MY INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOGRAPHY

​My first formal introduction to photography skills was provided by a couple from Omena, Michigan, who formed the organization “Saving Birds Thru Habitat”.  The classes took place in 1998 in the Art Center across the street from my office in the five-story State Office Building at the Traverse City Commons.
 
The most memorable thing I learned in those classes is now obvious to me.  Readers of English text read from the upper left hand corner of a page to the lower right corner.  A visual tracking of visual art, such as a photo or a painting, that follows this direction will generally be less interesting to a viewer than a photo that draws one’s attention in the opposite direction.  For an example, look again at the photo of the Hurricane Ridge Trail on the Introduction page of this website.
 
Ten years later when I was a few weeks from retiring in 2008 I attended a photography lecture by Wayne Pope.  It took place in the Leland [MI] Library, as I recall.   At the conclusion of his talk, Wayne encouraged those in attendance to participate in a several day workshop in Presque Isle across the state.  Wow.  This was exactly the location where I was to move in a couple weeks.
 
It proved to be a fantastic workshop and I learned more than I could have hoped.  Further, Wayne has become a personal friend and a great photography mentor.   I might have remained a photography novice were it not for Wayne’s encouragement and advice. 
 
Before I began learning from Wayne, I had become aware of scanography.  This is the art of creating digital images using a flat bed scanner that I will explain in a subsequent blog post.  When one of my earliest scanographs was juried into a Besser Museum Fine Arts Exhibition in 2009, Wayne was there to capture the moment.  It was the first time a photo or scanograph of mine was publicly recognized. My gratitude for Wayne’s photography assistance and his friendship is beyond measure.  

Photo by Wayne R. Pope