These are the very earliest photographs in the collection. All photographs in this section were taken while John was stationed at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The first grouping contains all black & white pictures, taken with a medium format 2 1/4" X 2 1/4" negative size camera, the Yashica Mat 124G, and a 35mm format camera, the Yashica TL Electro-X ITS SLR. The second grouping contains all color pictures, taken with the Yashica 35mm camera. For all of the black & white photographs, the film was developed and the prints produced in the base photographic lab by the author. All of the color photographs are based on color slides that were developed using outside labs.
During this period, John had a very strong desire to express his creativity due to his surroundings and work environment. The military was an incredibly oppressive environment for John, and living in a small town in the midwest was tremendously foreign to him after living all his life in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was not alone, and he met a substantial group of individuals with similar needs. They expressed themselves in various ways. Some chose photography and he befriended them to enjoy the hobby. From these relationships he learned more quickly and was able to reach a level he would not have been able to on his own. They went on picture taking expeditions together, had a strong camaraderie in the extensive darkroom facilities provided at the base, critiqued each others work and even competed in several events put on by the base. He also learned a great deal from the person in charge of the base darkroom facilities, who was very generous with his time and the equipment and materials available. He also took a photographic extension course from the University of Kentucky, and read many books on the subject.
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1971 to early 1972, black and white pictures |
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1971 to early 1972, color pictures |