While they share an intense interest in wilderness search and rescue (search is the classic mystery -- all the clues are there, you just have to find and interpret them) and traveling to new and different landscapes, they find living in and exploring the Blue Ridge particularly satisfying. Here, magnificent vistas, quite walks and the soothing sounds of nature are the norm (punctuated, of course, with an occasional thunderclap).
While Don has been "into" photography since childhood and it comprised a major part of his work for several major U.S. companies, the couple's nature photography slowly evolved over time from a personal pursuit to a joint artistic expression. (See "Professional / Personal Notes" below.)
|
Don Don acquired his first camera while in elementary school, thus beginning a life-long fascination and devotion to the medium. His early years were not particularly noteworthy. In fact, he still cringes over his first attempt to develop film. Having no space at home from which all light could be blocked, he "borrowed" a neighbor's earthen storm cellar (they lived in "tornado alley"). Running every extension cord he could borrow between his house and his sparsely equipped "darkroom," Don proceeded to develop his first roll of film while surrounded by a dirt floor, walls and ceiling. (What's that about dust problems?) What's worse, he got confused and ran his film through the chemicals in the wrong order, ending up with a long strip of clear acetate. (FYI, he hasn't done that since.) His interest in photography soared while serving with the Navy in Hawaii, which is not too shabby a place to take pictures. Off-duty time was spent exploring the islands, especially the mountains, while on-duty time included a healthy dose of official news photography as default possessor of the command's only camera. Since reentering civilian life, Don obtained a degree in journalism, worked as a daily newspaper reporter-photographer and, later, began an long career as a public relations manager for several large U.S. corporations. At every step of the way, photography remained an important ingredient of his personal and professional lives. Since 2000, he has worked with his wife, Donna, to capture images of some of nature's most awesome sights, with a special emphasis on the Appalachian and Blue Ridge mountain ranges in which they live. |
Donna While Donna humors Don by letting him push the shutter on most of their photos (and take copyright credit), she's often the creative force behind their images. Donna's contribution is her ability to pull together the various visual elements in a scene, which she then turns over to Don to record. This unique ability may come from her lifetime association with preschool age children, undoubtedly one of the most creative forces on earth. Donna, while an educator by education and profession (she teaches at a large Virginia university), has retained the ability to see the world through 2, 3 and 4-year-old eyes. This comes from her work as an early learning and development lab instructor helping college students understand and work with pre-school age children. Perhaps her seemingly inherent sense of composition and balance of colors, textures and elements in nature was developed over years of using photography in the classroom to entertain, motivate and instruct students of all ages and to involve parents in their children's educations. But, whatever the source, a recent survey of artist friends, who were asked to rank potential photos for display in the new Blue Ridge Views gallery, resulted in the inclusion of a disproportionate number of images suggested by Donna. Fortunately, for Don, she has shown no inclination to learn about f-stops, shutter speeds, depth of field and many other technical photographic basics. Unless this changes, looks like Don can continue to claim their images while both are secure in the knowledge that Donna's the real brains behind this outfit. |