Charles Garrettson

Photography, Acrylic

I grew up in Allentown, Pa. I went away to The Hill School when I was 14. There I acquired my great passion for photography. I was a co-photography-editor for the newspaper and for the yearbook. From there I earned three degrees, including a Ph.D from UVa. I have taught for 30+ years in my field: religion. But I also had passions: hiking/backpacking, sailing, music and motorsports. Greatest among them is photography.

I have used many different kinds of cameras--MFT, APS-C, 35mm, Medium Format, and Large Format, from Nikon, Sony, Leica, Hasselblad, Linhof, and Deardorff...among others. I have loved using each one. A favorite genre is landscape photography, but I also love still life. My greatest sources for inspiration are Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter. When was a young man, I read a quote from Ansel Adams: "...the ever-present benediction of light." That quote became my mantra for photography in that moment. It remained ever since.

For me, one of most beautiful things about being a photographer is practicing a discipline of always being aware of light (except when being in a darkroom!). Our photographs are external expressions of internal life of awareness of light. Is a far more meaningful way to live? Mindlessly assuming that the world is ordinary? Or mindfully living constantly seeing--and thus delighting--in the extraordinary--thanks to light? In 2021, I had a stroke, affecting my right foot, right hand and my speech. For me, my photographs speak more eloquently than my speech.