Childhood Photography Passion Leads to Varied Work At Local Studio

By Jamie Bergsten

It is fascinating to think that children may have received gifts this past Christmas that could impact them for decades to come.

Such is the case with Vernon “V.A.” Hatley and some of the presents he received years ago. They have led him not only to work that he loves but also on journeys around the world.

Born and raised in Shawnee, Hatley got his first camera at age 10, but that was just the beginning.

“For my 13th birthday I got a 35mm camera and several lenses for Christmas,” he said. “A year later, my parents enrolled me in photography classes. At 15, I had a black and white darkroom in our house, and by 16, I was developing and printing my own color prints at home – something few people did back in the ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Fast-forward to 2015 when Hatley, his sister Mary Ruth Hatley Sadler and his wife Beth opened the Arts @ 317 in at 317 E. Main Street in downtown Shawnee. What began as an art gallery displaying and selling the work of local artists has now grown into much more.

“We’ve added a fine arts printing service, which has expanded greatly, doing art duplication and printing for artists across the country,” Hatley said. “We also have a 3D print service; art, woodworking, and pottery classes; and CAD design engineering services.”

The studio is also adding a different feature in 2021 with a SCUBA tank fill station.

“There are a lot of divers in the Shawnee/ Pott county area,” Hatley said. “We’re installing a compressor and will be filling tanks here by the spring.”

While the studio isn’t Hatley’s primary employer, it’s been taking up more and more of his time.

“There are nights I don’t leave until 9 p.m., and I’m down there working most Sundays,” he said. “I’m counting down the months until I retire from my ‘real’ work, and then the studio will be my full time job.”

Photo restoration is a growing part of Hatley’s repertoire at the studio. Customers have brought in old or damaged photos – some dating back to the 1800s – and he’s been able to perform miracles of sorts.

“My job is to copy and then restore the images back to as close to new as possible,” Hatley said. “I feel very honored that people entrust

Vernon “V.A.” Hatley has turned a childhood passion for photography into a journey into a wide variety of artistic pursuits he offers at the Arts @ 317 on Main Street. Photos submitted

these priceless family treasures to my care. I’ve fixed photos that were brought to me in pieces, including some that had parts missing. I had to reconstruct part of one man’s head in Photoshop from nothing, but in the end, you couldn’t even tell the photo had ever been damaged.

“I’ve also been privileged to restore some really unique pieces. One woman brought in a photo album her dad had made while he served in Vietnam. It included dozens of images he’d taken in the service of the land and its people. It was a visual diary of the life of a soldier in the Vietnam War.”

The hardest image he’s ever copied actually had nothing to do with the item’s condition though.

“A man brought in a photo of his son who’d been in the military,” Hatley said. “He needed it enlarged for his son’s memorial service. As I was working on it in Photoshop, removing dust and scratches, I couldn’t help but look into the young man’s eyes. He was a handsome, confident soldier, ready to conquer the world but taken away before his time. I broke down. It took me several attempts before I could finish the restoration and print it.

“So far I haven’t come across an old photo that I can’t at least improve. It might not be ‘like new’, but it’ll be better than no restoration.”

Hatley has also used his skills to help artists create high resolution duplicates of their work to store and sell on a variety of media with stretched canvas being the most popular.

“I can make prints from 4x6 inches all the way up to 44x120 inches,” Hatley said. “The largest stretched canvas I’ve done was a multi-panel image that measured 5 feet by 10 feet; it’s hanging in the boardroom of a corporate office in downtown OKC.”

In addition to his work with restoration, duplication and printing, Hatley has also become well-known for his own photography skills. He and Beth have traveled extensively in order for him to take amazing shots all over the world.

“There are so many beautiful places to photograph,” he said. “In the U.S., my favorite for photography is Glacier National Park. It’s the crown jewel of the National Parks Service, and every venue is jaw-dropping.”

His work is featured in numerous ad campaigns and hangs in some pretty exclusive places too.

“In any given month, my advertising photographs can be seen in several different trade magazines,” Hatley said. “I’ve done work for small local establishments as well as companies in North Carolina, Australia and China.

“Two of my photographs are hanging in our Oklahoma senator’s office in Washington D.C. as well.”

There are still many places he hasn’t photographed yet, and his list of desired locations continues to grow.

“The Amazon rainforest, African savannas, Antarctica, Madagascar, Vietnam….,” he said.

The field of photography has changed a great deal since his early days, so he has advice to offer to budding photogs.

“First and foremost, learn the basics of exposure and the photographic process, take classes and enter photo competitions,” he said. “The biggest mistake I see nowadays is people relying too much on fixing mistakes in Photoshop after shooting an image. The teacher I had for portrait photography drilled into our heads, ‘Get it right in the camera, and it makes a lot less work for yourself later.’”

Hatley loves his work at the studio and said the hardest part of his time there is making himself stop in the evenings to go home.

“My favorite part of owning it is the people,” Hatley said. “I meet the nicest folks. I view them as my friends, not just customers. Each person that walks through my door has a story to tell, and each one is completely different.”