Tim Keane
This project is a personal exploration of masculinity and vulnerability. Tim has seen firsthand how being truly seen—both literally and figuratively—can have a profound impact on men who rarely experience it.
Each of these images reveals the essence of the sitter. Ranging across many ages and from stoic to sensual, their direct gaze or concealed eyes invite the viewer to engage in a reinterpretation and contemplation of masculinity.
In today’s shifting cultural landscape, this work has real impact. It gives men permission to step outside rigid roles, practice openness, and model it for others. Through experience and repetition, self-revelation can become second nature.
Tim knows what it’s like to feel unseen—to fear that revealing his true self might lead to rejection. But he also knows the overwhelming power of being recognized and accepted. This project is his way of creating space for that experience, inviting men to step beyond traditional masculinity and embrace the power of vulnerability.
Tim Keane is an environmental portrait photographer drawn to stillness, mystery, and the quiet evidence of lives once present. His images are composed with care, seeking not spectacle but resonance—artifacts, gestures, and writings that whisper of memory, absence, and the weight of time. With a reverence for the dignity in all people, Tim’s work invites reflection on what we leave behind and what it reveals about who we are.
He is a Review Santa Fe 100 alumnus as well as a finalist for the 2024 High Plains Book Award for “On The Way To Somewhere Else: Changing Lives and Changing Oil.” His collection “Dignity of Work” is on permanent display in Brookfield, WI.
“I am deeply interested in discovering people. My creative work focuses on capturing fleeting moments — instances that reveal and uplift the subject's journey of self-exploration. In those rare and special moments, the camera fades into the background, and a genuine connection emerges.
“I have realized that the conversations we share are just as important as the photographs themselves. By asking personal questions and encouraging subjects to reveal their true selves, I could reflect their genuine emotions back to them through the images. Vulnerability became the cornerstone of my process—both theirs and mine. I learned that by risking my own embarrassment and being genuine, I could create the space for real breakthroughs and perhaps creating a lasting positive impact.”
— Tim Keane
Prints in the portfolio are Archival Inkjet Prints, 17" X 22", 2017 - 2025, $200 each.
Vita Levar
"Enchanted Forest"
Vita's favorite fairy tales from her childhood always included an enchanted forest. It was home to talking animals, mythical and mystical creatures, and at least one witch. It was a place of magic, of wonder and awe, and of wisdom and transformation. The castle sounded nice, but she preferred the forest.
Vita's images were created with photographs she made in her favorite forest in northern Wisconsin. Through intentional camera movement and layering, her intention was to create images reminiscent of the illustrations in those fairy tale books from long ago.
Vita Levar is a fine art photographer who sees wonder and magic all around her. Inspired by her imagination, intuition, and curiosity, she creates images that express her vision of the world. She is best known for her minimalist, experimental, and abstract images.
Although Vita grew up as an artistic child, spending much of her free time with art, music, and dance, her careers in imports and law took her down a path of rules and regulations. Now a retired attorney, Vita has returned to her previous life, letting her imagination lead the way.
Vita’s images have been exhibited at PH21 Gallery exhibitions in Budapest, Hungary and in Barcelona, Spain, at the Midwest Center for Photography in Wichita, Kansas, in Toronto, Canada, and at various galleries and venues in the Chicago area.
Vita won “Best in Show” in the 2022 photography exhibition at the Chicago Botanic Garden, where she now teaches fine art photography.
Prints in the portfolio are Archival Pigment Prints, 10" X 15", 2021 - 2025, $325 each.
Fern Nesson
"Sacred Geometry"
Geometry existed before the creation. Knowledge of Geometry is knowledge of the eternal."
— Plato
"Geometry is co-eternal with the mind of God, a model for the creation. It is the archetype of beauty in the world."
— Kepler
Geometry did not spring full-blown from the head of Euclid. His geometry of postulates and theorems was predated by a more fundamental concept of geometry elaborated by ancient philosophers who knew it as “Sacred Geometry.” Across almost all ancient cultures and eras, from Aztec to Hindu, to Chinese, to Celtic, to Egyptian, to Greek, philosopher/mathematicians viewed geometry as the bridge between chaos and the creation of the universe and the harmonious principle that underlies and unites all the diversity of forms within it.
Sacred Geometry inspired many of our most profound intellectual forbears who found that the underlying harmony in the mathematical relationships of geometric forms explained and governed the universe. They believed that, only through understanding of these relationships, can we make sense of what we see and experience and live in harmony with it. Galileo, for example, argued that "nature is written in that great book- the universe-but we cannot understand it if we do not first learn the language and grasp the symbols in which it is written. The book is written in mathematical language, and the symbols are triangles and circles and other geometrical figures, without whose help it is impossible to comprehend a single word of it. Without geometry, one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth."
