Dan Downing | Photographer
My body of work represents a continuing photographic journey, which began with watching my father develop small photographs in my mother’s kitchen, which he disguised as a darkroom by hanging blankets over the windows to block the light. Watching the image appear on the blank sheet of paper as the pungent aroma of the chemistry filled the room was magical! I was hooked for life right then and there.
Although my fascination with photography was born at that time, it did not become reality until 1980 when I purchased a portrait studio and began making my living as a photographer. The work was not limited to portraiture. I photographed whatever came my way, from babies and pets to advertising imagery for Hershey’s chocolate memorabilia — whatever put food on the table! I did not enter the world of professional photography as a novice, having been a very serious amateur studying under some of the best photographers in the country.
Within a relatively short time my work became recognized in my native state of Kansas and at a national level as well. My portrait work has been included in exhibits at Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida as well as in most major cities around the country, and has been featured in the PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER, the journal of the Professional Photographers of America on three separate occasions.
In 1988 I received the Kodak Gallery Award for Photographic Excellence.
In 1989 it was my privilege to be honored by the Kansas House of Representatives as the featured artist for the Kansas Day festivities at the State Capitol building in Topeka.
As rewarding as portrait photography was, however, my true love was photography as fine art. So shortly after the Kansas Day show I sold my studio to venture into other areas of photography and began working primarily with large format black and white materials, always in a traditional, wet process darkroom. Today, after years of believing that I would be like a dinosaur, slowly becoming extinct whiling away my time in that darkroom, I have gone to the dark side and joined the digital world.
Landscapes and micro-landscapes, details of larger scenes, comprise the lion’s share of my work, although gradually more and more photographs including people are showing up. My current work has appeared in numerous nationally circulated publications as diverse as Colorado Central Magazine and Cessna Flyers Magazine. It has been exhibited widely in the United States, Europe, and China and has been recognized with numerous awards as well as being included in collections around the world.
My goal is to make photographs that are worthy of any collection. To that end I endeavor to make each of my photographs perfect, both technically and aesthetically, and for them to strike a positive emotional chord in the viewer.
I have lived and worked near Nathrop in Chaffee County, Colorado since 1991.
