This is the first in a series of books containing a selection of my photographs. Each book covers a decade, starting in 1979 when I turned thirty.
The photographs fell into the categories of landscapes or gatherings of people. I shot all the landscapes with black-and-white film, then sepia-toned and hand-colored with traditional photo oils. There were no human elements in the scenes. The colors used were not necessarily found in nature, but from childhood memories.
Gatherings were shot with black and white film, but only lightly toned, not colored. People were often photographed without their approval or awareness. I had in mind scenes for a movie or a short story.
The photographs fell into the categories of landscapes or gatherings of people. I shot all the landscapes with black-and-white film, then sepia-toned and hand-colored with traditional photo oils. There were no human elements in the scenes. The colors used were not necessarily found in nature, but from childhood memories.
Gatherings were shot with black and white film, but only lightly toned, not colored. People were often photographed without their approval or awareness. I had in mind scenes for a movie or a short story.
This is the second book in a series featuring a selection of my photographs, each covering a different decade. This volume starts in 1990, when I was 40 years old, living in downtown Minneapolis and working as a freelance photographer.
I was a hunter-gatherer of photographs. I did not use a tripod for many years because it slowed me down. Eventually, I began using a larger camera and tripod to photograph landscapes. I continued photographing landscapes, just as I did gatherings, quickly looking for what might be next, not hunting for a perfect image, but rather a photograph that would stand up to time.
I was a hunter-gatherer of photographs. I did not use a tripod for many years because it slowed me down. Eventually, I began using a larger camera and tripod to photograph landscapes. I continued photographing landscapes, just as I did gatherings, quickly looking for what might be next, not hunting for a perfect image, but rather a photograph that would stand up to time.
Landscapes, People & Places 2000-2009
This book is the third in a series featuring a selection of my photographs, each covering a different decade. The themes of my photographs continued to be searching for landscapes and gatherings, but a third theme, places, also emerged.
One side of the family descended from early arrivals from England. The other branch came later as migrants from Scandinavia. They all gathered in Jackson County. Then they scattered again.
Christine Sell was born in east-central Iowa on June 25, 1891. The story follows her from a farm in northeastern to northwestern Iowa, working as a domestic, and then marriage and motherhood. Tena's story is made richer by the many photographs she left us.
This is the story of Peter Thiesen's journey from a village in northern Germany to Iowa, then to Wisconsin, back to Iowa, and finally to a farm in southern Minnesota.
In December 1941, James Thiesen was 18 when the United States declared war on the Axis forces. He had graduated from high school the previous spring and was working on his parents and uncle's farm in Jackson County on the Minnesota-Iowa border. He might have thought this would be his life—working on the farm, getting married, and having a family. But the war inserted itself into the dream.
"Wednesday, January 1, 1873
A very nice day cutting and hauling wood to CS Hogan. Mr. Baily and Mather of Epworth called at our house to tell us there would be meeting that night."
This is how Thomas Jefferson Russell began his day book for 1873 when he turned twenty-five. The day book would describe his days corralling
horses, cutting and delivering wood, and some of his social life.
It also describes his journey across Iowa to Jackson County and the beginning of a life running his farm and courting soon-to-be wife, Emma.
A very nice day cutting and hauling wood to CS Hogan. Mr. Baily and Mather of Epworth called at our house to tell us there would be meeting that night."
This is how Thomas Jefferson Russell began his day book for 1873 when he turned twenty-five. The day book would describe his days corralling
horses, cutting and delivering wood, and some of his social life.
It also describes his journey across Iowa to Jackson County and the beginning of a life running his farm and courting soon-to-be wife, Emma.
A full listing of books can be found at blurb.com/user/craigpt