Greg joined us in New Orleans in the spring of 2014. Greg is relatively soft spoken and easy going (although Greg might disagree with our opinion ,-). He was very confident with his equipment, as he should be given the number of years he has been photographing. It’s always nice to encounter a quiet man who carries a big stick. And as you can see from his New Orleans photos, Greg carries a pretty big stick. We list Greg as a Photographer Enthusiast, which he is, but now that he is retired, Greg could easily call himself a semi-professional, and perhaps even a professional photographer. Greg is also a true artist. He captures his images with the idea of the finished image already in his mind. He’s thinking post processing right from the very beginning. Greg was a delight to have, and an inspiration to us all. Thank you Gregory.

Titled “Reflections on Bayou Villere”,this is one of my favorites. When we started looking for places on the Bayou to photograph we came across the remains of an old pier. There was almost no wind so the reflections were great. I lined up the shot so that the repetitive shaped old piles lined up diagonally across the image to pulled viewers into the photograph. I decided to go with black and white for this image to remove the distractions of color and because I felt the subject fit well into the style of earlier photographers like Ansel Adams, Edward and Brett Weston, Minor White and Walker Evans. (see more photos below)

ABOUT GREG

I have lived in the St. Louis, Missouri area my whole life. I bought my first 35mm camera in 1970, and studied art and photography at the local community college where I found the photography classes to be very enjoyable. We studied composition, and used photography to creatively express ourselves. At that time we were only working in black and white. In 1972 I participated in my first show with 10 other students. I continued to study photography and to take photos throughout the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. In 1999 I returned to the community college for night classes, and in June, 2006 I received an Associate in Fine Arts Degree – Photography while working full time. I recently retired from an engineering position at a local manufacturer in August 2014 and now I spend much more of my time creating photographs.

Artist’s Statement: For a number of years now I have been into what I call Abstract-Extraction (I compose then Extract part of an object/structure and to create an Abstract image). Many of my images are extractions from an old building, a distorted reflection, an architectural detail and the juxtaposition of adjoining buildings. The last couple of years I find myself drawn to a Pictorialism Style using manipulation of typically “straight” photographic materials and create new, more expressive, painterly, altered interpretations as a way of projecting an emotional intent into the viewer’s realm of imagination. I do this in Photoshop using plug-ins, layers of textures, and blending them with various opacities into a finished image.

A CONVERSATION WITH GREG