For five years, Frank Howell photographed with black and white film at Dalton Canyon. He called the area “the beaver pond,” as the canyon contained a series of beaver ponds. He retreated and relaxed there often, in every season. This narrow, wet canyon afforded him refuge from the constant attention his businesses and painting demanded. The photographs are a visual and emotional journey, revealing a deepening intensity of growth and understanding. The rewards of returning again and again to photograph are easily seen and felt felt as one views this work.
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During his years of shooting (1992-1997), Frank acquired several cameras, exploring the differing impacts and effects lenses and formats have. The area, unlike the usual aridity and grand vistas of the Southwest desert, is uncommonly lush. Frank’s camera moved in quite close to the vegetation, water, and beaver constructions. Ice, flowing water, shadows, and reflections attracted his attention. The small often became the prominent.
Through the numerous rolls Frank shot, the relationship between the subject, camera, and photographer strengthened. The soft, wet ground and winds that funnel through the canyon were not friendly to the tripod, challenging sharpness and curtailing overly long exposures. With the acquisition of different camera systems (35mm through 4×5) and lenses, the beaver pond became a classroom. Both wide angle and macro lenses were often used. While persuing the close-up, he began to use longer lenses to bring the smaller forms into promininence—the late ice forms become particularly interesting with this treatment. The progression of formats, including the square and panarama, are explorations of both personal growth and vision.
The packed frames, orderings of form, shadow and reflection, get more intense and are evolutions of exploring harmony, experience, and reality. The photographs show a landscape and a vision that is quite arresting and who’s underlying themes ask questions about the intricacies and interconnections of vision, exploration, understanding, and emotional response.
Kent Bowser