After a morning office break, I walked back in to our office and this image greeted me on the computer monitor. This happens to be a really special image for me. As an anniversary gift back in September 1993, my wife signed me up for a black and white printing class at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. The gift was initially – let me say – “puzzling” to me. I was pretty much a 100% color slide film photographer. The only time I ever put color negative film in my cameras was to photograph weddings. But it was a gift, so I went.
It turned out to be a wonderful gift. I loved the whole black and white darkroom thing. I took pictures like crazy, processed my own B&W film in the KIA darkroom, and then made B&W prints. This is a favorite print which I made for a class exhibition. To check the date of this print, I went to find it. I opened the right print storage bin, and pulled out the print. I made it October 12, 1993.
But there is more to this story. At the end of this class in black and white printing, the instructor, who was also the head of the photography department, offered me a job as an adjunct member of the faculty. I would teach some general “Intro to Photography” classes, but mostly I taught nature photography. As a result of teaching at the KIA, I did a lot of experimenting and I ended up trying things with a camera I never would have imagined doing. I loved it.
The materials I prepared for the people in my classes, which included over 200 pages of handouts, became the backbone of my photography book. And one of my students in the 1990s at the KIA, Jeremy Bruskotter, was ultimately responsible two decades later for my invitation to lead photography workshops with him at The Ohio State University. And this all started with a gift and some black and white prints.
For those of you who are curious, my screen saver plays selection of 700 of my favorite images in a random order, so I never know what will show up. The photos were taken from 1926 to 2023. Prior to 1969, most of the photos were taken by my parents, grandparents and great grandparents. From 1969 to 2023, most of the photos were taken by me.
