Black+White Photography - UK (2019-12)

11

B+W

they still had Fotomat booths. But I didn’t

understand how a little booth could possibly

process film, so I took my rolls to a proper

processing lab and waited anxiously for the

results a few days later.

I

left home at 18 to work in the fish camps

in Alaska so I could save enough money to

support myself on a two-year mission for

my church – the Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter-day Saints. After serving for two

years in New Mexico, Texas and Colorado

I started my freshman year at Brigham

Young University. I wanted to take a

photography class but the only intro to

photography course available was designated

for photography majors. I decided to wait

outside the classroom so I could ask the

professor to sign me up to the course.

He asked if I was a photography major and

I hesitated a second and then said, “Yes.

Yes I am!” So he signed my card and I

promptly changed my major to photography.

‘John Telford, one of my professors, had a

huge impact on my life. He became like a

second father to me. I spent a lot of time at

his house processing film and making

prints. I remember one time he and I were

photographing in southern Utah. We had

camped the night before and got up before

sunrise to position ourselves on a high cliff

overlooking the desert. As the sun rose over

the horizon and started shooting rays of

golden light across the purples, greens and

reds of the desert floor, a coyote started to

howl. We got a few quick frames while the

light crescendoed. I turned to John and said,

“I think I’ve just played the best practical

joke on everyone who hates their job.”

John breathed into his hands to warm them

and grinned. He showed me that I could

make a dependable and comfortable income

as a professor of photography and still have

the time to pursue my own art. Academia

has done just that – it has given me the room

to grow, explore and breath.

‘When I started working on the

photogravure images, my first child was

14 months old and my wife had just given

birth to our twin daughters. I was 39 and

had only been married about a year. I’d gone

The Clam Digger’s Wife And Her Clandestine Trampoline

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