CANVAS
VOLUME 3, 2018
John Wagner
SALT&SILVER
The Diarist By Kelly Vaughn
At first, the sheer mechanics of a camera drove John
photographers and with a variety of subjects.
Wagner to pick one up.
There was a man who shot fashion portraits for Interview
The sense of the object. The way it worked.
in his hand and in front of his eye.
In one portrait of Maisie when she is very young,
And, as with so many photographers, Wagner is well
magazine, someone who shot products for catalogs, a
she wears clogs and holds a stuffed dog. On first glance,
He was 15.
versed in everything and nothing — his storytelling is
lifestyle photographer. Those experiences were, in a sense,
she seems unaware of the camera, of her father. But then
“A cousin came to visit us in Freeport, Illinois,” Wagner
quick, easy. It is sometimes dry, always thoughtful.
an education in themselves.
you realize that she is looking — just barely — out of
remembers. “He was shooting surf photography, and
The quality translates to his work on film.
“I learned what I didn’t want to do,” Wagner says. “But
the corner of her eye. It’s a simple portrait. Brown hair.
when I held his camera, I liked the way it felt, liked the
“I like the thinking process of it,” he says. “When
that type of work in those early years taught me lessons in
Brown shirt against a brown background. But there is
way I could wind the film through it. I saw it as a tool
you’re shooting film, you have only 12 exposures. You
getting work done.”
palpable intimacy in it, affection.
more than anything.”
can’t just rapid fire and sort it out later. You have to think
Since, that work has taken countless forms. Land speed
In another photograph, Girard is in near profile,
Not long after the visit, though, a camera of his own —
about the exposures, think about the light and dark.
racers and their crews at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The
and sunlight and the brim of her straw hat casts a fern
he bought it in a drugstore with money he saved from his
And, in the processing of it, you don’t have the benefit of
movement of a motorcycle around a bend in a road, that
shadow across the back of her neck. There’s a blurred
paper route.
Photoshop. There are all sorts of things you can do in the
blur of speed and sound. Portraits of people he doesn’t
sense of movement in the background, but Wagner’s
He took high school classes in graphic arts and
darkroom — going through those steps physically — is
know. Portraits of the people he loves most.
subject is nearly full frame, cropped square.
newspaper layout.
more interesting to me than going through them with a
“The one thing I really like about the process of
The photograph is organic, lovely — a mix of art and
College classes in photography.
mouse and mouse pad.”
photography now is that I could look at photographs I
mechanics and patience.
But still, the camera was just an instrument.
Wagner processes his work at The Darkroom, a creative
made early on or today, and they could go right next to
Likely — hopefully — it has already become
“I was shooting photographs of friends — it was
space in central Phoenix where he hangs his images and
each other to tell a story,” Wagner says. “They’re like a
a diary entry.
just part of the action — I don’t even have those prints
the work of other photographers. On a Friday afternoon a
diary. I can look back at a photograph and remember its
And still so many pages to fill.
anymore,” he says.
few weeks before his show opens at Fiat Lux, the space is
story, what happened behind it.”
“Every year, I have similar goals with the work,”
full of hand-matted, hand-framed photographs. There is
Wagner says. “I don’t want to shoot things that look like a
no theme to the images, no rhyme — these are the framed
calendar or a poster. I want to push it a bit further. … I just
diary entries from moments in time.
like to shoot and let it go where it goes.”
Then Wagner transferred to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and a pair of instructors opened his eyes to
the darkroom, to the process of transforming a scene into
photographs often wear a sense of proximal intimacy.
a frame into a shot into a piece of art. He began studying
He’s challenged, though, when it comes to characterizing
In the portraits, there are beekeepers and barkeeps,
the work of Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind, and his
his style.
cyclists and postcard collectors. Wagner has photographed
instructors carried prints with them, the paper artifacts
“Romantic, maybe,” he offers. “I always hope that a
friends and strangers. Models and corporate honchos.
of vision.
photograph turns out the way I see the scene in my head.”
Family. More.
Wagner’s thinking about the art evolved.
But there are, of course, several images that stand out
Always, though, the images are new.
“That’s when I really started looking at photography
in Wagner’s mental catalog of the work he’s done — the
The angles. A capture of color. A burst of light.
differently,” he says. “That’s when I started looking more
portraits of his now 18-year-old daughter, Maisie, over
In the photographs from Bonneville, we see more of the
toward a final product, as well as the process.”
the years, as well as the photographs of his partner,
mechanics that first drew Wagner to a camera — the parts
And by the time he moved from Chicago to Phoenix
Olivia Girard.
and pieces of the machinery. There is, always, a sense of
in 1994, he had worked as an assistant to a handful of
“Maisie’s a huge part of it,” he says. “Olivia. The people I
the objects in front of him, as well as the sense of the object
care about. They’re the points along the way that matter most.”
