About Val
I got my first camera when I was seven years old. Animals were then, as they are now, my favorite subject. I stalked pond frogs and fed the seagulls to capture something that was then, unnamed. I did know, however, that the natural and spontaneous behavior of my fellow creatures was a window into something powerful.
My journey began when I bought a house in the country. I visited small barnyards and I loved them. The unique and natural grace of each inhabitant was apparent to me.
Through the camera, I express reverence for my subjects, and share the gaze of a soul in an incarnation that is different from my own.
This process takes me out of my busy head and into my expansive heart.
Val Shaff
Solo Shows
2015 See Me Like This, Opera House, Hudson NY
2012 Holy Beings, Hammertown Barn Rhinebeck NY
2001 Beasts, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY
2000 Beasts, Bridgewater/Lustberg Gallery, NYC
2000 Wall Street Gallery, Radison CT
1998 James Barker Gallery, Nantucket MA
1996 Animal Magnetism, Bridgewater/Lustberg Gallery, NYC
1995 Dog Show, Polo Country Store, Easthampton NY
1993 Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY
1992 Indelible Images, P.S. 122 Gallery, NYC
Group Shows
2016 Time & Again, Instar Lodge, Germantown NY
2012 Testimony, Leslie- Lohman Center, NYC
2010 Snow White, Haddad Photographs, Hudson, NY
2009 Creatures- Valerie Shaff, John Dugdale, Margaret Saliske
2004 Nature Show, Haddad Lascano Gallery, Gt. Barrington, MA
2003 Biennial Photo Show, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY
2001 PHOTO, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY
1999 The First Opening, The New Gallery, Nantucket MA
1997 Portraits: 19th and 20th Century Photography, Marlborough Gallery, NYC
1997 Immortalizing Eden, Munderskiles Gallery, NYC
1996 Rice-Pollack Gallery, Provincetown MA
1996 James Barker Gallery, Nantucket MA
1995 Bridgewater/Lustberg Gallery, NYC
1994 Macnerry Center, Kinderhook NY
1992 Landscapes, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY
1991 X Gallery, Nantucket MA
Museum Shows
1999 New Natural History, National Museum of Photography, Motion Pictures and Television, Bradford, England
1998 True Portraits of Dogs, Springfield Art Museum , Springfield MO
1997 Animal Magnetism, Kohler Art Center, Sheboygen WI
Installations
1997 Dog Show, Barney’s NYC
1996 Dog Show, Cafe Pongo, Tivoli NY
Clients
Purina, The Gap, Ralph Lauren, Martha Stewart Living, In Style, Cigar Afficianado, Town & Country, Hallmark, Harper Collins, St. Martin Press, Penguin Books, Vintage, Doubleday, Times Warner, Farrar Straus Giroux, Saatchi & Saatchi, Nickledeon, Humane Society of America, The Nature Conservancy, Helen Keller Foundation.
Books
Jr. Blount Roy & Valerie Shaff, If Only You Knew How Much I Smell You: True Portraits Of Dogs, 1998. Bulfinch Press Little Brown & Co.
Jr. Blount Roy & Valerie Shaff, Am I Pig Enough For You Yet, 2001. Harper Perennial
Jr. Blount Roy & Valerie Shaff, I Am Puppy Hear Me Yap, 2004. Harper Perennial
Jr. Blount Roy & Valerie Shaff, I Am The Cat , Don't Forget That, 2004. Harper Perennial
Valerie Shaff, The Future According to Kids, 2000. Roundtable Press