Some images demand a stage as luminous as the stories they tell. For those moments, paper is not simply a surface but a partner in performance. Hahnemühle Photo Rag Metallic offers exactly that, an extraordinary blend of fine cotton tradition with a pearlescent coating that transforms light itself into part of the print.

or much of photography’s history, prints were expected to be flat—quiet windows onto the world, faithfully holding their images in two dimensions. But some photographs resist confinement. They carry a charge that asks for more: more depth, more presence, more life. Metallic papers answer that call.

Rodrigo Rangel de Alba has spent 35 years crossing borders and capturing stillness in motion. A French-Mexican photojournalist who’s visited every country on Earth, his lens reveals quiet gestures and fleeting expressions. Light & Paper proudly honors Rodrigo as our inaugural Artist of the Month, celebrating a body of work that connects not continents, but people.