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HISTORY AS AN ARTIST I cannot seem to get enough of the computer these days, which is strange as I am not really part of the "computer generation". I grew up at a time when the "Drive In" and crew cuts were the norm of the day. Yet today I have an unrelenting fascination with computer technology which perhaps can be seen on one hand as bordering on the obsessive, and at the other hand as a sensible recognition that we have moved into a new digital age where "electronics" has become our mantra. |
So what made me jump headlong into this 21st century technology stew? What was the motivation? Perhaps my fascination with the "new"is because I grew up in California where practically nothing was ever more than 25 years old. As a boy I lived in eight different houses before I was 14, all rented by his parents. My father did not believe in owning a house. Only in high school did I stay in one place and then for only four years until graduation. But it was also during this time that I discovered what at first was a new hobby, later an ongoing fascination, and finally an obsession. This was photography. It started innocuously enough with the gift of a small snapshot camera and a developing kit. Working at night in the garage of our current rented house I carefully loaded film onto a reel under a dim red light, mixed chemicals, and processed a roll of film. Taking it out of the canister fixative solution I unrolled it and saw on the film, miraculously, the negative images that were unmistakably of objects and people. What excitement, what magic. Hence was born my desire to take and make pictures. |
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When I got to high school I succumbed to the same interests that most high school kids adopt, sports, cars and girls. Photography faded into the background and did not emerge until a number of years later in college. In 1961 at the University of California in Berkeley I entered the architecture program and one semester took a course on lighting. One project was to find a place to study the change of sunlight from dawn to dusk. When I heard this I thought "O. K., I can do this with photographs". I found a covered passageway with large windows between two Berkeley campus building and made exposures outside from one spot every hour of the day. Then I printed four photographs for the project, four different times of the day. Looking at the pictures I was amazed by the patterns of sunlight that came through the windows and changed dramatically during the course of the day, This study was an epiphany for me. I was totally mesmerized by the shapes created and quality of light, and this set the direction of my interest in photography then and for the future. |
After graduation in 1964 the next ten years passed quickly, with me getting my architectural license and working in several architectural offices in the San Francisco Bay area. At some point I began to think again about making photographs, bought a new 35mm camera, and began taking photo classes at University of California in Berkeley. It was fun and my collection of pictures grew quite rapidly. However what had started out as an interesting weekend diversion from my regular job had become a compelling obsession. |
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One project grabbed my attention for over a year and became my first really significant black and white photographic project. My architectural job required me to travel by bus across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco, and then walk to my job. Each day I would arrive at the bus depot in San Francisco and I became fascinated with the people who were there each day who seemed to be almost like permanent residents, One day I took my camera with me intending to take some photographs of the depot and its residents. One of the first things I discovered was that as soon as I took my camera out they became aware of and stared at me. It was only when I put the camera on a tripod and waited a while did they start to ignore me. Then I took my pictures. Many trips later I had a set of images that for me caught the character and mood of the place and the interesting residents. This became the images of my first serious photo exhibition, and was later followed by a similar series of photographs taken at the San Francisco Train Depot. |
| The real watershed experience in photography, however, came in June of 1968. That summer I made a trip south along the California coast from San Francisco Bay to Point Lobos State Park for several days of picture making with some photo friends. I knew before I went that I would be traversing the rocks and shoreline where Edward Weston and Ansel Adams had produced such wonderful and creative photographs some 30 years before. But I was not quite fully prepared for the extraordinary beauty of the location. |
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Now the thing about Point Lobos is that it is probably one of the most astounding coastlines in the world with incredible rock formations worn smooth and spectacular by eons of water washing up onto the shore. Tide pools and small sea creatures are everywhere. As I was standing there next to the water the warm and magnificent late afternoon cut across the incredible rock formations. I saw a play of light and shadow that was immensely moving and beautiful. The textures and shapes and movements of lines of the rocks mesmerized me. Motivated to make pictures, I took many images with my 35mm camera being aware that I was making some of the best images I had ever made. |
As I drove back to my Bay Area home I felt a certainty that I had captured the amazing beauty of the scenes I had just witnessed. I even thought about how I would print the images, using Agfa Protriga Rapid silver gelatin photo paper, which unfortunately is no longer made. Now the thing about that paper was that it contained more silver than most papers so blacks are deeper, yielding a longer tone range than can be gotten with other materials. Additionally Protrega had a slightly warm brownish tone, and I knew this would perfectly match the mood I saw created by the warm afternoon light as I was taking pictures. In the days after I arrived home I carefully developed the rolls of film, made contact sheets, and saw to my delight that the images I had hoped for were there, even more amazing than I had hoped for. |
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Byron Hot Springs when it was built in the 1890's had become one of the most lavish and desirable hot springs resorts not only in the United States, but also abroad. Submerged large and beautiful marble lined tubs with warm soothing hot spring water drew the wealthy of that time to the California valley. Opulent hotel accommodations matched the magnificent springs to make this a most special place to visit. But what I found was a fascinating but mixed history. The resort had been abandoned for almost 20 years and looked it. |
| At the end of my first day there I knew that I would have an amazing group of images. Everywhere was astounding in the form of sensuous surfaces and textures, all showing the effects of time and deterioration, and pieces of evidence referring to the prisoner years. I sensed that I could make a photo essay of this that would be about the history of this place, but also that I could create a group of fascinating photographs that in themselves were about light, rich surface texture, and shapes. The latter interested me the most. For almost the entire summer I made trips back and forth the Byron Hot Springs and collected a group of exciting images that resulted in a significant series of photographs. |
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MFA at the University of New Mexico. 1970 to 1973. |
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In June of 1971 I made a summer trip to White Sands National Monument near Carlsbad, NM.The moment I saw the sand dunes unfolding before me I was in awe. Now the sand there is actually quite firm and it proved easy to walk some distance off the road . The warm late afternoon sunlight raked across the sand gently defining the peaks and valleys, creating wonderful patterns of light and shadow. The sky was clear, and there was no wind at all. White Sands is a huge national preserve and many photographs have been taken there. But I found myself able to see it for myself and to take a series of photographs that were as compelling as any of the work I had done previously. |
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