An Everyday Encounter is an attempt to find beauty in the mundane, commonplace, and ubiquitous object, the phonebook. By mainly using macro lenses, the photographer was able to dive deep into the subject and bring out lines and images. Also, by slowly deteriorating the book using water and other blunt means, he found a way to extract more complicated and striking images. Another subject of the series is a concentration on the ads found in the phonebook. The ads provide a range of shapes and images that could be removed from their setting to provide an abstract view on ad campaigns today.

As part of a photography study at Union College under Martin Benjamin, Paul’s applied his technical expertise to produce a series of abstract images that ask the viewer to discover the subject. “I took a more literal approach to the shooting of the phonebook,” explains the artist,” but in many of these images one might not be able to determine their origins if they weren’t informed.”

Gallery owner, Michelle Farnum, says “Paul’s work is fresh and delightful. The first impression is that they’re of some vast and beautiful landscape. Then you learn it’s a phone book! These days we’re all so visually overloaded it’s hard to get surprised.”