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rapher,” he says. “If I hadn’t been through
the experience of developing and printing, I
wouldn’t shoot the way I do now.”
When he lights a scene, Wallace thinks in
photographic paper grades: “It’s like reverse
engineering a final print that hasn’t been
shot yet.” He lights automobiles not for inten-
sity but for contrast, “and contrast is position
more than anything.” He never uses a light
meter. “It’s in my head,” he says. “When you
start photography, you are unconsciously in-
competent. Then as you get more skill and
look at some stuff around you, you become
consciously incompetent, and you need to
improve. Then you become consciously com-
petent: You know you are in the right place.
The final stage is unconsciously competent.”
When he was given an assignment as sec-
ond photographer for a press conference,
Wallace didn’t think he could get a good an-
gle among the phalanx of photographers, so
he took an image from behind the podium
instead. The unique perspective earned him
more assignments and eventually a job with
a press agency. When the 1980s recession
reduced agency work, Wallace worked with
the armed forces. “The Forces” taught him
“discipline and belief in what’s possible if
you really, really persevere and apply your-
self.” He worked with data networks, which
he subsequently parlayed into a corporate
career with communications companies,
managing systems with a staff of 110 people.
The third time company restructuring made
him redundant, he decided to take control of
his destiny and sat down at his dining room
table with the notepad.