monday, february 20, 1079
dally nebraskan
pageO
Photog
rapher uses 'chemistry
.' i- . -lei t
By Peg Shcldrick
"I'm always thinking about lt,M said
John Spencc, "Sometimes I will see, a parti
cular thing, a particular space that I want
to photograph . . . Generally I have some
person In mind and I want to photograph,
and I put them together,
"It is planned to some extent, but It Is a
result of the chemistry, hunch about the
person and the spade, Sometimes It works
and sometime! It doesn't,"
. Evidently It, works more often than not,
because Spence is one J the featured
artists in 'Twelve Photographers: A Con
temporary MldAmerlca Document," an
exhibition currently at Sheldon Art
Gallery , .
Artistl from a flve-state region have con.
tributed Works to the showing intended to
portray the people and the lifestyle of
middle America. ;
The photographs on display were
chosen In a competition last year. Subjects
include everything from cowboys to urban
blight. Photographers from the Lincoln
area Include Spence. Keith Jacobshagen,
Robert Stafck, and Margaret MacKichan.
Artists from Fayetteville, Ark. Lawrence,
Kan. Salina. Kan.; Florrlsant, Mo.; St.
Louis, Mo; Hastings, and Tulsa, Okla.; are
featured.
Filmmaking
The exhibition is presented by the Mid.
America Arts Alliance, a regional cooper
ative whose Humanities, the Kansas Art
Commission, the Missouri Arts Council and
the Oklahoma Arts and Humanities
Council. It will be on display at Sheldon
until March 4,
Spence is not a photographer by trade
at the moment, but his photography is as
important to him as the filmmaking with
which he makes his living.
"If you could call it a living," he added.
. His work! Were featured in a one-man
show at Sheldon a few years ago, and he is
no stranger to the UNL campus.
Spence began his training as an architect
in the early 1960s, before photography was
offered at UNL He . took the first phpt.
graphy courses the art department offered,
and by the time Spence was ready for
graduate study, architecture was forgotten.
aFcncB wok nis master s in photography,
the first to do so at Lincoln.
Dichotomy
A job after graduation started Spence in
filmmaking, though he had no actual train.
Ing.
"It's a dichotomous situation,' said
Spence. "My education, Is In photography
but my vocation la filmmaking. 1 look on
them as equals. It just happens that I make
my living In film."
. Spence works primarily in black and
white, for esthetic and financial reasons.
"I guess I always did black and white
because that was the least expensive way to
do it' Spence said. "In the photography
I've been doing the past few years, color
proved prohibitively expensive.
"I tend to shoot a lot of film . I can't get
by with one or two exposures. 1 try do to
it and it comes out very stilted and self
conscious. "I shoot a lot of film looking for the
right moment, With color It's 10 bucks
every time you click the shutter, You can
try not to think about it, but It's very in
, hibitlng." 3
More skill than art
Spence doesn't plan precisely what he
wants to photograph. .
"Discovery plays a very large role in it,"
he said. "It is contrived from the stand
point that I generally have some idea of
what I want to do."
He said the interplay between the
mental concept and the actual subjects
cause the final picture to take different
shapes and forms.
Spence said he regards photography as
more of a skill than an art.
He compared it to dancing, painting,
and sculpture.
'The final 'name' you put on it is in
deed art-it's about you. It's what you are.
It's a means of expression. It reflects you.
Ultimately, it is an art. And a lot of skill is
involved.
Spence declined to make any statements
about the themes or philosophies behind
his photographs.
"Just go look at the pictures and see if
you like 'em.V
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