aul Kozal works in two distinct areas: toned and hand-painted black-and-white silver gelatin and silver and palladium prints. The effects he achieves in his photographs are not like anyone else's. His subject matter is almost entirely landscape — throw in a few buildings — of California and the Southwest.   With impeccable technique, Kozal crafts each small and precious print. It is highly unusual, nigh onto unique, for a photographer today to choose to make photographs no larger than 5 x 7 inches. Carefully masking significant portions of a print, Kozal selectively tones in selenium to render a rich purple-brown color or with sepia that produces a warmer tan. Sometimes he will apply both tones, in separate sections to the same photograph. The expressive use of toning, coupled with the diminutive print size, produces what Alfred Stieglitz would have termed an equivalent: a photograph that goes beyond the reality that sat before the camera, allowing the viewer to sense the intensity of the emotions the photographer felt while witnessing this particular scene.   Kozal is unsurpassed in the old photographic craft of creating a color photograph from a black and white print by the painstaking painting of the print surface. He has taken the craft and transformed it into art. A technique that began with the daguerreotype in the 1840's, hand coloring a black and white image is a time-honored tradition, but one fraught with difficulty. To be successful one needs a great sense of color and style, and a steady hand,. While the painted colors seldom mirror reality, they can enhance the imagery and even evoke a period.   Kozal explains, "Each of us, at some time, has encountered a person or place that at once disarms our senses, seemingly transcending reality. The moment takes root within our consciousness and its indelible impression forever alters our perspective. Capturing the essence of that moment and embodying it in a photographic image is my primary desire."   Paul Kozal is a self-taught photographer who is devoting his life to the exploration of fine art photography. He and his wife live in California.