Throughout history, sacred geometers have focused on the relationships between the most fundamental forms -- the line, the circle, the triangle, the square -- and the most fundamental numbers -- one (unity), two (duality), three (dimensionality) and four (time/creativity.) These relationships express harmony, symmetry, and proportion throughout our universe, not only in science but in every human endeavor.
For a non-representational photographer, geometric form is essential. Without it, they cannot convey either energy or meaning. Form is all we abstract photographers have got. And it is all we need:
“Form is the outward expression of inner meaning.”
— Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1912)
The images in Fern Nesson’s portfolio, "Sacred Geometry" consciously use the most fundamental forms and explore the relationships among them. She is playing in a quite intentional and serious way with the universal principles that underpin our universe. Her goal is to hope to express beauty and harmony not only in art but in life by aligning herself with the central symbolic expressions that explain us to each other and to ourselves.
In part, the images in the portfolio express her own artistic vision — where she began, how she has changed and where she might still go as she gets ready to wrap it all up and pass it on. But Fern’s aim is not solely personal nor solely artistic. In doing sacred geometry, she hopes to contribute something to others as well. We all strive to grow in understanding, in maturity and in grace. She struggles to achieve smooth growth; I’m sure others do as well. Delving into our most profound symbolic understanding of the universe is the purest form of abstraction but she thinks it offers not only harmony, aesthetic beauty and understanding but also the possibility of emotional growth.
The fundamental symbols and relationships of Sacred Geometry explain and surround our lives, but, because they are so deeply embedded in our genes and in our consciousness, it is all too easy for us to lose sight of the active role that they can play in stimulating our thoughts and our actions. I hope that the evocative images of these symbols can (re)open our eyes to the universe around us, reviving our interest in living and easing our fear of dying.
Knowing where we stand in relationship to our own lives and to the world around us can help us as we take leave of our individual selves to rejoin the greater whole. “Sacred Geometry” will make our days more meaningful and our nights more bright.
Fern L. Nesson is a graduate of Harvard Law School. She received an M.A. in American History from Brandeis and an M.F.A in Photography from the Maine Media College. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She practiced law in Boston for twenty years and subsequently taught American History and Mathematics.
Nesson's photographs have been shown internationally in solo exhibitions at the Politecnico University in Torino, Italy, Les Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles, France, Ph21 Gallery in Budapest, Hungary and at The University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. In the United States, Nesson has had solo exhibitions at the Griffin Museum of Photography, at MIT and Harvard, and at the Beacon Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, the Pascal Gallery in Rockport, and Maine, and Through This Lens Gallery in Durham, NC.
Upcoming solo exhibitions include: "E=mc²" in Budapest , Hungary, "les Consolationsde la Poèsie" in Arles, France, "Alchemy" in Rome, Italy" and "The Music of the Spheres" in Durham, North Carolina.
Additionally, Fern's work has been selected for numerous juried exhibitions in the U.S. and in Barcelona, Rome and Budapest.
Nesson's photobooks, "Signet of Eternity" and "WORD", won the 10th and the 12th Annual Photobooks Award from the Davis-Orton Gallery. Her photo essays appear regularly in France Today, Bonjour Paris and The LIving New Deal.
Prints in the portfolio are digital archival prints in limited edition of 24, 16" X 24" and 24" X 24", $1,800 each.
FEATURE DATES - APRIL - SEPTEMBER, 2025
These highly talented photographers are featured here for the 2025 issue of Portfolio Platform. Portfolio Platform provides the focus of a streamlined online presence providing the opportunity for photographers to showcase a portfolio of photographic work prominently. The portfolios are available for patrons of the gallery to go online and view, learn about the photographers and their work through the images and biographies and artist statments, and have the opportunity to purchase photographs.
PORTFOLIO PLATFORM 2025
FEATURED ARTISTS:
John Diephouse, Lansing, MI;
Kylo-Patrick Hart, Aledo, TX;
Kristin Holcomb, Brooklyn, NY;
Andy Kaplan, Evanston, IL;
Tim Keane, Hartland, WI;
Vita Levar, Palatine, IL;
Fern Nesson, Cambridge, MA;
John Diephouse
Mr. Diephouse is a self-taught photographer and digital collage artist. What he seeks to share are images with which he has a strong and instinctive personal connection. His goal is to create images that evoke a story of some kind that often moves far beyond the relatively literal boundaries of traditional photography. Images may be simply documentary, invoke a sense of time and place, or resonate as an abstract blend of color, shape or form. Others provoke an indefineable question that does not readily yield answers without further study and reflection.
