PHOTO POSTER copy_1
posted by Carl at
11:39 PM
Sunday, October 09, 2005
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SOME THOUGHTS ON PHOTOGRAPHY
SOME HISTORY
I grew up in the glory days of Life and Look magazines very much enamored with the great photographs of the day and the power of the picture. So from time to time I tried my hand at being a photographer. In 1959 I bought a baby rollei twin lens reflex from Montgomery Wards for 75 dollars. This was at a time when I made a dollar and a quarter an hour. My boyhood friend Bob Glancy had a twin lens yashiga and he made a darkroom in in his parents fruit cellar It was wonderful to see the images come to life in that dark room. My main love at that time was cartooning and just was beginning to study drawing, and painting. There were no classes in photography at the schools where I was educated. I do not know if I would have signed up for a class, if there were. But as I went on in school and my training in the visual arts in painting, drawing, and Printmaking and eventually became a college professor of art. I continued to follow my hero’s of the photographic medium…. Walker Evans, Henri Cartier Bresson, Diane Arbus, etcetera. I collected books on them and had the library get their publications. For one semester I taught a class in the history and aesthetics of photography. It was very educational to me as well as my students.
SOME THOUGHTS
In 1965 I traveled around Europe taking a lot of slides with my little rollei, but would attempt to hide my camera in some of the poorer sections of Naples, because I was ashamed to have so much wealth in the midst of such poverty. Many years later I traveled in Mexico and visited people who only spoke natowatil, an Aztec dialect . the beautiful old lady I wanted to photograph in the market was able to say NO PHOTOGRAFFY…NO PHOTOGRAFFY. I have heard people say they did not want to be photographed because they were afraid that it would steal their soul. This is what I want to do in my photography. Not just a mechanical recording of a persons features. Some of these photos were selected because I felt that they gave a glimpse into that persons mind. Clothing, body language. General appearance, the mood and look that they give me when I photograph them. It is difficult because it is a great battle between form and content. As we take the photographs personal… that is a picture of me for example but it is a split second capture of the lights and darks that form a kind of lie or likeness. I am kind of a novice at photography searching for my way, being affected by all my hero’s. I was introduced back into photography with the digital camera and the ability that gave me to photograph in light situations that I could not do with a regular camera unless I had developed a lot of skills and technical knowledge regarding photography. Plus with the computer I could instantaneously develop, manipulate and share my photographs with others. As well as being able to print them at home in a used ink jet printer. I continue to surprise myself regarding what appeals to me. Whether it be the rhythm’s of grasses or flowers, the luck of a curious frog or a balancing duck or neighborhood owl. These I feel were gifts that were given to me, and I had the opportunity to take advantage of it. I am thankful for this experience.
Carl Grupp
SOME THOUGHTS ON PHOTOGRAPHY
SOME HISTORY
I grew up in the glory days of Life and Look magazines very much enamored with the great photographs of the day and the power of the picture. So from time to time I tried my hand at being a photographer. In 1959 I bought a baby rollei twin lens reflex from Montgomery Wards for 75 dollars. This was at a time when I made a dollar and a quarter an hour. My boyhood friend Bob Glancy had a twin lens yashiga and he made a darkroom in in his parents fruit cellar It was wonderful to see the images come to life in that dark room. My main love at that time was cartooning and just was beginning to study drawing, and painting. There were no classes in photography at the schools where I was educated. I do not know if I would have signed up for a class, if there were. But as I went on in school and my training in the visual arts in painting, drawing, and Printmaking and eventually became a college professor of art. I continued to follow my hero’s of the photographic medium…. Walker Evans, Henri Cartier Bresson, Diane Arbus, etcetera. I collected books on them and had the library get their publications. For one semester I taught a class in the history and aesthetics of photography. It was very educational to me as well as my students.
SOME THOUGHTS
In 1965 I traveled around Europe taking a lot of slides with my little rollei, but would attempt to hide my camera in some of the poorer sections of Naples, because I was ashamed to have so much wealth in the midst of such poverty. Many years later I traveled in Mexico and visited people who only spoke natowatil, an Aztec dialect . the beautiful old lady I wanted to photograph in the market was able to say NO PHOTOGRAFFY…NO PHOTOGRAFFY. I have heard people say they did not want to be photographed because they were afraid that it would steal their soul. This is what I want to do in my photography. Not just a mechanical recording of a persons features. Some of these photos were selected because I felt that they gave a glimpse into that persons mind. Clothing, body language. General appearance, the mood and look that they give me when I photograph them. It is difficult because it is a great battle between form and content. As we take the photographs personal… that is a picture of me for example but it is a split second capture of the lights and darks that form a kind of lie or likeness. I am kind of a novice at photography searching for my way, being affected by all my hero’s. I was introduced back into photography with the digital camera and the ability that gave me to photograph in light situations that I could not do with a regular camera unless I had developed a lot of skills and technical knowledge regarding photography. Plus with the computer I could instantaneously develop, manipulate and share my photographs with others. As well as being able to print them at home in a used ink jet printer. I continue to surprise myself regarding what appeals to me. Whether it be the rhythm’s of grasses or flowers, the luck of a curious frog or a balancing duck or neighborhood owl. These I feel were gifts that were given to me, and I had the opportunity to take advantage of it. I am thankful for this experience.
Carl Grupp
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