RICHARD MARKUS

Ever since I can recall photography has been part of my life, my existence. I believe the reason I was drawn to photographic arts as a form of expression and appreciation for images was to compensate for my dyslexia. I remember making contact prints from Kodak Brownie negatives and the joy of borrowing my father’s Zeiss Ikon Contraflex 35mm SLR. I even contemplated a career in professional photography. While my professional career headed in another direction, photography has and continues to be incorporated into all facets of my life. It is a passion and lifestyle; the Zen of light, imagery, and tranquility.

At the encouragement of one of my mentors, seven years ago I fully switched over to digital. While there are few things I miss about film including the rich pallet of Fuji Velvia and dynamic range of B&W negative film (challenges which perplex me to replicate in digital), the new digital era has captivated me. One of the exercises I practice in my photographic pursuits is to do a deep dive on a particular artist / photographer’s history, economic times, understanding their upbringing, mentors, patrons, evolution of their art style, and review of the catalogue of their work. I then photograph exclusively in their style for one to two months.

I was introduced to this self-study after I read Emily Carr Country where Courtney Milne (1943-2010), one of Canada’s renown landscape photographers, took Emily Carr’s (1871–1945) paintings and writing about the land she loved and matched it to a stunning selection of his own photographs of the West Coast. Lately I have been exploring intentional camera movement (ICM), multiple exposures and composites to create images less photorealistic and more to convey emotion using the Expressionism / Impressionist styles of the great masters. This stage may be a reflection of my current inner thoughts which Salvador Dali described as the Paranoic-Critical Method; “spontaneous method of irrational knowledge based on the critical and systematic objectivity of the associations and interpretations of delirious phenomena.” Such fun!
I explore all types of photography, including studio work, portraits, fine art nudes, macro, architecture, shapes, patterns, textures, landscape, travel, and most of all street photography showing the people and the human condition.