Biography
Olivier Desmet (b. 1973, Belgium) is a San Francisco-based photographer. His contemplative black & white images have been published in the Financial Times, Metropolis Japan Magazine, Tokyo Weekender Magazine, and the acclaimed literary quarterly The Southern Review. Olivier has released three monographs, including Marine Layer (Amenti Press, 2023), a collection of meditative photographs of nature and architecture in the San Francisco Bay area. He practices silver gelatin printing, a traditional darkroom printing technique that yields archival prints with exquisite tonality.

Artist Statement
My photography explores the beauty found in the fleeting nature of life, the passage of time, and the concept of stillness as a progression toward mindfulness and a greater appreciation of life. I make ethereal, meditative black-and-white photographs. My subject matters include portraiture, intimate landscapes, and still lifes. 

Printing is essential to my photography practice; I believe a photograph is incomplete until beautifully printed. I print my work in the darkroom using the traditional wet chemistry silver printing method. While silver printing is labor-intensive and time-consuming, the rich contrast, smooth tonal gradation, and luminosity achieved with this process are unsurpassed.