Gravity Feed Presents
360° Photography
by Patrick Cheatham

Indian Day School, Tahlequah OK

Through the beginning of December, 2004
Contact: James Lane (510) 644-4464 james@gravityfeed.net

Patrick came bounding into the Gravity feed on a beautiful spring day with my favorite word on his lips... "Wow!," he said and thus began what I know will be a lifetime friendship.

Since photography is my artistic medium of choice I have a different kind of respect for photographers, as artists, than I do for people specializing in mediums I can only appreciate (such as paint). I tend to say to myself upon meeting a self-proclaimed Photographer, "oh yeah, show me something great!" I then look at their work and, more often than not, shrug, smile politely and dive in with my credentials and my critique. It usually only takes a few minutes.

Patrick Cheatham, on the other hand, indeed showed me something great! His work in 360° (what I call) human-scapes is beautiful in its wry but intelligent humor and oh so subtle in its message!

...Once again, words fail the image! Please come see this man's work at the Gravity feed for the months of April and May 2004!

- James Lane

About the Photographer:
Patrick Cheatham is a professional panoramic (360°) photographer and multimedia artist living in Berkeley, California. Among other things he is on the 12-year track pursuing a graduate degree in Linguistics at SFSU.

The panoramic photographs on display here are flattened projections of cylindrical 360° images. Using a Digital SLR camera, Patrick initially captures the images as a series of overlapping stills; these stills are then composited together to create a seamless panorama. The resulting digital piece can then be viewed on a computer as an interactive image, or printed and mounted as you see here.

Patrick is an Oklahoma native, though life as an Army brat had him growing up in many different places across the nation. He enjoys finding the Surprise in the Mundane, and Beauty in places seemingly in decay. By displaying their subjects wholly within their surroundings, he hopes the images exhibited at Gravity Feed convey this sensibility.

Patrick is currently working on an Artist-in-the-Studio series of 360° portraits, and has begun work on a 360° photo-documentary of the communities along Shattuck Avenue. The Shattuck Project will ultimately be an interactive multimedia presentation/installation comprised of panoramic imagery, sound and text(s), and will be on display in late 2004 at Gravity Feed.

These and other examples of his panoramic work may be seen online at: http://cheathamlane.net/workspace/

In August 2003, Patrick exhibited an experimental piece, comprised of 96 re-photographed SX-70 Polaroids, at Optical Underground in San Francisco. This piece was also part of Gimme Polaroid IV at New Langton Arts in December 2003, and was diplayed at Anon Salon's Foolscap event in April 2004.

A smaller exhibit of 360° images was held at Vesuvio in San Francisco in November 2003.

VR MAG had some really nice things to say about one of Patrick's projects in their October/November 2003 issue. See it online at:
http://www.vrmag.org/

Most of the smaller panoramic images exhibited at Gravity Feed can be made available as large-format photographic prints. Patrick is also available upon commission to create panoramic portraits of people and spaces.

Contact James Lane of Gravity Feed for more information.

James Lane: (510) 644-4464 or james@gravityfeed.net
Patrick Cheatham: patrick@foundartfactory.net