemption. My work explores the deepest complexities of human experience, beyond superficial understandings of ourselves, and our relationship to the world around us.

The selection of specialty film, paper and developer, as well as the physical experience of darkroom printing are essential to my work.

Every photograph is meticulously printed on triple weight fiber-base silver gelatin mural paper. I hand process each print in a unique homemade developer to ensure high contrast with full tonal range. The prints are displayed without frames or glass, using rare earth neodymium magnets to enhance the viewer’s ability to ”enter” the image.