| Patricks Bio |
Patrick Burns is best known for his staring roll in Court TV and Tru
TV’s investigative series “Haunting Evidence” as the shows paranormal
investigator. During his tenure on the series, he utilized an array of
electronic devices to try to document and substantiate paranormal
activity.
Among his favorite tools of the trade are digital cameras modified to
shoot in the infrared spectrum of light. Infrared or “IR” is a subset of
color beyond the visible end of the rainbow. Normally invisible,
infrared can be “seen” using infrared film or a specially modified
digital camera.
Patrick saw his first "IR" photos as a child and was instantly
captivated and awestruck by the other-worldliness of these images; the
strange "false" colors -black daytime sky with white clouds that seemed
to jump off the page, and the ghostly foliage – white and blue leaves
and grasses that looked like they were covered in a layer of frost.
Patrick’s career in photography started almost by chance. During a break
in filming “Haunting Evidence”, the production crew allowed him to
borrow one of the digital infrared cameras for a few weeks. Upon
returning home, he visited historic Oakland Cemetery in the heart of
downtown Atlanta. The cemetery proved to be the perfect backdrop for his
first series of infrared photographs.
Excited by the preview images he saw on the cameras LCD that day,
inspiration took the wheel and within just an hours time, he had
accumulated over 75 images he knew were impressive. He showed samples of
his work to friends and family who immediately recognized his talent and
“eye” for composing photos and encouraged him to pursue this new path.
It was at that moment that Patrick Burns Photography was born.
Since then, his travels with “Haunting Evidence” and as a lecturer on
the paranormal have taken him from coast to coast, and even to Europe
and the Caribbean. His digital IR camera never far from his side,
Patrick aggressively seizes every opportunity to shoot a subject in
infrared, especially when, as he says “the clouds are perfect!” Among
some of his most popular photos are dusk and twilight panoramas of the
Stanley Hotel in Estes Park Colorado, the Hotel Queen Mary in Long Beach
California, the abandoned Waverly Hills sanatorium near Louisville
Kentucky and Harry Houdini’s grave site in Queens New York.
Patrick is quick to point out that he has never had any formal training
in photography. His “eye” for image composition seems to come
instinctively. He finds his lack of schooling to be a virtue and not a
vice, as he has no preconceived notions about what is “wrong” and is not
afraid to experiment with new techniques.
Ever expanding his portfolio, Patrick says he has “literally hundreds of
images that are print worthy” but have yet to be published. He
promises that many of these pieces will premiere in the coming months
and years and believes that his best work is still ahead of him. |
