Patrick Ronald was born 13 November, 1980 in Sydney. He studied photography at Charles Sturt University, Albury from 1999 to 2003. Shannon McDonell was born 7 October, 1981 in West Wyalong, NSW. She studied photography at Charles Sturt University, Albury from 2001 to 2004 where she met Patrick Ronald. The two artists first collaborated in 2005 and have worked together ever since.

From their first series of photographs MICROCOSM- Launceston Heritage Study (2005), the artists have not veered from architectural and portrait works that employ intricate digital manipulation to create highly detailed images. Their first major documentary undertaking was Disappearing Tasmania: An Image of the West in 2006 where they were given their first grant to live on the West Coast of Tasmania and conduct an intensive survey project to try an illustrate what it is that creates and sustains a community and what visible evidence there is of a towns decline. 

Since then they have moved towards more manipulated works such as the m2 series which was designed to investigate visual perception. This work was a clinical representation of 50 spaces, both interior and exterior, within the artists’ personal habitats that they had occupied throughout their lives. Learning from the m2 project and the experiences they had gained, the couple has now embarked on their most ambitious project to date Habits and Habitat, two years in the making, where they will reconstruct sections of a house in 1:1 scale and immerse viewers within the image.