Bruce Herman

Anchorage

My mother gave me my first camera, a Kodak Brownie, when I went to Boy Scout camp.  She was hoping that I would return with photographs of my fellow Scouts, but instead I made photographs of the landscape: simple records of the scenery with no artistic intent.  My brother gave me my second camera, a Canon QL19, to record my hikes and climbs in the California Sierra Nevada during my spare time while an undergraduate.  I had no artistic aspirations until I discovered coffee table photography books about the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite.  These inspired me to work on my composition.  Some years later I moved to Alaska for my day job.  I realized that making photographs gave me a more substantive connection to the landscape and a greater sense of completion than did the hiking and climbing. I became serious student of photography with the hope of doing something more than recording the scenery in front of me.

I was taken under the wing of a professional stock photographer in the late 1980’s who was interested in both wildlife and landscape photography.  I became similarly intrigued by the whole range of nature photography, but I found wildlife photography to be somewhat limiting.  Clients were primarily interested in wildlife photographs in which the animal was identifiable as a symbol or was in some way anthropomorphized.  They also wanted portraits that required a very close approach.  I found making landscape photographs to be far more satisfying artistically than making wildlife photographs, even if they lacked the popular appeal of the latter.  At that time, most serious landscape photographers worked with a large format camera.  I followed suit.

A large format camera requires considerable concentration which further connected me to the landscape.  These cameras take a bit of time to set up, and the cost of the film and processing was significant.  I couldn’t afford to simply play and make a handful of photographs hoping that one would convey my feelings.  I had to understand why I was attracted to something before making a photograph.  As a result of that, my craft and my art improved dramatically.

My preferences evolved and I realized that my photographs were now more suitable for prints than for stock. I now was making photographs for myself and not for others.  To be honest, I would not have been able to make photographs solely for myself if had I not had a day job.

Time passed and I found it increasingly difficult to carry the large format kit.  By 2013 digital cameras had evolved to the point where I felt I could begin using them without significantly sacrificing the print quality I had come to appreciate.  I could move comfortably with my camera equipment again and still apply the lessons learned with my large format camera.

I continue to study photography attempting to expand my own creative horizons, both in composition and in the digital darkroom.  The world has changed considerably since I began doing photography.  Hopefully, I’ve grown some, too.