Best of The Daily Siege: 8/1/2007, “My Photo Education”:
“Dropped out of high school aged 16, got my own apartment in Sparks, Nevada, in parking lot behind hourly motel that hookers and crackheads used.
Applied to Parsons School of Design in NYC, but could not raise the funds to go.
Moved to Minneapolis with girlfriend whose lifelong absent mother had resurfaced offering to make amends by sending her to college. Showed portfolio of paintings to Minneapolis College Of Art And Design, only to have portfolio reviewer close it in disgust, saying it was misogynistic. Girlfriend’s mother reneged on college offer. Screwed.
Picked up first camera at the age of 22, as research tool to aid paintings: a used Nikon FG with 50mm f1.8 and rubber lens hood. $250. All my money.
Intrigued with the alchemy of photography, began photo education with books. Taught myself Zone System with Ansel Adam’s “The Negative” and “The Print”. Begged and borrowed time in other photographer’s darkrooms to practice technique. Bought Minolta Digital Spot Meter F, brand new, to perfect Zone System. $500. All my money again.
Got job in one-hour mini lab in Saint Paul to teach myself color printing and get discount on film. Saved all my money and bought a darkroom through mail order in NYC. Beseler 23CII with Dual Dichro color head, and supporting trays, timers, easels, etc. $2500. More than my car at the time.
Got job at Ritz Camera to learn different cameras and maintain film discount. Began teaching myself color printing at home. First home studio consisted of a raw basement space, lighting was cheap plastic architect lamps from Target strapped to the ceiling supports. Backdrop was a black army surplus tarp.
Got a job at West Photo, a pro camera store in Minneapolis, to teach myself pro equipment and get a discount on high-end gear and darkroom materials. Took advantage of the “Employees rent free on weekends” policy and took out a studio full of gear each weekend to do test shoots and learn what everything did. Owner, claiming overuse, cancelled benefit. Bought my first “pro” cameras, a Nikon N90s and Mamiya RZ67, used. Bought first studio strobes, an ancient Norman P2000D set.
Got fired from West Photo for absenteeism, lateness, and bad attitude when they tried to make me wear a uniform and name tag.
Began custom printing for photographers in Minneapolis, BW and color. Began assisting. Began shooting model agency portfolios every winter in Miami. Began shooting small local advertising and design jobs in Minneapolis.
Moved to New York. Assisted for “big” photographers. Shot small gigs here and there, mostly editorial. Got my “break” when I was hired as Seventeen Magazine’s staff photographer. Never assisted again.
Start to graduation: ten years.
“The self-educated are marked by stubborn peculiarities. Often abounding with talent, but rarely with talent in its place, their native prodigality has to dread a plethora of genius and a delirium of wit; or else, hard but irregular students rich in acquisition, they find how their huddled knowledge, like corn heaped in a granary, for want of ventilation and stirring, perishes in its own masses.” -Isaac D’Israeli”