Journey from Wet to Dry Darkroom

Working with Epson as an early Gemini dual print system mentor for artisans and independent studios, I had already moved entirely into giclée inkjet printing. No more wet darkroom period, thankfully, as I am allergic to photo chemicals.The business of photography was changing radically with the growing acceptance of digital capture and declining perceived value of photographic services on the part of the public.

For my Taos and New Mexico imagery, a classic portfolio type presentation seemed initially appropriate, yet elitist, cumbersome, and limited in appeal. Not quite the total fit for my hybrid content of my interpretive style images, the sequenced story they tell, the poetry, and much later, the experiential text. I knew I was looking for something more, for a wider audience.

By 2010 I had a good set of negative scans and had found more unused photos from Taos, the Taos Pueblo and the region in my archive. That’s when I realized I had a little history, images stretching back to the late 1950s. Mother helped me make the first pictures with her Leica. Images spanned all subsequent decades, when trips to Northern New Mexico became a yearly event. Suddenly there were enough for a book, along with a limited edition of key images presented gallery style.

Karl applauded, but said a book needed much more. He demanded that I write and group photographs in the storytelling manner I had been doing for years. The first writings for Fragments of Spirit were poetry. I placed the poetry right on the pages with single images and made many collage-style panoramic pages with multiple images. This process took more than a year, while more images were accruing. OK, he said, but it’s still not enough! After a false start that consisted of dry, known history, the text morphed into personal memoir and my philosophy of photography. Truly what I eventually conceived of as leaving a lasting legacy.