Critique

Expertise: Photography of Patrick J. Adams

Stuart Pilkington comments photography of actor Patrick J. Adams, without even knowing it


Patrick J Adams

Patrick J. Adams, 33 years old

American actor, producer and photographer. Born in Canada, became famous playing the role of lawyer Mike Ross in American TV series “Suits,” was also in “Lost”, “Without a Trace”, “Ghost Whisperer” and others. Engaged to the star of “Pretty Little Liars,” Troian Bellisario.

Partick J. Adams embraced love for photography from his father, who is a journalist. “I was taking pictures even as a young kid, I was fascinated with the concept of documentation. My father, being a journalist, I grew up in a house built around the idea of telling the story of your life. My dad did it with words where I was more drawn to cameras. As soon as I could get my hands on a camera I was taking pictures,” says Patrick.

After graduating from the University of Southern California with a theater degree, he moved to LA, where he earned a living by taking headshots of actors. “I survived for years by doing this and created a good little business for myself — which gave me the ability to start taking pictures of people I like and put them in the best light,” he says.

When he started working on “Suits” in 2011, he didn’t push photography aside, and shot what was going on behind the scenes of the show. 30 photographs from the series were displayed in a photo exhibition, “Behind The Lens: An Intimate Look at the World of ‘Suits’,” that was organized by the USA Network in New York. “My years of working on ‘Suits’ afforded me the opportunity to focus, learn and evolve as a photographer, while at the same time enjoying the rare gift of being a part of a hit television series that I am proud to call home. I remain humble and grateful for every single moment of it.”


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“Could Washington have foreseen what America would look like in 225 years? Would that have been his American dream?”
Stuart Pilkington

Stuart Pilkington, 44 years old

Curator and photographer from Northwich (England). Worked with Terry Gilliam, Alan Parker and Luc Besson. Photographed for the British Film Institute. Curated projects with Brian Ulrich, Harry Borden and Lydia Panas.

This photographer certainly isn’t afraid to experiment and use a variety of different styles and techniques. They also like to express their sense of humor by, for example, juxtaposing someone daydreaming next to a tag line saying “find your beach.” There is also a stream of social commentary, for example the man walking past a plaque dedicated to George Washington whilst drinking a bottle of Diet Coke. Could Washington have foreseen what America would look like in 225 years, would that have been his American dream?

I definitely prefer this image maker’s color photographs to the black and white ones. They are very adept at playing with different pantones and color palettes. Some of the images are constructed with the use of delicate pastels whilst others have a strong dash of green or blue. The black and white photographs seem to lack focus and appear to have been taken on the hoof. This can sometimes work when the decisive moment is spot on, however, the focus of many of these images isn’t always particularly interesting. However, to be fair, there are some very striking monochrome images as well such as the filmic picture of girl in a New York apartment.


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This person obviously has an affinity with children and captures their curiosity, playfulness, and innocence in images where they’re the focus. They must relate to these young people in the same way Sally Mann (American photographer, best known for her large black-and-white photographs of her children — Editor’s note), relates to her children and therefore is able to direct them in both candid and staged ways.

This person has a lot of talent and isn’t someone who is afraid to play and to, on occasion, fail like all great photographers. I like their sense of fun and I think if they concentrated on finding their voice and dialect and pursue their strong use of color and humor and commentary they could really continue to produce some wonderful work.

I suspect this is a man in his 30s or 40s. Perhaps I have come to this conclusion because of the image of a woman in a less than flattering position, not something I suspect another woman would be prepared to do. My only caveat is that there is a Mannian focus on children in many images but I still side with a male photographer. I suspect they are a staff photographer for a newspaper and in a couple of the images they are photographing their colleagues. In their spare time they pursue the art side of their interest. And lastly I believe they are from New York due to the high number of images based in the States and possibly the Big Apple. So a middle aged, American man who is a workaday photographer and art photographer in their spare time.

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