Michael Puff

Michael Puff is a retired software architect at Stanford University and a former theater set designer. He now concentrates his energy on Fine Art Photography using 19th century printing processes.

Always involved in the visual arts, Michael began by studying painting. As a young adult, he worked as a scenic painter. During his university years, while pursuing a degree in Theater Arts and Egyptian Archaeology, he designed scenery winning several San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics awards.

His favorite subjects for photography encompass the natural world, the surreal and dancers. “I’m partial to images which are like theater, innovative, thought-provoking, and play with reality and illusion.” The captured movement created by performers forms a foundation for many of my images.

Michael has actively pursued photography as an art form since 2004. Beginning the spring of 2011, through workshops and private session, he has studied platinum/palladium printing with master printer Mark I. Nelson, creator of the Precision Digital Negatives system. Michael immediately fell in love with the hand made printing process. Additionally, he has attended workshops led by Greg Gorman, Elizabeth Opalenik, Diana Bloomfield, and Brian Taylor.

Puff’s work has been exhibited at the Ryan Gallery at Art Intersection, Gilbert,AZ; de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA; and LightBox Photographic Gallery, Astoria, OR. His work is included in the book Digital Negatives with QuadToneRIP published in 2021 by Focal Press. Puff counts Greg Gorman, Irving Penn, and Kenro Izu among his greatest artistic influences. A current list of exhibits can be found at: http://mpuff.com/about.html