Ken Foto (moving)'s photostream  

June 2011 - "Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and photographing the world is therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning..." (Clifford Geertz with modifications by Nick Fisher www.flickr.com/people/nick_fisher/ )

"Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual." -Edward Weston

"One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." -Henry Miller

"Photographically I'm a traditionalist, but not orthodox." -Ken Foto

Fall 2009
Artist, Photographer, Folk Musician, Traveler

I've been photographing since 1973. Learned to process B&W in 76, started bulk-loading film and shooting a lot. Studied photography at ULM and Ohio State. I have shot 35mm, 2 1/4, 4X5. I have made silver,cyanotype, paladium, and gum bi-chromate prints, worked in Xerox and hand coloring. I love and enjoy beautiful full tone B&W images, but I also like to experiment with alternative processes.

In 1988, I joined the US Navy (never did learn how to make a living in photography). I no longer had access to a darkroom, so I started shooting color negs a lot more and making enlargements with color Xerox. I did this for most of the 90's.

In '98, I traded a photograph for my first computer, which came with Photoshop. I got a negative scanner and a photo-quality printer, thus begun my entrance into the digital side of photography. In 2004, I got my first digital camera, a Canon 10D. I'm shooting with a 5D MKII now (by the way I might love this camera).

Now I know there have been debates regarding film vs. digital. I have loved film, I was photographically weened on it. My knowledge of the photographic process goes way back, so I know what film can do. Not having access to a darkroom for 15 years, digital gives me complete control of the process again, without the fuss of photochemicals. I like the smell!

I'm not that interested in what equipment other people use, cameras, are tools. I've shot with vintage box cameras, Diana, Pentax, Canon, Nikon, Hasselblad (couldn't afford a wide angle lens), Yashicamat, Mamiya C220, and Calumet 4x5, and a Speed Graphic. For me, it is about getting the image; of course, I do think different cameras, lenses and processes lead you to see the world in different ways.

Sometimes, I think if I shot with an 8X10 camera, I'd be famous already, oh well...

I love photography, I love making images, walking around, visiting different places, traveling. For me, it is about seeing.

Shapes, forms, line, color, contrast, movement, all the elements of Art. And of course the subject; I shoot a variety of subjects. I guess I especially like decay and entropy, but I also like landscapes, still lifes, flowers, animals, portraits, band and parties. I have photographed my children extensively.

I have exhibited my work since 1978, mostly in small galleries, coffee houses, occasionally better venues. I've won a few prizes, awards, cash, and sometimes I sell prints. I'll do commercial jobs now and then.

Photography is my life.



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