Jayant Rana

I am a retired ophthalmologist. I have had a passion for art ever since I was 7 or 8 years old, and in my early school life, I started with sand and watercolor paintings. When our courtship began, I hand-painted love notes to my future wife that remain treasures to this day! My interests grew, particularly in sculpture of the human body, portrait photography, and natural or manmade landscapes. When I was working in my medical practice, I visited most of the US National Parks on family vacations. I must have taken more than 15,000 photographs since travels began in 1970. After retirement, I visited China, Japan, Thailand, UK, Western Europe, Kenya and Tanzania, South America and India. During my travels, I spent time in museums around the world. I looked in detail at the portraits by the great European artists.

With these lessons and inspirations, my photographic journey began with nature photography and portrait photography of family and friends. Photo sessions became a routine expectation for all visitors to my home and I sought to create the effect that I had seen in paintings. Now, I am working to create interesting visual effects digitally with unique photographic images whether they are from my travels to remote places...

I grew up in Gandevi, a village in the Navsari District in the state of Gujarat in western India. I got my medical degree at M.S. University of Baroda from the Faculty of Medicine. After immigrating to the United States I passed all necessary exams to practice ophthalmology and deepened my education by learning newly developed techniques for implant surgery of the eye. I participated in over 20 seminars on this technique before attempting my first intraocular implant surgery.

2014: American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) conference. I exhibited my digital artwork and sold my first piece from my current work.

1959-1967: Large mural-sized sand paintings annually presented during the festival of Diwali. I drew these paintings on the floor of my living room to protect them from the elements. Townspeople came by the hundreds to see these annually in my home and I kept up the tradition until my family immigrated to the United States in December 1967. Peace Corps volunteers photographed these paintings which otherwise would have remained as memories. Many who viewed these paintings said they looked like carpets and they wanted to touch them and pick them up!