The intense colors created by this time-intensive non-digital technique and the lone and
cropped perspectives create an emotional tension. The interiors are locked in space
with no clear sense of time. Time and space fade in and out and planes bleed into one
another. They are borderline hallucinatory environments.
In normal still photographs any change is softened, rendered as a blur, and detail is lost.
I use a technique that captures that detail and boldly emphasizes change in vivid colors.
To maintain the essential ties to reality all work is done in-camera and on-film with no
digital creation or digital manipulation.

I shoot with a medium-format camera and print on a large scale to enhance the impact
of the colors. In addition, the intriguing details of the interactions between colors draw
one into an intimate distance to explore. To me, it is important that the images in this
series impact the viewer both from across the room as well as under very close
inspection. There is a lot of intriguing mystery to the nuances.

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Artist Statement:
Some photographers believe their strongest work comes from exploring their immediate surroundings. “I think of myself as a regional photographer,” Loranc says, “but that does not mean the photography cannot be understood beyond the region. Right now people all over the United States indicate to me that regionalism, born of an informed attachment, has universal appeal.” Loranc shoots most of his pictures within an hour’s drive of his home in Modesto, California, but he is also interested in exploring his ancestral roots in Europe. For this reason he makes occasional photographic forays into Poland and Lithuania.

“I’m fascinated by the ancient churches of my homeland,” he says. “These are holy spaces where millions of people have prayed for hundreds of years. They are places of great humility, and remind us how brief our lives are. I feel the same way when I’m photographing ancient groves of native oaks in California. I was unconscious of this when I began, but upon reflection, I think the oaks are just as sacred as the old cathedrals of Europe. They are sacred in that they have survived for so many years. I’m aware that the native people of California held all living things as divine. For me a grove of Valley Oaks is as sacred as any church in Europe.”
“I think about how interconnected the world is,” Loranc says. “When I’m out on a crisp winter’s morning, shooting a stand of native oaks, I see oak galls hanging from the trees. These were once used to make the pyrogallol chemicals I use to develop my negatives. So the oak trees I am photographing played a part in the developer I use to process my negatives of those trees. It is healthy to remember that we are often linked to the natural world in ways we don’t even suspect.”

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