A Recent Article from Outdoor & Nature Photography - Winter 1998

Eye for Beauty

Photographer Opens Gallery at the District

by Roxanna Brock

Michael Fatali hopes his new gallery inside The District at Green Valley Ranch can lift the spirits of society and provide a sense of beauty for people though photography.

"Most people don't really think of Vegas as a place of spirit, yet I have found people here hungry for something that will feed them from the interior," says Fatali, who features images of natural light cast on the desert's natural wonders in his Fatali Sacred Earth Images gallery that is set to open in late February.

Fatali opened his first gallery in Page, Arizona. His photographs of Lake Powell's slot canyons display hi affinity for capturing canyon light. He later moved to Springdale, Utah, located near Zion National Park.

It was in Utah where Fatali not only continued his photographic journeys but also founded the Fatali Schoolhouse of Photography in nearby Rockville.

"The old schoolhouse, constructed in 1936, was purchased as a studio to facilitate the printmaking of my own photographs, but also for workshops, exhibits and lectures for the Fatali Foundation," Fatali says. "The foundation is a nonprofit organization devoted to using nature as a tool to heal. I donate my images as a source of inspiration for those in end-of-life-care hospices and hospitals. My workshops and lectures use photography as an excuse for creative union and support. Those are the things that satisfy me the most."

In addition to his new gallery at The District, Fatali has recently opened a gallery in Palm Dessert, California. Fatali likes the fact his work can be thought of as a place to seek peace.

"I like the thought of my gallery being a refuge. There is a lot of chaos in this concrete kingdom; every aspect of this environment, both audibly and visually, is removed from nature" Fatali says.

The photographer uses a 100-year-old box camera that weighs about 100 pounds. He captures only natural light in his images and uses no filters or artificial enhancements.

"Every image I've taken has involved a lot of work. Getting to know the area I want to file, I walk with it, study it," Fatali says.

Fatali was recently featured in Terry Hope's book "The World's Top Photographers and the Stories Behind Their Greatest Images." One of Fatali's images graced the cover.

"It meant a lot to me because many of the photographers included in the book were ones I had admired since I was a kid," Fatali says. "To be in a book with them was amazing. I don't know if I deserve to be in the class with masters like Art Wolfe, Galen Rowell and Charlie Waite.