In 2020 I went to the Legacy of LIGHT symposium at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, in Tucson. It was held in January and commemorated the 50th Anniversary of the LIGHT gallery in New York City. LIGHT was the first gallery dedicated solely to exhibiting and marketing Photographs. The Gallery had a huge impact on the establishment of the medium as an artform and its impact on the medium was incredible.

Harold Jones was the first Director of the LIGHT gallery. In 1975 Harold was recruited to be the first Director of the Center of Creative Photography. He taught at the University of Arizona while leading CCP for 30 years and has maintained his ties to CCP and the U of A since he retired. Harold is an icon in the history of the medium of Photography as an artist, educator, curator, and director.

I was fortunate to have one of my prints included in the exhibition that was held in conjunction with the symposium. I went out for the exhibition opening as well as for the symposium. The opening was good, and the symposium was incredible. As soon as I saw the exhibition, which was amazing, I knew how important the exhibition and symposium were going to be. I photographed the opening, and when I returned for the symposium, I had already decided to photograph as much as I could to document that event. I authored a number of blog posts about LIGHT, and I also mailed out prints to people who I met or saw at the symposium. I sent a group of prints for people at CCP in a single package but unfortunately it shipped in March 2020 just as the Covid lockdown was starting. The package was misplaced and not found until this past summer. The folks at CCP then distributed the photos to everyone including forwarding the photos for Harold, who moved to Oregon when he retired. I didn’t know all this until I got an email from Harold in September thanking me for the prints and asking for my mailing address.

I sent a reply with my address, and we had a couple emails back and forth. Harold’s emails are fun; he attached a vintage photo of a Canon Camera production line on one then a very appropriate cartoon for me personally on another. Our exchanges were validating, and I especially loved when he thanked me for being a photographer before the age of the cell phone. He absolutely sees the dangers of the cell phone photography culture for the medium of photography.

A couple weeks after our exchanges I received the above print from Harold. I am so honored that a person of Harold’s stature would take the time to thank me in such a way. Without a doubt this is the coolest gift I received this year. As a photographer I get this on every level, especially the process. It is an incredible thank you gift. It is also a great example of what photographers are. You can’t shut off seeing images. This also isn’t an image you can appreciate in an Instagram post. You can’t appreciate the layers of meaning in a 2 second view and swipe.

I know it was a private gift, but I felt the need to showcase it because Harold is an amazing person and was so influential for the medium of Photography on so many levels/

Brent Valentine and Keller Kramer are seniors at UC Davis. In March 2023 Brent came up with an idea to start a podcast series where he interviewed professors about their research projects so future graduate students could learn more about programs, they were interested in applying to. Keller is one of Brent’s closest friends and had experience interviewing people. They discussed the concept and created the Discovering Academia Podcast. UC Davis featured them in their campus magazine, check here for that link. Below is their official description of their podcast has become:

Discovering Academia is an interdisciplinary podcast, with some of the world’s greatest thinkers and researchers. Brent and Keller sit down with these academics to have conversations about their background, research, passions and ways for others to get involved. Episodes last for roughly an hour, and they cover a plethora of topics. We launched in March 2023 and are now releasing weekly episodes. We started at our home institution, UC Davis, and have expanded to the London School of Economics, Utrecht University, UC Berkley, University of Geneva, National University of Singapore, University of Hong Kong, Nankai University*, and Zhejiang A&F University* (*Mainland China)

If you had not guessed by now, Brent is my son. We made an investment to help Brent create the podcast as an actual business, and during that process one condition I asked Brent to agree to was to include some photography related podcasts and I specifically suggested interviewing Becky Senf. I have gotten to know Becky fairly well over the last ten years and she is one of the most incredible photography curators / scholars in the world today (and also a wonderful person). I know I have written about her before in this blog, but I need to say this again. She has an incredible talent to be able to communicate concepts or knowledge about the medium which everyone can understand. I don’t care if you have a casual interest in the medium or you hold a PhD in Photographic Studies if you listen to her talk about the medium, you will understand the topic and you will learn something. It is an amazing talent. Last fall Brent and Keller were able to arrange a time to fly down to Tucson to interview Becky. Brent and Keller released the podcast of Becky’s interview last week and I think it is outstanding. Yes, I admit that I am absolutely biased, but I encourage you to listen to the podcast and form your own opinion. I am confident you will take something away from the experience.

Brent, Keller, and Becky at the Center for Creative Photography

Additional Link:

During this podcast Becky spoke in depth about an Edward Weston portrait of his wife, Charis. I was pretty sure I remembered seeing the image, but I wanted to sure I was thinking of the right image. I found it on-line; and confirmed I was thinking of the correct image. I wanted to share the link here for everyone else. I agree with Becky, it is an Amazing Image!