I’m not sure if I found photography as an art form or it found me. In the Summer of 1976, I had just finished 6th Grade and my parents said I needed to find something constructive to do for the summer break. I signed up for a Photography and Darkroom class at our local public school. I loved the experience and my parents could see that, so they purchased a Canon FTb 35 mm SLR camera with a Canon 50mm f1.8 FD mount lens with Blue Chip Stamps they had accumulated. – (Wow, that goes way back!)
My dad designed, built and installed exhibits at museums in the US and a few international museums as well. I remember when I had started using the camera, he was installing an exhibit at the Huntington Library in Pasadena. I would go with him during the off hours and venture out into the gardens with that Canon, photographing to my heart’s content. I gravitated toward the Japanese Gardens most of the time and focused on photographing the Zen Gardens and koi ponds.
Not long after this, I had saved enough money from doing chores and newspaper routes to purchase a Vivitar Black & White enlarger and the necessary darkroom supplies. I developed the rolls of black & white film that I accumulated from my explorations at the Library. I spent all of my free time in my bedroom developing film and enlarging 8×10 prints. My mom wasn’t a fan of the fringe benefits of my room converted to a darkroom often commenting about the brown spots on the wall and the smell of “Italian Salad Dressing” wafting from my room – thanks to the Ascetic Acid from the stop bath solution which was used to neutralize the alkaline developer and in turn halted the development process of a print.
Time moved on and in high school my focus turned from photography to cars. I sold my darkroom equipment and saved up money from working at Jack in the Box to purchase a 10-year-old Camaro. The social scene of high school diverted my photographic interests for a few years until I decided to sign up for a class in cross-country skiing at the original Sport Chalet store in La Canada in 1982. After gliding through the pines in the local Angeles Forest, I not only fell in love with being in nature but found it to be grounding in a world that often times seemed to be chaotic.
I would find any excuse to get up in the mountains which eventually included hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, mountain biking, snowshoeing and winter mountaineering. I’d come back from these adventures with fantastic stories but wanted to bring back more of the experience to share with others. That old Canon FTb came back out from under the bed and would document many beautiful experiences to come.
I essentially became a self-taught photographer devouring hundreds of books and magazines on the subject. Film was expensive at $7.50 per roll and another $7.50 for development – equating that to today’s purchasing power and you’d be spending $40+ for a roll and development. For a young adult in my twenties, this was not cheap. To maximize my benefits and minimize long-term costs I took a lot of notes and microcassette recorder dictations in the field and would compare those with the results of my Fujichrome and Kodachrome slides over the light table that my dad built for me. What worked – why? What didn’t work – why? My wife Cheryl would often times say goodnight and head off to bed only to find me still hunched over the light table in the morning with The Eagles or Led Zeppelin music playing in the background. Hours went by in what seemed like minutes to me both in the field or when analyzing the cause-and-effect relationships afterwards.
I continued reading voraciously – books ranging from color theory, principles of lighting and the science of color and light in nature lined my personal library shelves. I often referenced Ansel Adams’ 3 volumes “The Camera”, “The Negative” and “The Print” for information but there was one photographer I really respected and identified with in approach and philosophy to landscape photography. Galen Rowell truly had a gift in how he translated his vision to the viewer. He would approach a scene and ask himself what he wanted to present to the viewer. He would go through a process of pre-visualization and see the final photographic image in his mind’s eye. He would then break down the photographic process to the necessary variables to translate what was before him in the outside world to what his intended final image would be. Atmospheric conditions, time of day, equipment, film, settings, darkroom and printing techniques all came together to produce the final visual symphony he presented to the viewer. This approach and philosophy have been my guide ever since reading his book “Mountain Light – In Search of The Dynamic Landscape”.
I found early on that if I was going to immerse myself in the landscape without distractions, I needed to travel solo for most of the photo shoots in the field. Scouting locations and returning under the desired conditions, whether it be sun or moon location, weather, etc. required a lot of travel. I used to log my hiking mileage up until I was 40 and at that point in time, I had logged over 10,000 miles on foot in the Southern California Mountain Ranges as well as the Sierras – It’s always been a labor of love.
Over the decades I’ve had the chance to share my work in various means. In 1994, Summit Magazine – (no longer published) presented me a finalist placement for “The Captain John Noel Awards” recognizing young talent in outdoor photography. Later that decade, I pounded the pavement with a Kodak dual slide projection system and dissolving unit that I obtained from one of my dad’s exhibits and gave slide presentations to The Sierra Club, local mountaineering shops as well as Patagonia’s Pasadena store during their grand opening year – I especially liked that gig since they let me grab a jacket and a couple other apparel items as compensation!
I’ve used various formats over the decades ranging from 35 mm SLR to 645 and 67 Medium Format with Kodachrome 25 and Fujichrome Velvia 50 slide films. Eventually, in 2005 Outdoor Photographer Magazine and Canon recognized me in a landscape photo contest with a Grand Prize. I was awarded a Canon Digital Rebel XT SLR Camera. It was only 8 MP, but it was my first foray into digital imaging. That was around the time we adopted our daughter Jade so I wasn’t getting out a lot as my priorities changed quite a bit with a little one in the family mix. I used this time to devour information and understand the digital darkroom process as much as I could. From these studies I learned the importance of a properly color calibrated camera, monitor and printer along with using ICC Color profiles embedded in the digital image file. This color profiling approach allowed for exacting control over the image making process from capture to presentation to a much higher degree than the wet darkroom days.
When our daughter turned 10, I fulfilled a longtime aspiration of becoming a member of a Mountain Search & Rescue Team. Using my experience and knowledge in the wilderness to help others in trouble was a very rewarding experience. Over the course of 8 years on the West Valley SAR team I averaged 60 hours per month of volunteer time in the field. Adding camera gear to my rescue pack was not an option for the sake of minimizing weight. I became adept at using an iPhone for making pictures during those years. Since retiring from the team 4 year ago I’ve been refamiliarizing myself with using an updated Canon EOS 90d digital SLR on my excursions. Now that I’m retired, my focus is getting in as much time as possible in the Sierras and other wilderness areas with my photo gear.
I think we’re at a point in time now in image making where we photographers have many tools at our disposal to be very exacting at what we present to the viewer. From digital imaging and editing software to the new frontier of AI technology integration. There seems to be a lot of talk over the newer technologies – some good and some not so good, as there always is when something new is introduced into the mix. I think it only needs to be as important as you allow it to be in your image making workflow. If it lends itself in a positive way to your photographic approach and style, then use it. If not, don’t feel like you need to use it to be validated. Stay true to your vision and image making style – nothing else matters – The labor of love continues!
Scott Leising leisingphoto.com
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