Local Artist Profile: Mixing Passion & Photography
Local photographer, Richard Pick got his first camera in college. “Back then I just shot black and white film. We always had a darkroom back then and would develop our own film and make our own prints. I transitioned to color transparency film and then to digital. So I have kind of been through it all. I am really glad I could start with film and transition to digital.”
Pick has had the opportunity to study with a lot of really good photographers. His mentors for field work have been John and Barbara Gerlach, a great team with John being very technical and Barbara good with composition. “For printmaking I study with Charles Cramer. I believe he is one of absolute best anywhere. He was one of Ansel Adams students and you can always see his latest images at the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite.”
When he uses the term “field work” Pick often means it literally! His photography today is a direct result of what he has enjoyed throughout his life. “I have been a birder for as long as I can remember and have always treasured the solitude of our wilderness areas, most notably our national parks and monuments. So it is not surprising my photography consists almost entirely of birds and our wilderness areas. Photographing birds is very difficult. You need to go where the birds are and have great patience. Last spring I was in Nebraska for three days to photograph Prairie Chickens in display. All of my useful images were taken in ten minutes on the last day. With birds, that’s just the way it goes.”
His landscapes are almost exclusively of subjects on the Colorado Plateau. “I enjoy taking my viewer to the more remote areas on the Plateau; places they may never have the opportunity to experience. Sometimes you will go on a one or two night backpacking trip just to photograph one subject. My prints are characterized by their sharp detail, large size and delicate color. The colors are the result of photographing in soft light or reflected canyon light. The emotion these images will invoke will differ for each of us.”
Pick feels some images can have a mystic quality or be very abstract. “There is almost always a story behind an image. Not about what the subject is, but something actually about the subject. The images are meant to be explored just as we might do if really there.”
For more information about Dick Pick and his photography, visit his website at rdpnaturephoto.com.