Loran List:

Current show can be seen in Carmel at the the Martin LeBorde Gallery The gallery is located 6th Avenue between Lincoln and Dolores, Carmel-by-the-Sea. Tel: 831 620-1150 for gallery information.

Recently retired from a career as a mechanical engineer, Loran List at age ?? now finds himself with more time to devote to photography. He has nurtured a passion for the art from since the early Fifties, but never had a real chance to grow, to explore and to mature until now.

Unlike many other photographers, dark room technique has always been the cornerstone of List's photographic skill, and is in some ways as much a part of his success as his work behind the lens. List is fond of saying, "I don't take photographs, I make photographs." To illustrate his traditional tie to darkroom work, he tells the story of how his maternal grandmother taught him to develop black & white prints in her bathroom, which was the only one in the household in those days before World War Two. This was when Loran was fourteen, and from then on he was never without a darkroom.

For the most of his images, List uses an old twin-lens Rolleiflex, or a more modern Hasselblad. He always uses Kodak T-Max 400 film, and always prints on Kodak Elite paper. (All prints shown here are printed by the photographer, and toned for artistic and archival reasons.)

List emphasizes the need to know one's lighting and equipment. "I use the natural light in my house for nearly all settings. I know this light because I live with it and study it ever day."

List is not interested in merely capturing the moment of a scene. "I want to photograph an idea, a concept, an emotion." In order to be successful at this, he feels he must be in control of all aspects of the set and the process, "including the foreground, the background, the lighting, and the model."

List confesses to have been influenced by such contemporary masters as Richard Avedon and Irving Penn, 'because of their limitless imagination, "but also the French Impressionist painters, with their scenes from everyday life. "These artists explored new ways of looking at familiar subjects, and were particularly daring with the nude.' Like those who inspired him, List wants his subjects to be in normal surroundings, doing normal things. List endeavors to humanize the nude, saying, "I avoid cropping the torso in such a way as to dehumanizing the subject and it's familiar forms, I want the image to illustrate the idea that this is a real person."

Thanks to his engineering background, List always experiments with photographic techniques and processes. One example of this is the large-format (11x14 inch) paper negatives he works with, a technique so specialized that List is believed to be the only one in California utilizing this method of negative manipulation.

List has had a busy professional schedule during most of his life, and has had little time to make his work accessible to the public, but in recent years he has had several one-man shows in Monterey and Carmel, and also been part of a number of group exhibits. Back-lighted Nude and Leg and Hand Reflections were recently acquired by the Monterey Museum of Art.

Contact: Loran List | Loranlist@yahoo.com