Hal Gould, the American photographer and gallery curator, turns 87 this week. Unfortunately, he won’t have a birthday, since he was born on Feb. 29 — leap year.
It would be difficult to skip over Gould’s remarkable contributions to fine art photography. In the 1970s — at a time when many museum and gallery curators did not consider photography an art form — Gould opened the Camera Obscura Gallery in Denver, which has played a leading role in the promotion and advancement of fine art photography ever since.
His contributions also include his own photographic work — which is currently the subject of a retrospective at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins. You can view an online gallery of the exhibition here.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan has a nice profile of Gould in its Sunday edition. A few nuggets from Gould:
Computers and digital cameras are wonderful tools. That’s all they are - tools. I don’t use (them). I still work in the darkroom…
I look. I look and I see and I feel. Photos are made in the mind and in the heart. I see something in my mind and then I put it together so you can see it too…
Photo is a wonderful medium for artistic expression. The camera doesn’t make the art. The art comes from the artist…
October 26th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
I would love to be able to reach Hal Gould, as I worked for him during the mid-60's, and he in turn, photographed my wedding in the late 60's.
If he still does darkroom work, and if he still has a negative of my mother, Claire M. Kopff, I would love to purchase an 8x10 glossy. My mother died recently and I need a clean image to put into the paper.
I can be reached at:
337) 984-8653
or Bunny Snow@bunnysnow.us
Thanks.
Thank you.