Deon
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2024
- Messages
- 57
I was turned loose in my father’s darkroom at age seven, did my first commercial photographic assignment at 12. I was my father's photographic assistant throughout my teens, exploring the American West loading his Hasselblads (500C) and Leicas (M-4) while he photographed for commercial clients and created dozens of coffee table books for Graphic Arts Center Publishing (State Books). Then off to collage to learn about the environments I became so fond of. After school, I started out as a photographers assistant, working for a wide variety of photographers, with a wide variety of disciplines, to learn as much as possible while getting paid, also met my wife at a camera store… The first thing I learned as a photographers assistant was I didn’t like working with art directors. So I started creating stock photography (when that was a thing) of nature. Also, at this time I started to receive requests to photograph industrial locations, for the maritime shipping industry, that didn’t last long as 9/11 created a major shift in the commercial photographic industry. So, Trish and I moved from the Pacific Northwest to a small, remote community deep within the Great Basin Desert with the intent of creating art, which we did. Mining companies found me and started to hire me. This led to extreme location photography of construction and industrial sites and finally to renewable energy, which was my last commercial job prior to the pandemic. Since that time I have spent major amounts of time and money trying to find more commercial work, with absolutely ZERO luck… Unless I want to give it away, that is. So I quit. Sold the majority of my camera, studio and lighting equipment. After selling our place in Eureka, Nevada, we spent 40 months in a conversion van circling North America twice, making lots of images.
Nothing, Arizona - Hasselblad 501C/M w 60mm f=3.5 CF lens - Ilford FP4-120 film
Four years ago we purchased a home on acreage along New Mexico’s Rio Grande. The first year we spent getting everything the way we wanted including converting the attached garage into both analog and digital darkrooms and finishing room. After processing the more than 300 rolls of film from being on the road, made contact sheets and started to file them away, when I came to the conclusion I was not doing a very good job filing my images in a way that made it easy to find and sort them.
Altoona, Washington - Hasselblad Flexbody w/ 180mm f=4.0 CFi Lens - Fuji Velvia film
I’ve shoot several formates through a wide variety of analog cameras over the years. sub-35mm to 8x10 in both color and B&W, but mostly Hasselblads are my camera of choice. I started out using Hasselblads commercially, then Canon 5D, 5D MkII, 5Dsr cameras with mostly ts-e (tilt-shift) lenses for my commercial work (all gone now). Initially, I sorted my images by Camera - Date. Now everything is organized by Place - Date. Passing through my entire unedited digital collection (way too many images) several times has yielded many collections, some I didn’t even know existed, or didn’t think there were enough to make a good sized portfolio. Long ago, for some unknown reason I disposed of every image I created prior to my first medium format camera (Hasselblad 500C/M kit). So, my collection starts in 1983, to date I have >3,200 black and white contact sheets and >12,000 2 1/4 color transparencies. Then, earlier this year I had a hare brained idea to scan an edit from several decades of images created with point and shoot cameras. Before digital we used these cameras to document our travels. Historical markers and road signs to help with captioning images. We also made a lot of travel/camp photos. It was entertaining to pass through all that history, albeit time consuming.
Berlin, Nevada - Holga 120s - Ilford FP4-120 film
The bulk of the scanning is finished (of course I’m still shooting and scanning). Every image has been re-filed to Place then date, not by camera or digital or analog. Now I’m in the process of creating collections or portfolios of varied images that fit together either by sometimes place, but mostly by idea. So far I have made 28 collections of images, a few nice tight portfolios, just the right size. Others collections are massive, needing to be sub categorized or somehow divided into smaller more manageable portfolios. These collections will start out on my website, once I get to that point. I am hopeful to start work (not finished. Just start) on an entirely new website ( www.deonreynolds.com hasn't been updated in five years) around the first of the year… Trish and I have started to make our own handmade books, most of these collections may become one off art books. Many other collections are revealing diptychs, triptychs, etc as well as complete galley shows. Also, something I’m calling “assemblages”, which is photographic based, incorporating ephemera from the same location or idea.
This is why I've not been online much these days. That should change once I start in on a new website...
- Epson PerfectionV700
Nothing, Arizona - Hasselblad 501C/M w 60mm f=3.5 CF lens - Ilford FP4-120 film
Four years ago we purchased a home on acreage along New Mexico’s Rio Grande. The first year we spent getting everything the way we wanted including converting the attached garage into both analog and digital darkrooms and finishing room. After processing the more than 300 rolls of film from being on the road, made contact sheets and started to file them away, when I came to the conclusion I was not doing a very good job filing my images in a way that made it easy to find and sort them.
- EPSON Perfection V700/V750
Altoona, Washington - Hasselblad Flexbody w/ 180mm f=4.0 CFi Lens - Fuji Velvia film
I’ve shoot several formates through a wide variety of analog cameras over the years. sub-35mm to 8x10 in both color and B&W, but mostly Hasselblads are my camera of choice. I started out using Hasselblads commercially, then Canon 5D, 5D MkII, 5Dsr cameras with mostly ts-e (tilt-shift) lenses for my commercial work (all gone now). Initially, I sorted my images by Camera - Date. Now everything is organized by Place - Date. Passing through my entire unedited digital collection (way too many images) several times has yielded many collections, some I didn’t even know existed, or didn’t think there were enough to make a good sized portfolio. Long ago, for some unknown reason I disposed of every image I created prior to my first medium format camera (Hasselblad 500C/M kit). So, my collection starts in 1983, to date I have >3,200 black and white contact sheets and >12,000 2 1/4 color transparencies. Then, earlier this year I had a hare brained idea to scan an edit from several decades of images created with point and shoot cameras. Before digital we used these cameras to document our travels. Historical markers and road signs to help with captioning images. We also made a lot of travel/camp photos. It was entertaining to pass through all that history, albeit time consuming.
- EPSON Perfection V700/V750
Berlin, Nevada - Holga 120s - Ilford FP4-120 film
The bulk of the scanning is finished (of course I’m still shooting and scanning). Every image has been re-filed to Place then date, not by camera or digital or analog. Now I’m in the process of creating collections or portfolios of varied images that fit together either by sometimes place, but mostly by idea. So far I have made 28 collections of images, a few nice tight portfolios, just the right size. Others collections are massive, needing to be sub categorized or somehow divided into smaller more manageable portfolios. These collections will start out on my website, once I get to that point. I am hopeful to start work (not finished. Just start) on an entirely new website ( www.deonreynolds.com hasn't been updated in five years) around the first of the year… Trish and I have started to make our own handmade books, most of these collections may become one off art books. Many other collections are revealing diptychs, triptychs, etc as well as complete galley shows. Also, something I’m calling “assemblages”, which is photographic based, incorporating ephemera from the same location or idea.
This is why I've not been online much these days. That should change once I start in on a new website...
