Famous+Photographer

= Jerry Uelsmann =

//discovering new possibilities becomes my greatest joy."//


Born on June 11, 1934 in Detroit, Jerry Ueslmanns interest in photography began in high school. He originally believed that the camera could allow him to exist in a world outside of himself, in a world captured through his lens. Though his grades suffered in high school, once he graduated he was able to land a few photography jobs, mainly shooting weddings. He eventually got a B.F.A in photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1957, and later M.S and M.F.A degrees at Indiana University. While at RIT, he was surrounded by critical mass of open-ended individuals who discussed "what photography could be"- extremely progressive in a time when all photographers working with photography as a fine art could have been gathered around a dining table. The idea of using multiple negatives and collage began to spark then, in the late 1950's, and really took hold when he moved to Florida in 1960 after graduating from Indiana University to teach as a professor at the University of Florida. He currently lives in Gainesville, Florida, with his third wife Maggie Taylor, a progressive digital artist and photographer who utilizes computer imaging programs, a flatbed scanner and darkroom photography in her art. Jerry Uelsmann currently has five books published, and his photographs have been subtly ingrained through pop culture for many years, from the illustated version of Stephen King's //Salem's Lot// and Dream Theatre's seventh studio album, Train of Thought.

Darkroom Process
On an average darkroom day, Uelsmann will go though an average of 50 pieces of photo paper a day. He approaches a printing session by beginning with over 100 proofs of his negatives. Within 5 minutes, he will have the pieces to the puzzles that he will create that day. Hopefully, at the end of the day, one or two of these prints will survive. A small edition will follow, and Uelsmann estimates that of these, 10 percent will survive. Of 150 (average) finished prints, at the end of the year only 15 will retain lasting value. He has eight enlargers in his darkroom (although he rarely uses that many). This link shows, step-by-step, the process that goes into several of his prints. He utilizes many of the "basic" advanced darkroom techniques covered in Photo 12, except he has the option of masking off certain parts on negatives and using several enlargers.

Influences:

 * Henry Holmes Smith, his professor at Indiana University was the most important influence and teacher in his life.
 * Ralph Hattersley, a professor at RIT with a creative attitude to photography, introduced Ueslmann to the concept that photography could be a form of self expression, not just assignments for others.
 * Minor White, another professor at RIT who encouraged a certain "spiritual" atmosphere

Award/Achievements

 * Guggenheim Fellowship (1967)
 * National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1972)
 * Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain
 * Founding Member of the Society of Photographic Education
 * Former trusteee of the Friends of Phtoography

Permanent Collections:

 * Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
 * Museum of Modern Art (New York)
 * Chicage Art Institue
 * Victoria and Albert Museum (London)
 * Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris)
 * National Gallery of Canada
 * Museum of Fine Arts (Boston)
 * National Gallery of Australia

Prints:
Although it may seem so at first, Uelsmann's art is not surrealism. He does not abide by the same stream-of-consciousness method as many Surrealists, and in fact his careful process in selecting subjects goes against the surrealistic principles of automatism. His photo's are draped in psychological imagery which perhaps he doesn't really understand himself, as noted in this personal letter from him to a colleague, Peter Bunnell in 1974:

"TODAY ... NOW ... GOD ONLY KNOWS. I keep imagining that I find notes on my desk like "Stieglitz phoned while you were out." If I could only have been there when he called ~ perhaps he would know what I'm up to. I range from paralyzing self-pity to incredible productivity, I have long been nourished by enigma. I'm not trying to solve anything. All my priorities are shifting. My questions have a better 'feel" to them and I'm still learning about being Alive.

Believe me, there's always doubt about what you are doing. It has never interfered much with my productivity but it's always there, filling the air with questions. It took me a long time to realize that constant sustained questioning is capable of contributing to a healthy state. Offhand I would say two conditions must exist: first, the process (camera or darkroom) must be trusted to have equal responsibility informing the questions, and second, one must establish some sense of connoisseurship that helps the questioning process grow in terms of precision and intensity."