ABOUT
For over two decades, I’ve called Northern California home, though my visual sensibility has been shaped by museum travel, architecture, and the restless curiosity that links art and invention.
I began my career behind the lens working in large-format landscape and architectural photography before co-founding two digital imaging companies and authoring patents that applied early advances in mobile and social media technologies. That same impulse to merge craft with innovation later guided my work in enterprise software, where I helped deploy transformative applications and led collaborations with Fortune 100 brands, including Nike and their launch of the GreenXchange, in Davos at the World Economic Forum.
Today, my creative focus has returned to the photographic medium through the founding of Modern Pictorialism, a contemporary movement that reinterprets the painterly ethos of early 20th-century Pictorialism through the emotional vocabulary of Abstract Expressionism. By fusing the romantic softness of Stieglitz’s Photo-Secessionist vision with the meditative color fields of Rothko, Modern Pictorialism seeks to restore the emotional architecture of photography reminding us that light, shape and color or the lack thereof are the foundations of the photographic medium .
My current body of work spans over a thousand compositions in this evolving series.
To inquire about exhibitions, collaborations, or private viewings, please contact me at skip.roncal@gmail.com.
Skip Roncal
Photographer & Founder, Modern Pictorialism
My Photographic Journey:
Jonesboro, LA - At the age of 9-10, my mother handed me her Polaroid Land Camera, and from that point I was the family photographer capturing every celebrated moment. In this photo, my father a 'meta-portrait', with me in the right-hand corner, photographing my mother, siblings, and the family dog.
Many years later, I would rely on Polaroid to validate my previsualizations as part of my commercial photography practice.
Monroe, Louisiana - those early family portraits and the ensuing critiques drove my aesthetic curiosity. As an amateur photographer, I was rarely without a camera to capture and share my experiences with my family and friends.
Much later I would launch showmefotos.com, with the mission of enabling anyone using a mobile phone camera to easily commemorate and share their 'snapshots' and experiences across social media channels at the click of a button.
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Northeast, LA - While attending Louisiana Tech and later Northeast Louisiana University, I was exposed to fine art black and white photography. Primarily documentary, street and straight photography styles.
Some of my favorite artist and inspirations came from: Freidlander, Lyons, Weston(s), Stieglitz, Cunningham, Robert Frank, Jerry Uelsmann, Bressen, Arbus, and Dorothea Lange and of course, Ansel Adams.
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Tyler, Texas - While attending TJC, I immersed myself in the application of the photographic sciences. From film and paper sensitometry to Ansel Adam's Zone System.
I officially made my transition to large format photography and launched my second business, Computer Images of East Texas. This was my first step towards blending and monetizing emerging digital imaging technologies with traditional or analog photography .
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The day to day activity of harnessing this opportunity led me to author my first patent for a digital imaging kisosk, trademarked 'bigshot' for sponsored event venues like the Olympics.
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Computer Images, was an early digital marketing agency. My customers were other agencies, industrial manufacturing across automative, pulp, medical device and sporting goods and watercraft companies. These enterprises were actively transitioning from analog training-enablement methods to digital.
I was an early adopter service provider using proprietary computer imaging equipment to deliver digital training-enablement solutions to regional customers. My computer graphic training services led to commercial photography projects with brands like American Standard, Trane, Coleman Water Recreation and many other regional companies.
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New York City - the first couple years, I struggled to sustain my career as commercial photographer. So, I decided to respond to a classified AD for a tele-sales position as a small software company near the Trade Center. Think database design at the advent of databases. My Computer Images background served me well, I landed the job, and eventually led corporate communications and event marketing functions and partnered with Rob Fuggetta at Regis McKenna.
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When not in the office or on the road promoting System Architect, I walked the Avenues, and captured images of anything and everything.
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I worked at 11 Park Place for 4 years and was in the office during the first bombing - Never Forget!
Silicon Valley - My NYC software marketing career eventually pulled me to San Francisco. I joined Siebel Systems (rocket ship) and out of the blue, found myself working on strategic software initiatives with Fortune 100 companies, including Nike.
In December 2008, while at my comfy cubicle 'living the dream', I watched from afar as my dear childhood friends were attempting to survive Katrina's aftermath. I filed for vacation time and flew to New Orleans - long story short, I compiled an photo essay to raise awareness and money for a local non-profit focused on musical equipment replacement for local schools.
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My photo essay is entitled 'Katrina Aftermath' and includes a series of abstract images of 'watermarks'.
San Francisco - After leaving Siebel Systems, and while at a MLB game in Oakland, I envisioned a product and process that envisioned individuals sending their mobile photos to the internet, the 'internet' would commemorated and returned their images framed and with local marketing messages at sponsored events, while also sharing their images with friends and families.
I was awarded two patents and 'wimeme.com' and eventually, showmefotos.com. I kept both domains.​​
Australia - In 2017, a work-related trip to Australia introduced me to the world of Aboriginal art.
I was particularly captivated by ‘Dreamtime’ dot paintings, where abstract dots symbolize pathways to sacred sites, watering holes, and people-spirits. The pragmatic abstraction in these works moved me to see the world differently — as patterns of light, color and shape rather than literal representations of the subjects.
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For nearly three years, I returned to Australia every six weeks, visiting museums wandering through parks and city streets. Inspired by Aboriginal art, I began experimenting with macro photography methods and previsualization, and eventually landed on a new style and method for capturing my impressions - I refer to this style as Modern Pictorialism.