Victor Perrotti's first camera was a Kodak Pocket-Instamatic 110 purchased for him by his mother. He has been taking photographs ever since. He documented his military service on color film. Later, he was introduced to the darkroom in a college photography class.
He reflects, "to this day, under the glow of red light, I never tire of watching my captured images appear on the surface." Later, digital photography was embraced but Victor never gave up his darkroom equipment. He continues to shoot digital from time to time but bytes don't hold his interest like small particles of metallic silver or platinum.
Victor holds degrees in the fields of Education and Graphic Design. After retiring from a career as a public-school teacher, he completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail (NoBo). He is currently employed as a graphic designer.
His work is created in a way that expresses the fundamental nature of humanity. His interests include collage, drawing, painting and printing. The Mid-Atlantic Coast is his studio and the theme is himself.
VISION, CAPTURE, PRINT
Photography can be viewed as a three staged process. The process includes envisioning the end result, getting the image in camera, and processing/printing the desired image. The camera is a tool that is manipulated in a way that will result in the manifestation of the vision.
The photographic prints in this exhibition are either gelatin silver or platinum/palladium prints. These analog processes differ in chemical composition and method.
Gelatin Silver
Gelatin silver utilizes a suspension of silver salts in gelatin that is supported by a resin coated paper. The sensitized paper is exposed to light through a negative with the utilization of an enlarger. The film used in this exhibition includes 35mm, 120, and 4x5 inch. Once exposed to light, the silver particles are transformed into metallic silver. The unexposed silver particles are then removed in a developing solution. The image is then fixed in solution and is no longer light sensitive.
Platinum/Palladium
Platinum/Palladium (platinotype) prints are created through a process that leaves platinum and or palladium metal in the surface of the paper. Unlike the gelatin silver process, there is no gelatin emulsion that coats the paper, so platinum/palladium prints are not glossy but matte. This fact makes the prints extremely stable regarding chemical reactions that would degrade a print. These prints are estimated to last hundreds of years.
Platinum/Palladium printing is a contact printing process. The negative is as large as the print will be. Traditionally, large view cameras with slow shutter speeds were used. Subjects often included portraits of people and landscapes. Today, computers and photo printers can be used to produce digital negatives. This advancement permits the printing of street scenes and fast-moving subjects that were captured with small hand-held cameras.
Pinhole Photography
Some of the Platinum/Palladium prints and all the gelatin silver prints in this exhibition are pinhole images. They have been captured through a tiny hole, without the use of a lens. Without a lens, the photographic process is reduced to its fundamental elements. This frees the photographer to concentrate on what is in front of them, instead of the mechanics involving a sophisticated camera.
Documenting my world through a pinhole leads me into a state of deeper meditation. I wish for others to view my world with the same sense of awe and reverence that I experience when actively capturing light. To me, pinhole photography is an opportunity to shine light on nature and people that are often drowning in a sea of digital images. The wave diffraction that occurs when light interacts with the edges of a pinhole, opens a door of perception. Step inside, the theme is myself. The process is my craft.
Victor Perrotti currently lives and works in Virginia Beach, Virginia
Education
| 2019 | Associates of Applied Science Degree in Graphic Design with a Specialization in Multimedia, Tidewater Community College, Portsmouth, VA |
| 2018 | Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike |
| 1989 | Master of Education, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA |
| 1986 | Bachelor of Science in Educational Leadership Services with a minor in Psychology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA |
| 1984 | Shodan, Butoku-Kai USA Division, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| Ink + Exposure, 2026. Tidewater Community College Visual Arts + Design Center, Norfolk Arts, Norfolk, VA. |
| Best of Show | 18th Annual Photography Exhibition, 2024. Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA. |
| Radius 250 2022 | 9th Biennial Regional Juried Exhibition, 2022. Artspace, Richmond, VA. |
| NSEW: Divided by Land | United by Film, 2016. Kransberg Arts Center, Saint Louis, MO. |
| 32nd Annual Juried Photography Exhibit, 2016. Suffolk Art Gallery, Suffolk, VA. |
| 45th Annual Student Art and Design Exhibition, 2016. Tidewater Community College Visual Arts Center, Portsmouth, VA. |
| Norfolk Society for Cemetery Conservation Cemeteriescape, 2014 & 2013. Selden Arcade, Norfolk, VA. |
Group Publications
| Poem — "i wish i could speak in technicolour" & Pinhole Photographs/January 2025. Pinhole Poetry, Issue 3.4. |
| The Living Pinhole Camera/March 2024. The Hand Magazine, Issue 44. |
| Poem — "enter my soft world" & Pinhole Photograph — Ocracoke/April 2023. Pinhole Poetry, Issue 2.1. |
| Photography Association Creatus October/November 2017. BLUR Magazine, Issue 57. |
| Tidewater Community College 2017. Three Forty High Street Student Art Magazine. |
| Slinsky, Kier (Ed) 2017. The f/D Book of Pinhole. Cleveland: Suggestive Press. |
| Kline, Cameron (Ed) 2016. NSEW 2016 Film Shooters Collective. Blurb. |
