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Rangefinder Magazine
January 2004

Profile: Arthur Rainville by Harvey Goldstein
Seeing Through the World’s Eyes

Arthur Rainville

Arthur Rainville from Whitinsville, Massachusetts, is a gentle soul with a talent that is only now becoming widely recognized after over 40 years in the photographic industry. Arthur grew up with professional photography. His father was a photographer for 44 years and Arthur started with him as a kid. His job was making red sun-proofs behind his father’s studio. His payment? View Master reels. He began photographing portraits with his father in 1963 while he was still in high school.

Arthur has photographed all the usual subject matter for 40 years. However, he now concentrates only on fine-art portraiture and landscape work for commercial clients and galleries. He leaves the high school senior market, weddings and babies to other photographers.

Early in his career, Rainville discovered and settled on a personal visual style, which he continues to explore and find new inspiration to drive him to create in new ways. He has learned not only to study the work in art museums, but also to study the thought processes of the great artists. Much like the 18th century British artist, Thomas Gainsborough, Rainville likes to pose his subjects “taking their ease,” and in his current work, like Gainsborough, he adds natural landscapes into formal settings. With the advantages of the modern digital age, he also adds a sense of drama through Gothic Revival influences. He calls these portraits Caressers, a French word meaning “to caress,” because he paints these dramas into the portrait from other photographs. Even though this is his current work, it is still created in his signature look, Mansuesco, a loose Latin derivative for “a certain softness.” Having a distinctive name for his work allows him to focus his attention and expound his philosophies to his clients.

Top:”The Priestess.” Asking the right questions of our subjects can lead us to create images that are poignant and provocative. During the initial interview we can learn of our subject’s passions, joys and sorrows—all vital information if we are to create a portrait that speaks to our subject’s soul.

“ I have enjoyed watching this current paradigm shift in our industry. When I began over 40 years ago, all the studios were exclusively black and white. In the 1960s color came along and photographers said it would never replace black and white, but eventually color went mainstream, driven by the marketplace. I watched as film got better and sheet film usage was replaced by medium format, and eventually many photographers began using 35mm for weddings. Now I think most photographers pretty much accept the idea that digital, like it or not, will probably be their future. It’s not that film will ever disappear, just like black and white didn’t disappear, it’s just all about mainstream usage. As I always tell my students, it’s not the instrument, it’s how you play it. It doesn’t matter what’s in your hands—film or digital camera—it’s your eye and your soul that makes the picture. I think you could have given Monet a house painter’s brush and he could have wiped up a pretty nice painting. With all the changes in our technology and in the buying habits of our clients, this is the perfect time for us to embrace the art world again and make the whole experience of going to a photographer special once again. It is time for us to make our offering more unique if we want to continue to command respect and financial reward. Digital certainly provides us with that opportunity.”

	“The Kiss.” Any age is the right age to kiss. Are kisses less passionate when they have reached a certain number? Are they more so? And are they any less spontaneous, deeply intimate and lovingly genuine? “The Kiss” was photographed with the Fuji S2 digital camera and the Tamron 28–300mm zoom lens at 300mm. A true example of “Degage” portraiture—totally uninhibited, unfussy, real.

Arthur believes that it is also our responsibility to see through the world’s eyes. He feels that this is a world where, because of the insanity of day-to-day living, we crave “touchie-feelie.” He quotes John Nesbit, “The more high-tech we become, the more high-touch we desire.”

