Probably most photographers (and generally most artists) have had mentors that helped guide their paths. I've been lucky enough to have had a couple. One was my late friend Dr. David Crowe, an orthodontist and renaissance man who first introduced me to medium and large format cameras. I had innocently stepped into his clinic for braces when I noticed the amazing prints he had hanging everywhere. He brought out his Pentax 6x7 and Fuji 6x17 cameras. Before long we were friends and I was shooting with medium and even large format film cameras.
Another friend and mentor was Dr. Bob Morriss. I first met Bob when I was growing up around Tulane University where my dad was a chemistry professor. Eventually Dr. Morriss turned out to be one of my physics professors...and we stayed in touch after I graduated. After he retired I payed him a visit in southwest Colorado, where it turned out he shared my passion for photography and old Pentax 6x7 cameras. On one of our many excursions we drove out to the Canyon of the Ancients to try to get some winter shots of Painted Hand Pueblo, a beautiful but lonely ruin near the Colorado/Utah border. We made it within a mile or two but had to turn back when the snow and mud got too deep for even his 4-Runner. Years later I finally returned on a slightly drier day. I slid around a bit but finally made it to Painted Hand on a cold, snowy afternoon. The dim, overcast conditions were tough, and the Velvia slide is a little dark and muddy, but years later I was able to partially rescue the image thanks to a scanner and Lightroom This is dedicated to my friend Bob, who passed away in December. To all of those muddy, rocky, photo adventures we took over the years!
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