Artist's Date: Searching for Ted Orland
Ted was my first photography professor at University of Oregon, 8 million years ago ;) I've been meaning to track him down, and I'm keeping an eye on the UC Santa Cruz Extension catalog where he often teaches. Ted was an instructor at the Ansel Adams' Summer Yosemite Workshop for 15 seasons - the Ringleader along with Jerry Uelsmann (see previous post), and Martha Casanave (see future post). Galen Rowell was another guest instructor who never ceased to amaze us all with his boundless energy and wisdom. I still can't believe he's gone - he's left a void in the art world, no a trail - a comet's tail of energy.
Ted is also the co-author, with David Bayles, of the best-selling book Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, and is author of its newly-released companion volume, The View From The Studio Door. Interestingly enough, Art and Fear was on reading list for the Stanford University Continuing Studies class - the course that catapulted me back towards photography - thanks again, Mark!
Artist statement:
"My first and only formal photography teacher was Ansel Adams, and not surprisingly B&W large format straight landscapes quickly became my definition of fine art photography. It took me years to realize that I don‘t actually lead a fine-grained life – and certainly not one that stands still long enough to set up a tripod and wait for things to settle into Zone System perfection. More often than not, I think, life is what happens while you‘re trying to set up your tripod.
In fact the more I photographed, the more I came to realize that the elements of the world that caught my eye were those I encountered almost by accident, en passant, often just out of the corner of my eye. That was fine with me, and helped as well to place some (necessary) aesthetic distance between my vision and that of my mentor. I continue to share Ansel‘s sense that the world is basically benign, but where his world was monumental and sharply defined, my world is more often quirky and decidedly fuzzy around the edges.
My ability to record the world in a manner that rings true to me took a great leap forward about fifteen years ago when I discovered a little plastic camera called the HOLGA. Plastic camera photography was considered a minor aberration back then, but it slowly gained a cult following, and has now blossomed into (ahem) a genre.
I do continue to use "real" cameras – digital models now – but my $20 Holga remains my true love. Holgas come complete with an f-stop (8), a shutter speed (1/60th) and a single-element plastic lens that filters out excessive sharpness so that realism doesn‘t get mistaken for reality. I carry it with me most everywhere, and then photograph whatever crosses my path. The secret is to follow interesting paths…."
Ted Orland (June 2006)
