Interview with:David W. Joern [shooterdave]
PHOTOGRAPHY
 | Do you have an online gallery where one can view your photos? |
| For how long have you done photography? How did you begin? I remember being fascinated at an early age, about 10, by my father's Argus C-3 35mm camera while the family was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany (...yes, along with younger brother Dennis, we were army brats...). It had “real” exposure adjustment buttons for both shutter speed and lens aperture. It also focused with a dizzying, tiny viewing range finder. An alternative was to use the distance numbers on the lens ring, but what fun is that? Exposing the film was all manual, no built in meter. Pop did have a crude but effective Weston exposure meter, but I rarely saw that in use. The information sheets that came folded in film boxes ended up all over the place with me attempting to make sense of what seemed like cryptic photo techno babble. Probably the best education one could have. While our parents took color slides and color 8mm movies, Dennis and I were given inexpensive rolls of Verichrome black and white film...
It was during one of our annual road trips somewhere in France that I recall being drawn to shooting something other than wide open scenics, snow covered Alps, or our traveling group posing at a roadside attraction...a foreign license plate on a Volkswagen, a "closely cropped detail" compared to anything else I had captured...that feeling and vision remains as I tend to wander and "collect" the overlooked or ignored. |
| What has been your education as a photographer? Self taught for the longest time, many library books read, then late in High School had a "trial by fire" experience on a Biology field trip to the Marmes Man site and dig near Washtucna, Washington state when the school photographer's 35mm Yashica rangefinder jammed and ruined her film. I had my mother's Kodak Instamatic with verichrome pan and caught the "typical" shots needed to go with the article published in the school paper. College was mainly art, but a class in photography re-kindled the flame and it went from there. Many years later I specialized after a program in Bio-Medical photography near Seattle WA. An intense learning experience crammed into 2 years. Thereafter my black and white has been trial and error and much experimentation to fine tune the processes of developement and printing to gear I use. |
| Please list any exhibitions in which you have participated. 08/07 to Present
• On Display, Framed Photographic Prints; Rocket Bakery and Coffee
903 W. Garland, Spokane, WA
6/05
• Group Show, "Exposed Photography Exhibit".
Create Place, Newport, WA.
"Needle and Hippo", "Mission Door", "She's in the Dog's Water"
6/04
• Group Show, "Exposed Photography Exhibit".
Create Place, Newport, WA.
"Whale in the Sky", "Dog and Fender"
8/03
• Vignettes Art Exhibit and Sale.
Create Place, Newport, WA.
Various media "interior design exhibit", twenty one pieces.
6/03
• Group Show, "Exposed Photography Exhibit".
Create Place, Newport, WA.
"Needle and Hippo", "Rusty Nails"
• "The Derelict Sensation".
St. Pancras Cathedral, King's Cross, London.
Multi Media Group installation, six images.
5/01
• Panida Theater, Sandpoint, ID, three artist collaboration (Two consecutive Saturday evenings).
Allen James Teague, solo piano concert.
Photography by Dave Joern; Pen and ink drawings, paintings by Dennis Karl Joern.
6/97
• Ra-Tels Gallery, Spokane, WA. featuring the "Brothers Joern".
Photography by Dave Joern; Pen and ink drawings, paintings by Dennis Karl Joern.
2/96
• Solo Exhibition.
Crossroads Coffeehouse, Portland, Oregon.
Well received, extended through April.
2/94
• Multi Media Group Show, "Twenty-first Annual Spring Exhibition".
Galveston Art League Inc., Texas.
"Dog and Fender", "Sign in the Village#1"
7/93
• Thirteenth Annual Spring Photography Contest.
Photographer's Forum Magazine. Finalist.
"Dog and Fender", published in the "1993 Best of Photography Annual".
2/93
• Multi Media Group Competition.
Dishman Art Gallery, Lamar University Beaumont,Texas. Honorable Mention.
"Rusty Nails"
4/92
• Group Show, Gallery 2211, Galveston,Texas, nine pieces
• Multi Media Group Show, "Nineteenth Annual Spring Exhibition"
Galveston Art League Inc, Texas.
"Clothespin upon Pop's Fence", "The Galveston Star Store", "Mission Window"
10/91
• Group Show, "Current Works".
Society for Contemporary Photography, Kansas City, Missouri.
"Sign in the Village #1"
3/91
• Multi Media Group Show, "Eighteenth Annual Spring Exhibition".
Galveston Art League Inc., Texas.
Second Place Cash Award (The first "photographic image" to place in the League's history...).