He draws from a wide range of photographic subjects such as landscapes, botanicals, and wildlife as well as urban environments and people. He follows an intuitive yet somewhat ordered process of layering or merging portions of photos until an image that speaks to him emerges. Most often this is more likely a random bit of serendipity than deliberate intent. Images often suggest a sense of time and place, or reflect a rich and ethereal interplay of color, shape or form. Images may provoke an indefinable question that does not readily yield answers without further study and reflection. Ultimately, his images provide a vehicle to stimulate both his imagination and that of the viewer, leaving one free to interpret and create an individual sense of meaning and value.
Mr. Diephouse has exhibited widely and has earned recognition in local, regional, and national exhibitions. His works are also included in several corporate and private collections.
Prints in the portfolio are Archival Inkjet Prints, 16"" X 16", 16" X 20", 18" X 24", 2009-2022, $450 each.
Kristin Holcomb
"Chimera"
Chimera - an illusion or fabrication of the mind
The dark unmoors us from the familiar. The glow of artificial lights directs our attention to objects and locations that seemed unimportant in daylight. We are isolated in our environment, unable to piece together the edges of the world.
In darkness we are fearful. It recalls the monsters of our childhood imaginations. The familiar becomes surreal. Our dreams come back to haunt us.
Kristin Holcomb is an artist and educator She teaches at the International Center of Photography. Recent solo exhibits include Chimera, Boundaries and In the Silences: A Retrospective. Her publications include the Chicago Sun Times, The International Herald Tribune, International Investor Magazine, Landmarks of New York III and Newsday.
Prints in the portfolio are Archival Inkjet Prints, 17" X 22", 2018 - 2024, $750 each.
Kylo-Patrick Hart
Photography has been Kylo-Patrick's passion since early childhood. His motivation is to discover and capture the beauty, even when it is not always readily self-evident, that surrounds us continuously in all areas of our everyday lives. He believes the finest images are those that are serious yet playful, aesthetically appealing yet a bit quirky. As both an artist and an admirer, his favorite photographs tend to be ones whose contents speak loudly for themselves — even when it is not immediately clear exactly what they are saying. They seek to inspire their viewers to wrestle with their intriguing contents and, as a result, ponder various aspects of our surrounding world in new and unique ways.
From the moment Kylo-Patrick received his first camera as a young boy, he has been fascinated by how every individual sees the same imagery, and chooses to capture it, in remarkably different ways. He has long realized that his way of observing and documenting the world around us — from what he decides to shoot to how he actually proceeds in doing so — is unique to him as an artist, which is why he loves expressing himself through this particular form of creative production. The twenty images included here have been culled from his ever-growing series "My World in Black and White", which documents his ongoing travels throughout our at-times-unpredictable, consistently awe-inspiring global community.
Kylo-Patrick Hart is an award-winning photographer (Budapest International Foto Awards, European Photography Awards, Global Photography Awards, Golden Shot International Photography Awards, London Photography Awards, Pollux Awards, Tokyo International Foto Awards, etc.) and chair of the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media at Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, Texas, USA). He received his formal training in digital media arts while a student at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, with additional instruction provided by offerings of the Maine Media Workshops and Santa Fe Workshops. His photographs have been exhibited in numerous cities throughout the United States and in several countries abroad.
Prints in the portfolio are Archival Inkjet Prints, 16" X 24", 2022 - 2025, $395 each.
Andy Kaplan
"Reflections"
Reflections invite us to ponder the meaning and implication of an experience. Water, windows, highly polished surfaces, and mirrors are the media of reflection. What we see in a reflection is ambiguous, at once a replica and a distortion: we draw back from it to look more carefully upon and within. Andy plays with these levels of meaning in the images of this project. Each image begins with a physical reflection. Some images are single reflections, some are double or mirror reflections, created by flipping the original vertically or horizontally. Reflection is both the content and the process of these images, the space where observation meets imagination.
Andy Kaplan taught for five years at the University of Chicago, for 39 years at the Francis Parker School in Chicago, and in graduate programs at Northwestern and De Paul universities. His work as a photographer began with images of wilderness exploration in the Columbia River Gorge and on the Oregon coast. In urban settings, his favorite subjects are street candids, bridges, architecture, and the ways in which windows reflect and alter their surroundings. He has placed work in juried shows in the Chicago area, at the Grosse Pointe Art Center in MI, and at the Midwest Center for Photography. He has also exhibited at Chicago Area Visual Artist shows; at Chicago Photographic Arts Society shows in Illinois and Wisconsin; and at several galleries in Portland, OR.
Prints in the portfolio are Archival Inkjet Prints, 12" X 18", 2024, $175 each.