Who Is Phat Shutter?

My name is Paul Driftmier, the guy behind Phat Shutter.

I’m a photographer, philosopher, calligrapher, and writer. I’ve been called a poet, an artist, and even a Renaissance Man. I’ll take it.

More than that, I have an artistic eye.

I find poetry in everyday things. I look at a scene and look for the art in the photograph.

Patterns jump out at me. (I thought they did for everyone.) I see relationships other people don’t see.

I didn’t get into photography because I thought it would be fun. I got into it because it’s extremely rewarding to find the art and record it.

It started on that trip out East…

Cruising in the ‘63 Cadillac DeVille with my parents, grandma, and sisters, we hit Niagara Falls and the historic sites of Boston and the Eastern Seaboard. I got some cool photographs along the way. The artistic eye was discovered.

Many years later, after a career spent in law firms and on loading docks, I got some great advice from my wife. Cathy had four words for me: “You should pursue this.”

I did, and I’m having the time of my life doing it.

Phat Shutter is a great way to make a living. I get to find the artistic beauty in nature, cars, and architecture, and capture it with my artistic lenses – the one attached to my camera, and the one on my eyeball.