RICHARD A. STONER
My life since age twenty three has revolved around photographic image making; as an artist, as a business, and as an educator. My personal work is primarily landscape driven, though variations persist. I began my undergraduate education as an architecture student. After two years I left architecture study for fine art but architecture did not leave me. A formal underpinning of all my work is architectural, be it of natural or human design. Black and white film imaging began and continues to be my medium, though for thirteen years I almost exclusively photographed in color. After starting out with 35mm cameras, by my second year of photography I acquired an 8” x 10” view camera and have used the format ever since, supplementing it with a medium format camera. I like how each format drives my seeing. Large format is rectangular and purposeful, while the medium format is square, or ‘in the round’, and fluid. Each format results in a different kind of image, which a visit to my galleries will reveal. The large format tends to be more ‘straight’, and documentary while the medium format is more abstract. Made as a silver gelatin print, I do no manipulation in printing beyond the application of contrast, dodging and burning, and selenium toning in a traditional wet darkroom . Aside from a two-year project as a survey photographer, my subject matter is eclectic, which I see as lyrical and poetic in the manner of musical composition. Edward Weston wrote in his Daybook: “Whenever I can feel a Bach fugue in my work, I know I have arrived”, and I so too agree.
My life since age twenty three has revolved around photographic image making; as an artist, as a business, and as an educator. My personal work is primarily landscape driven, though variations persist. I began my undergraduate education as an architecture student. After two years I left architecture study for fine art but architecture did not leave me. A formal underpinning of all my work is architectural, be it of natural or human design. Black and white film imaging began and continues to be my medium, though for thirteen years I almost exclusively photographed in color. After starting out with 35mm cameras, by my second year of photography I acquired an 8” x 10” view camera and have used the format ever since, supplementing it with a medium format camera. I like how each format drives my seeing. Large format is rectangular and purposeful, while the medium format is square, or ‘in the round’, and fluid. Each format results in a different kind of image, which a visit to my galleries will reveal. The large format tends to be more ‘straight’, and documentary while the medium format is more abstract. Made as a silver gelatin print, I do no manipulation in printing beyond the application of contrast, dodging and burning, and selenium toning in a traditional wet darkroom . Aside from a two-year project as a survey photographer, my subject matter is eclectic, which I see as lyrical and poetic in the manner of musical composition. Edward Weston wrote in his Daybook: “Whenever I can feel a Bach fugue in my work, I know I have arrived”, and I so too agree.
Gallery
New Work, 2016-2024
(Contains 20 photos) A brief selection of work in progress made in the past few years. Most images are a part of a series or project which is still incomplete. |
Fragments, 2018
(Contains 16 photos) A part of the series "Fragments", these images are of the found world. Focusing on the quotidian, the photographs are about time passage, deconstruction, and fragmentation. |
Preludes and Fugues, 2013
(Contains 20 photos) A suite of forty eight images inspired by J.S. Bach's "The Well Tempered Clavier". |
Corkscrew, 2013
(Contains 16 photos) Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in south west Florida is a stunning oasis of ancient Florida flora, particularly the giant bald cypress trees. |
Shaping the New Westmoreland, 2013 - 2015
(Contains 16 photos) A collaborative project with the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in which I documented all phases of the reconstruction from 2013 to the grand reopening in 2015. |
In Color, 1987-1998
(Contains 20 photos) In Color, 1987-1998 covers the years I saw the (mostly human designed) world in living color. |
Photographic Survey of Westmoreland County Architecture, 1978-1979
(Contains 20 photos) A photographic survey of architecture county-wide, with an emphasis on structures built from 1865 to 1979 and encompassing over two hundred finished prints. |
Landscapes, 1975-1986
(Contains 20 photos) Photograhs from student work to the end of my first black and white imaging period. |