"Rusty Nails"
11/90
• Group Show, "Statewide Exhibition".
Texas Photographic Society, Austin,Texas
"Brother Dennis and Friend"
4/90
• Group Show, "Members Only Exhibition".
Texas Photographic Society, Amdur Gallery, Austin,Texas.
"The Galveston Star Store", "Mission Window"
7/84
• Two Person Show, "Diversions".
Moody Medical Library.
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston,Texas. |
| Please list any awards for your work. 3/91
• Multi Media Group Show, "Eighteenth Annual Spring Exhibition".
Galveston Art League Inc., Texas.
Second Place Cash Award (The first "photographic image" to place in the League's history...).
"Rusty Nails"
1987
• Health Sciences Communications Association(HeSCA) "Still Media Festival" Multi-Projector Slide Show.
"Old Red, the Legacy". First Place.
"The Five Minute Difference". Third Place.
• International Film and Television Festival of New York. Finalist Award.
1986
• HeSCA "Still Media Festival". Second Place.
• Association for Multi-Image Festival. Two Finalist Awards.
1985
• The Matrix Awards, Multi-Projector Slide Show, "Storms in the Mind". First Place.
• International Film and Television Festival of New York.
Multi-Projector Slide Introduction for video production.
"Gifted Children, hosted by Steve Allen". Silver Medal Award.
• Association for Multi-Image. Bronze Award. |
| What is your favourite type of photography? Traditional black and white film |
| What do you try to express through your photography? A certain sense of humor, wonder and re-discovery |
| How do you choose your subjects? Completely by chance, exploration |
| What type of preparation do you do before undertaking the photo session? Comfortable hiking shoes or boots, old jeans, several candy bars, soda or two, good company, a worn but well maintained 1975 Nikon F2 Photomic camera, Nikkor 24mm lens, Nikkor 35mm lens and a 55mm micro-nikkor lens. Depending on sky conditions, lenses fitted with a deep red #29a filter. These "daypack standards" are backed up with a Nikon FM2 (…with winder attached but seldom used…simply fits my large hands better…), Vivitar Series1 90mm macro lens and a Vivitar Series1 28-105 zoom macro-focusing lens. Favored films have always been Kodak's tri-x and plus-x. And for a walking stick....my trusted solid Bogen mono pod. |
| Do you normally photograph with a purpose already in mind, or do you let yourself go with the flow? I tend to flow |
| Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Sigma, Olympus, Sony, Pentax...which do you place your bets on and why? Nikon, just because they have proven reliable, able to take the fumbling about and I have a local who services them quickly when needed. |
| Describe your current equipment: cameras, lenses, computers, accessories... Nikon cameras and lenses, a few Vivitar lenses for film (as in previous question/answer); a Canon D30 digital with short Tamron zoom and longer Canon zoom; Kodak D260 snapshot digital with built-in time lapse; Macintosh G4...etc, may come back to fill in, but lists get tiresome...LOL |
| What software and plug-ins do you use to retouch and manage your photos? Rather basic Photoshop when prepping scans of negs or good prints for web use. Direct digital equivalent to spotting, contrast/brightness, burning/dodging. |
| What measures do you take to protect your work against Internet piracy? Uniqueness, notice on pages. |
| Are you a good salesperson of your work? In what should you improve? So so...better scans of negatives needed (tough one as I prefer full frame to all else, nearly never crop, and there are few film scanners with full frame carriers....just acquired a Nikon LS-2000 and the film strip carrier may do that) to submit images to stock agencies. |
| Which past masters of photography do you most admire? Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Elliot Erwitt |
| Are technology and digital retouching reducing the gap between professionals and amateurs? I believe so, yes. |
| What is your team of habitual collaborators like? creative dreamers |
| Do you consider yourself more technical or more artistic? Actually a good mix of both, although the "technical" has become so much more second nature, that it allows more creative thought. |
| What have you learned about the art of framing and composition? Do it one way to make a viewer feel comfortable, then maybe the other to make 'em dizzy....LOL |
| How does one develop the instinct of knowing when to press the shutter release button? Comes with time and experience. There will suddenly be those "hmmmmmm" or "AHA" moments that tell you "this is the one". |
| Does photography have the recognition that it should have in contemporary art museums? Could have more. |
| Which websites for photographers do you frequently visit? Do not visit frequently as I do not spend that much time online.
APUG (analog photographic users group).
http://www.apug.org/ |
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[shooterdave]
David W. Joern
Spokane, WA USA
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