Patrick Hoelck

Patrick Hoelck (pronounced /hɒl.lɒk/; born September 7, 1968) is an American filmmaker and photographer based in Los Angeles and New York City. He has received recognition as a photographer for fine art and celebrity advertisements. In addition, he has directed several mainstream music videos.

Hoelck's career began at the age of sixteen as a music video director in New York City, and later in Los Angeles. Hoelck's self-published photography book, Tar began his late-career emergence as a professional photographer. Tar consists of short stories and prose about Hoelck's early days living in New York City, and his experiences as a drug addict and self-abuser. An early break came for Hoelck when Vincent Gallo requested Hoelck over Richard Avedon for the cover of British magazine, Flux. Later, Hoelck produced "Cigarettes and Coffee" for Paul Thomas Anderson.

Hoelck made his directorial debut in 2009 with the independent romantic drama, Mercy, written and produced by Scott Caan. The movie tells the story of a young novelist who tries to write about love, but realizes he will first need real-life experience to take on the subject.

In 2011, Hoelck released a series of Polaroid photos entitled "Polaroid Hotel." The photos were taken over the course of seventeen years, largely at the Standard Hotel in New York City. The series was first a book and later an exhibit, which had 700 visitors on its opening day. In Polaroid Hotel, Hoelck presents Polaroid photography as an art form, documenting his life and career. Gisela Getty said about the series, "Hoelck's images seem at first to be random, thrown together, an accidental assemblage, but they provide a narrative of our cultural landscape, a series on contemporary urban life." Art in America interviewed Hoelck about the series.[10]

Hoelck and photographer Michael Muller started a program called Photo School together. Photo School is a series of online tutorial videos on topics such as camera phone photography and complex lighting techniques. Hoelck and Muller wanted to fill a void in traditional photography education and connect a community of photographers.[11][12]

The Grey Organization (founder) The Grey Organization[13] is dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts through a partnership with filmmakers, both established and unknown, developing material through a collaborative effort for international distribution.[14]