Arthur likes to attach words to things, it gives him focus and helps him explain to his clients how “hip” he is. He now uses WhisperLight as a figure of speech. “I figure the first great lighting person was God, who figured out how to light his subject, the earth, with just one light and he made it interesting by leaving the light stationary and rotating his subject. So I choose a quality of light, the softbox or fresnel lens spot, depending on the feel I want the portrait to have, and then leave it stationary, allowing my subject to move around in and out and through the light. Photographing using a hand-held digital camera allows me freedom of motion and the compositions are much less structured. Of course, I attach a word to this style of photography. I call it Degage, which means ‘less fussy.’ We certainly have a less fussy audience for our portrait work today. For the last 10 years, brides have wanted photojournalistic coverage of their weddings, not all brides, but many. It only stands to reason that those same brides, as they began having families, would want family portraits that were also photojournalistic in nature—more real, more honest, genuine portrayals, more natural. I prefer to photograph women or mother and child. While I can adapt my look to men, it sings with a female subject. I see myself now as a visual poet and try to bring that thought to my imagery.”

“The Princess.” Sometimes a fantasy leads us down the creative path. The portrait then becomes a creative collaborative that is the most personal of portraits.	“Tessa.” Digital dreamscapes can be simple or complex, full of meaning or mere flights of fancy. They can serve merely as design elements or can be intended to make the viewer understand more of the subject.	“Soul Searching.” This image was created from the concept of our divisive personalities as artists, creating work to please clients and work that will satisfy us. I keep a small print of it handy to always remind me to stay true to the song in my heart. I must create work that makes me happy and then it is merely a matter of finding clients who share my vision.

Arthur is an accomplished teacher and lecturer. He enjoys the challenge of helping practicing professional photographers create a more exciting life. However, he feels that his real joy is with young, aspiring photographers who are passionate about photography. As chair of the Portrait Department at the New England School of Photography in Boston, he is surrounded by energetic students—full-time day students who see every moment as new and exciting and evening workshop students whose passion for photography is energizing.

“Thoughts of Sedona.” An early example of my picture-painting technique, this portrait incorporates visual icons of the subject’s memories and friends. One of the keys to iconographic imagery is total harmony between subject and surroundings, meaningful but cohesive in illustrative integrity.

His speaking career evolved when he realized there were many programs on photographic techniques and others on business, but there were few on the artistic side that inspired and motivated photographers to be more creative, to develop a personal signature style.

In order to grow as a speaker, he joined the National Speakers Association. One of the first things he learned is that all business is show business and that in this day and age, we all like to learn by being entertained. He also learned that if he allowed the audience to join him in a laugh, they could relate to the ideas being presented more easily. At this time, he began to talk art as the character, Monet. That grew into talking more art as the television PBS art aficionado, Sister Wendy. In his weeklong workshops, he also plays a cowboy and a jungle explorer, all with subliminal messages on creativity and style. His attitude to teaching is that we are all more receptive if we are having fun.

	”The Muse.” Initially created outdoors by natural light, the Old World background was painted in from an image of a chosen piece from an art museum. Underpainting united the two images in a cohesive feel.

Arthur continues to be inspired everyday, even after almost a half century in the photographic industry. He is perhaps more excited today than ever. “With the changes in our profession, loss of markets, changes in technology, just changes in the world and our client base, it would be easy to cry woe at times, but I see this as a time of new rebirth for our industry—a time when we need to each hearken back to our artistic roots and create imagery with a personal visual stamp on it, much like the great artists did. We can bring back the magic for our clients and ourselves through all the innovations this new digital world provides for us. We have to think differently with our work and in our business offerings, but this shouldn’t be looked on with dismay. It’s a great opportunity to grow and put delight back in our photographic lives. I wake up every day looking forward to the next great idea I’m going to have or the next great image I’m going to create.”

Arthur says, “Aspiring professional photographers need to believe that the passion they possess today for creating photographs can carry them as far as they will ever want to go. Even though they will hit personal potholes in their road, they can make magic, make a great living and make a difference.”

Arthur Rainville will be presenting a program at WPPI 2004 on Monday, February 23, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at BALLY’s Las Vegas. The title of his program is “A New Journey Down an Old Path.”

Harvey Goldstein from Branford, Connecticut, has been in the photographic industry for 30 years. He is a former studio owner and presently edits numerous association newsletters and magazines, as well as being a freelance writer.