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CLICK HERE TO VIEW A GALLERY OF KEN JACKSON'S IMAGES

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All photos © Ken Jackson

Sharon

This month's Photos to Inspire subject is Ken Jackson, who discusses how he initially became interested in photography and his exploration of alternative processes.


How It All Began
"Like a lot of people, I got interested early in life when I was made the gift of a camera. The act of pointing this magic box at something, and seeing traces of the light from people, places, and things rendered as visible images, was amazing and addictive. Recently I discovered the proverbial shoebox of old photographs that I’d taken when I was 10-12 years old—great fun to see those again! When in high school I photographed for the school paper and yearbook with a Minolta 35mm SLR, and was initiated into the mysteries of the silver darkroom. For various reasons I moved away from serious pursuit of photography by my early twenties. Then about nine years ago, during a time of some big life changes, I got interested again and before long it got serious. I joined Photoworkshop.com in ‘99, began taking classes and workshops, photographing a lot, and studying on my own.

"Studying the history of photography, and looking at images of other photographers fed my interest and provided great inspiration. I think such study is so important if you have a serious interest in the medium. The history of the medium is fascinating in itself, and I think it’s perfectly valid to mine the past for ideas and inspirations. And I’ve found huge inspiration in studying the works of an crazy variety of artists. Julia Margaret Cameron; Pictorialists, Photosecessionists, and Linked-Ringers;  Eugene Atget, Minor White, Michael Kenna, the Osterbrooks, Keith Carter, Robert Farber, Joyce Tenneson, Doug Beasley, David Michael Kennedy, Bill Schwab, and Emil Schildt— to name a few.

"In the last couple of years, exploring alternative processes is leading me to some revelations about photography and along some very interesting paths. It goes rather against the dominant narrative of photography in the early 21st century, which seems to be all about high-tech and ultrapixels, buying the latest gear and shooting many thousands of digital images. But I don’t do it as so much a form of rebellion (I use my Powerbook and Photoshop nearly every day, even digitally creating enlarged negatives for contact prints. And I have a DSLR). As useful as the high-tech stuff has been to me, I especially love the high-touch approach of alternative processes, and the more elemental nature of early photography—using precious metals in light-sensitive solution, beautiful papers. It brings a kind of alchemical magic to the pursuit for me. I think the medium, the process, and the presentation is as important as the image itself, which is essentially nonexistent until you express it in a particular way with particular materials and processes."

Market House

His Favorite Subjects
"I’m open to anything, but mostly I have been photographing places and spaces. And it has mostly been in the area where I live in the southeastern U.S., although I do get to travel some. More recently I’ve discovered (thanks to being at a workshop/retreat with Doug Beasley) that I love photographing nudes, approaching them in a more naturalistic rather than a formal way. For any subject, I prefer to work intuitively rather than planning things out in detail. Of course some planning comes into play: going to certain places at certain times of the year and day, finding an appropriate setting when working with people. After that, though, I just try to be there and connect with the subject, responding intuitively and spontaneously. And so I haven’t done much in the way of still life, although I have some ideas percolating. Something that might be a little more conceptual."


What He's Portraying
"I really am not concerned with what’s trendy in guiding my work. I want my work to be both personal and a response to the subject, but also to get at something else. It is very important to me to make pictures that are more than eye candy. Beauty is a hard thing to approach. It can very easily become trivial, just surface prettiness, or a kind of conventional beauty. When I have to choose, I’d prefer subtlety, suggestion, and mystery over sheer visual impact. Connection with the subject, whether place or person, is so important to me. I want to get at the intangible, the invisible, by means of the visible. Some sense of soul."

Cape Fear Flood

His Work
"Besides being a photographer, I’m also a recovering archaeologist (I worked in the cultural resources management field for a couple of decades), musician, and writer. I guess I’d have to say that I am practicing photography for it’s own pure-as-spring crocuses sake, but only because I haven’t yet found a ready market for my work. I sell a print here and there, but I hope to get to the point where I can sell a fair amount of my own work while still maintaining the integrity of what I’m doing. I don’t see a necessary conflict between art and commerce, although there are certainly pitfalls. I’ve had a couple of consultations with fine art photography marketing guru Mary Virginia Swanson about how to get my work out there more, and I’m slowly making progress in that endeavor."


PWS Membership
"It’s hard to believe that I’ve been a member of Photoworkshop.com for almost a decade now!  PWS was one of the first resources I found as I made my way back into photography. The educational resources, the supportive community of very talented photographers, discussions on the board, the wonderful variety of stimulating work on display, the opportunities for having my own work seen—all have been immeasurably valuable in my development as a photographic artist. I’m sorry to say that I haven’t been as active as I’d like to be in the last year or two, mainly due to time constraints. I hope to jump back in from time to time, though."

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Inside Ken Jackson's Camera Bag
I have been using a variety of cameras:
Rolleiflex TLR
Kieve 88cm with 45, 80, and 120 mm lenses
Canon EOS 10D (in keeping with my penchant for obsolescence), with a Canon 24-70 f/2.8 zoom.
Korona 4x5 field camera (just started using the late lamented Polaroid Type 55 film....now I’m looking into converting some film holders for wet collodion work)
Holga and Diana plastic cameras
Zero pinhole camera

Lighting: I use only available light, sometimes making use of a Photoflex reflector.
Computer: Mac Powerbook G4, with an Apple cinema display
Scanner: Epson Perfection 4870—makes beautiful scans to produce digital negatives for contact printing alternative processes
Printer: Epson 3800—makes stunning digitally enlarged negatives and pigment ink prints.
UV light source box by Edwards Engineered Products, for alternative process contact printing.


To see more of Ken's work, visit http://kenjacksonphoto.photoworkshop.com/

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CLICK HERE TO VIEW A GALLERY OF KEN JACKSON'S IMAGES

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