Landscapes [antikvár]

PREFACEI grew up in a suburb of Chicago. My mother was an art teacher, and during my formative years, she taught my brother and me about composition, colors, drawing, and painting. We studied classic art painted by the masters and often visited the Art Institute in Chicago.One summer my father toolc us on vacation to the western United States and Canada. We visited the Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier, and the Canadian Rockies before returning to Illinois. This glimpse of the beautiful scenery in the West changed my life forever. I felt a need to record the beauty I had seen, and my interest in photography was born.1 purchased my first camera, a Kodak Pony, at age ten from the Sears Roebuck catalog. It was an adjustable camera, and I learned about shutter speeds, f-stops, and depth of field by reading the instruction booklet. Fortunately, our family went west several more times, and I took slides of the scenery. After I graduated from high school in 1959,1 enrolled at the Colorado School of Mines near Denver, not only to pursue my education in geology and geophysics, but also to live in the West, where I could enjoy scenic photography.After graduating from college, I spent two years in the army at Fort Lewis, Washington. During my two years in the service, Ipurchased my first single-lens reflex camera and a number of interchangeable lenses. The Pacific Northwest is a beautiful place, and I took many photographs in Oregon, Washington, and the Canadian Rockies. By trial and error I began to develop my own style and techniques of photographing landscapes. Fort Lewis had a craft shop that included a darkroom, and I found that I enjoyed black and white printing.Upon leaving the army in 1966,1 returned to Denver as an exploration geologist for Chevron Oil Company. I was assigned to the Plateau District of western Colorado, Utah, and northern Arizona, and my love affair with the Colorado Plateau began. Photography brought me much enjoyment, but I felt that something was lacking.In the spring of 1969, 1 noticed an ad in the Denver Post for the Colorado Council of Camera Clubs Annual Convention. I decided to attend and was thrilled by the beautiful photography that was exhibited in the competitions and the quality of the photographic programs that were presented. I joined my first camera club the next week.I didn't win much in the club competitions the first year, but I kept my ears and mind open during instructive programs and during evaluation of slides and prints entered in competitions, and I rapidly learned the fine points of composition andvii