The stories have range and distance, but the
SALT
Salt Detail
speedweek 2010 photographic C print 30x37
Brat Style, 1939 Indian speedweek 2017
photographic C print 20x30
Clean Machine
speedweek 2009 photographic C print 30x37
Old Crow 1952
speedweek 2009 photographic C print 20x30
Firestone Detail
speedweek 2013 photographic C print 20x30
View from the Rental Car speedweek 2012
photographic C print 20x30
Tire Tracks in the Salt speedweek 2013
photographic C print 20x30
Dusk, Exiting the Salt speedweek 2012
photographic C print 20x30
Belly Tanker Detail speedweek 2012
photographic C print 20x30
Vincent Black lightening, 3 Mile Course speedweek 2013
photographic C print 20x30
1932 Roadster
speedweek 2012 photographic C print 20x30
Pontiac Detail
speedweek 2010 photographic C print 22x30
Sunrise, 3 Mile Course speedweek 2009
photographic C print 20x30
7:00 A.M. in the Pits speedweek 2011
photographic C print 20x30
Salt Detail
speedweek 2013 photographic C print 30x37
Kick Starting the Triumph speedweek 2013
photographic C print 20x30
Waiting
speedweek 2016 photographic C print 20x30
Sunrise in the Pits speedweek 2013
photographic C print 20x30
Shade
speedweek 2013 photographic C print 20x30
First Light
speedweek 2016 photographic C print 20x30
A Final Check Before Go speedweek 2016
photographic C print 20x30
Tracks in the Salt speedweek 2011
photographic C print 22x30
First Run of the Day speedweek 2016
photographic C print 20x30
Buddy, Long Course Stager speedweek 2016
photographic C print 20x30
A Moment to Reflect speedweek 2016
photographic C print 20x30
Guthrie-Levie Racing, 5 Mile Course speedweek 2017
photographic C print 20x30
Flying Norwegians, 5 Mile Course speedweek 2017
photographic C print 20x30
Take Off
speedweek 2017 photographic C print 19x38
240z, 3 Mile Course speedweek 2017
photographic C print 20x30
Shinya Kimura, 3 Mile Course speedweek 2017
photographic C print 20x30
Original Mike
speedweek 2017 photographic C print 20x30
Low Brow Customs Team, 3 mile Course speedweek 2017
photographic C print 20x30
Streamliner
speedweek 2017 photographic C print 20x30
SILVER
Beer, Utah
toned silver gelatin print, 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Bullfrog
toned silver gelatin print, 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Crack on the Surface
toned silver gelatin print, 6x6 printed on 8x10, by artist
Ash Covered Hand, Mount Graham toned silver gelatin print 6x6 printed on 8x10, by artist
Dark Sky
toned silver gelatin print, 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Bird, California
toned silver gelatin print, 6x6 printed on 8x10, by artist
Father and Daughter
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Forest and Ferns, California toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Tall Grass, Salt River
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Desert Diptych
2 toned silver gelatin prints, 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Griffen, Tucson
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Heron
toned silver gelatin print 6x6 printed on 8x10, by artist
Lone Horse, Colorado
toned silver gelatin print 6x6 printed on 8x10, by artist
Jocelyn, Tucson
toned silver gelatin print 14 x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Lone Saguaro
toned silver gelatin print, 5x5 printed on 16x20, by artist
Maisie, Convent Street
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Olivia, Straw Hat
toned silver gelatin print 14 x 14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Joshua Tree, California
toned silver gelatin print 5x5 printed on 8 x 10, by artist
Olivia, Pacific City
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Power Lines, Arizona
toned silver gelatin print 5x5 printed on 8x10, by artist
Olivia, Salt River
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
River Rock, Virgin River
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Ford, Arizona
toned silver gelatin print 5x5 printed on 8x10, by artist
Saguaro, Arizona
toned silver gelatin print 5x5 printed on 8x10, by artist
Scenic View, Arizona
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Shadow on Tall Grass, Arizona toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Nude, Mount Graham toned silver print 6x6
printed on 8x10, by artist
Snake Belly
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Stacked River Rock
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Olivia, Sycamore Creek
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Straw Hat, Mexico
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Shadows on Wooden Box
toned silver gelatin print 6x6 printed on 8x10, by artist
Maisie, Tucson
toned silver gelatin print 5x5 printed on 8 x 10, by artist
Submerged Stone, Sycamore Creek toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Floating, Salt River
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Wire Angel
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
King Vultures
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Water Tank, Mexico
toned silver print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
Whiskers, Tucson
toned silver print 5x5 printed on 8x10, by artist
Virgin River, Utah
toned silver gelatin print 14x14 printed on 16x20, by artist
John Wagner
johnwagnerphoto.com
As a photographer, I’ve always been intrigued with the idea that each photograph I create records a moment in my own life. Sometimes the image relates directly to what is happening in my personal life and other times it’s not as obvious. This information becomes, in a way, a visual diary or journal–each photograph having the ability to remind me of moments shared with friends, family, or brief acquaintances made through my travels, as well as documenting the wonderful places I’ve been fortunate enough to see. With each journey awaits new discoveries, some monumental, others seemingly hidden from view as if waiting to be uncovered. Often times we pass over little treasures in search for something more grand. I enjoy making photographs that force us to view common subject matter out of context. By isolating the subject it is given new importance, making the simplest things magical. My interest in photography has taken me all around the world, and I’ve been inspired by the people and landscapes
A Casual Glance to the Left
of many countries, but I try not to let the photograph rely simply on its location. My hope is that the style of the images
toned silver gelatin print 14x14
and quality or the prints will tie all of the work together,
printed on 16x20, by artist
and I hope to add to this body of work in the years to come.
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