San Francisco-based portrait photographer Nirav Patel (b. 1982) specialises in communicating a sense of peacefulness through the lens. As blinds filter sunlight into bedrooms, curtains muffle grey skies and silent waves ripple over the horizon, anonymous characters revel safely in the confines of domestic worlds. Patel’s works are deeply human in their intent, touching upon the therapeutic and affective nature of photography. Panning a number of settings in seconds, the cinematic images reach audiences on a simultaneously personal and universal level, where solitude is a notion with which everyone can relate, appreciate and apprehend as a mediator for understanding the self. He notes: “I am drawn to still periods of time. As a child, my imagination soared in safe havens. To this day I still look for the glimpses of quietude, especially when the world is as turbulent as it is today. These images are a window into my world.”
