Former Surgeon Turned Photographer Gets Solo Show in Chelsea
At 74, former hand surgeon-turned-professional photographer Frederick Ballet is getting an art show in Chelsea, “Whispers of Color.” It’s his first solo NYC exhibition and another feather in his cap of decades of accomplishments, from the studio to the waters and the gym.
| 10 Mar 2025 | 02:27
At 74, former hand surgeon Frederick Ballet is getting his first NYC solo exhibition in Chelsea, showcasing his photography of the natural world. (
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A hand surgeon for over three decades and a graduate of New York Medical College (1976), Ballet enjoyed micro surgeries, saying that “certain personalities like to get into the minutiae.” (
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Circa 2008, Ballet practiced karate during his “decade of martial arts.” Ballet eventually called it quits on karate, saying, “It was time to move on to something else.” (
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Ballet, shown here kitesurfing in 2013, partakes in numerous water sports, including fishing, sailing, windsurfing, stand-up paddle boarding, and more. (
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Ballet, seen in his photographic element in a canyon last year, says of photography: “When I have a camera in my hand, I look at things very, very differently on a much deeper level.” (
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Frederick Ballet, 74, of Long Beach Island, New Jersey, has no intention of slowing down. “I’ll never slow down. It’s not me to sit on the couch.”
Being a hand surgeon was never going to be enough for him. “I love orthopedics,” the retired surgeon says, and what is called “small bone surgery.” The difference in successful surgeries can be measured by the inch, but is often less than that. “You’re using a suture that’s finer than the hair on your head.”
“That’s a personality thing,” Ballet says. “Certain personalities like to get into the minutia.”
Naturally, a person needs an outlet for all the stress that comes from that kind of work. For the Canarsie native, that outlet came in many different forms. These range from wind surfing to kite surfing to karate to fishing and sailing, and will soon include foiling, to say nothing of hiking, running, and resistance training.
But one calling, besides decades of minute, small bone surgeries and physical activities, has stayed with him since his earliest days: photography.
“I was always interested in photography since I was a kid,” he said. Ballet started off with a Lucas camera in the early 1960s, taking pictures of landscapes and trips to the zoo. He found it “enjoyable, peaceful.” Those feelings never left. After over six decades, he will soon have his first solo photography exhibition at the Pleiades Gallery in Chelsea.
“When I have a camera in my hand, I look at things very, very differently on a much deeper level.”
Ballet’s exhibition, entitled Whispers of Color: Subtle Stories of Imagined Reality, is billed as “a thought-provoking photographic art show...exploring the interplay of color and imagination inviting viewers to venture into a surreal yet familiar world where the boundaries of reality and fantasy coalesce.”
A few years ago, a friend invited Ballet to join the Pleiades Gallery, a co-op in Chelsea. The former surgeon became a resident again, this time as an artist. “Getting my foot in the door for any New York representation is a good goal to achieve,” Ballet says. “I figured, since I have this opportunity, I want to maximize it.”
Thus, Whispers of Color was born.
Speaking of the ideals of the show, Ballet says: “The beauty of the natural world has always filled me with an existential fascination. In my work I seek to balance realism with abstraction, allowing natural elements of the composition to emerge naturally. I enjoy challenging the viewer’s perspective and encourage them to see the world in a new light.”
Ballet has come a long way from working in a dark room with his father in Canarsie. It wasn’t a dark room; it was the family laundry room. “A real improvised setting,” he laughs.
Life and work got in the way of his creative endeavors (and perhaps windsurfing and kitesurfing and karate and...). When Ballet neared retirement, he came to a conclusion. “You can’t just stop doing what you’re doing,” he told himself. “You have to engage in something meaningful.” As though there is no inherent meaning to be found in windsurfing, kitesurfing, karate, sailing, etc.
Ballet’s son got him a photography workshop in Philadelphia as a gift. That was great, but it wasn’t good enough for the soon-to-be-retired surgeon. Workshop completed, he embarked on a brand new certificate program through the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, now renamed the TILT Institute for the Contemporary Image.
After two years and a capstone project, Ballet was the first student to graduate the program in 2017. “It gave me the tools to develop what I do now,” he says, but has a clarification: it’s not about the money. He says he’s just breaking even. “It’s the gratification I get out of creating the art, talking to other people about my art, and other people enjoying my art.”
Photography. Water sports. Hiking, running, and a home gym. Combat sports in middle age. Has it ever occurred to Ballet to slow down?
“Of course,” he laughs. His friends and family have told him to do so many times. “Why am I doing this?” he sometimes asks himself. “I’m going to be seventy-five in September!”
In the midst of his karate career, a friend asked him: Why don’t you act your age?
Ballet could only laugh. “It’s just not in my DNA.”
Whispers of Color runs from March 18 to April 12 at the Pleiades Gallery, 547 W. 27th St, Suite 304, NY, NY. Entry is free, and the gallery is open Tuesday- Saturday from 12-6 PM. The opening reception on Saturday, March 22, 2025, from 3-6 PM, is free and open to the public.