Rato - Artist

31/08/2024

Had a lot of fun in the city today experimenting with my new Olympus OM4-ti... what a beautiful camera! Probably the best film camera in the OM range... so happy with the results and can't wait to shoot more with it :)

📸 - Olympus OM4-ti
🎞- Portra 800

31/08/2024

13/07/2024

Don't forget to appreciate what you have when in the pursuit of what you want...

10/07/2024

Surrender

06/07/2024

I have started a kofi page for anyone who is interested in following my art - not much is on there yet, but soon I hope to self-publish some of my works which will be available to purchase here:

https://ko-fi.com/ratoart

If anyone is interested, this is where you will be able to find it soon. Any support or kind words are greatly appreciated 🤍🙏

Support rato On Ko-fi. Ko-fi lets you support the people and causes you love with small donations

06/07/2024

Tread lightly, tread carefully
I've seen these footsteps before
Been led down this path
Although the streets are different
The air is familiar
I have choked on its subtle signs
My body's sirens, a fish in a net
Soon I will be caught
Gasping on air I cannot breathe

You pull my hand but I will not follow
I dare not go where I was led before
Where the nets hide in the dark
And the fish go to die

I once feared the man's hunger
And I fed to him my flesh
But when I taught the man to fish
His next lure was for me

01/07/2024

The beginnings of a new project... printing, letter-pressing and hand-binding my own book of poetry and photography.

16/05/2024

Animals and Double Exposure Film

When you take photos on film, and then use the same roll to take more photos on top.... you can get cool effects as below :-)

If anyone wants to try out some double exposure for fun, let me know!

12/05/2024

02/04/2024

"The Day We Built A Fence" by Rato

Let me draw a line
In this good earth right here
What's mine is mine and yours is yours
There is no need for fear

Within this line marks property
For which I make my claim
I own all that which grows within
And you may do the same

But wait! I notice verily
An inch that you did take
Beyond the line I drew myself
My eyes do not mistake

And so to make it clearer now
I place in my defense
An assembly upon my line
The modest wooden fence

All that's mine and all that's yours
Now simple to my mind
As long as we keep separate
And never cross the line

The water that flows through the creek
Is mine up to the boundary
And if one takes before it's his
Makes one adept at clownery

The same goes for the flowers
That adorn themselves with pollen
Which, by the way, I noticed
Your bees have all but stolen

I dare not share what is within
In case I lose what's mine
And the animals that live here too
May never cross this line

The marks I made upon my map
Makes claim upon my spot
And with no doubt, it makes it known
Who belongs and who does not

I see it all across the world
We clambour and we fight
To mark these lines upon our maps
With no care for who is right

To protect what's ours, and take what's yours
The lines, they move and shift
Though we have enough to share with all
Widen does the rift

Today we fight and kill and maim
At everyone's expense
But the day we turned away from God
Was the day we built a fence