Patrick McCormack is a photographer based in Vermont. He lives in South Burlington, but is always on the road searching for unexplored and unknown places. Other subjects of his work has been New England and New York City, just to name a few, but Vermont has definitely a core role in his art. Occasionally he shoots portraits of people that he mostly knows.   

The artist attended an alternative high school that allowed him to explore his creativity with prints and films, helping him to build his own dark room. At the time he started shooting with a 35 mm camera, and now he works with medium format film.  

In daylight McCormack is a photojournalist, at night or early morning he becomes an observer of the city. He is fascinated by the natural and urban landscapes that these specific times of the day have to offer. The atmosphere of the pictures is most mysterious, ghostly and uncanny, at times dreamy. These are quiet hours, without any human being around. Indeed, the leading subjects of his photos seem to be the objects and the scenery that he depicts, they come to life through Patrick’s eye for the overlooked. It feels as if these ordinary things gain some glimpse of undiscovered, a new life and new details that caught the attention of the viewers.  

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The photographer’s shots reveal a bound with the city, looked through his personal perspective, a singular one. There is no planning of the route when McCormack wakes up early in the morning and takes his truck, just adventures, he is carried away from the moment in a spontaneous manner. He takes photos for happenstance. The process is what makes the difference in the shots, the discovery and the research, the instinct, as much as the final result.  

The colours lull the gaze, they are soft and cold if the photo is taken during the wintertime; warmer, golden and glowy when summer comes. The artist’s style changes within the seasons, but apart from the saturation and the undertones, his colours are characterized by a pastel, foggy-like and gentle finish. The alternation between artificial and natural light creates a perfect mixture for a dreamy feeling.  

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McCormack also has different side projects that he is carrying out. For example: he has been the Creative Director of CAFF (Climate Action Film Festival) for the past three years and in March 2022 another edition of the festival was held. It is a space for independent journalism and thoughtful filmmaking, where a curated selection of short films from around the world is presented, all focused on the human response to our climate crisis. 

He is definitely a multi-sided artist to keep an eye on, it would be interesting to see where his creative process will lead him in the future and what other lands he will eventually transform under his gaze.
You can keep up with his work and projects here and on Instagram.