CARL SNYDER
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Philosophy
Concentrate on what is local and familiar and how that activity leads to broader insight. But be careful. Your vision may be compromised while your imagination remains intact.
Most of my visual influences come from bits of poetry that have stayed with me over the years. Including them here will give you a sense of my direction.
Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?
- Elizabeth Bishop, "Questions of Travel".
The world is not with us enough.
– Denise Levertov, “O Taste and See”
I am what is around me.
– Wallace Stevens, “Theory”
Stay close to your chosen locations and make them what you know. Gather them in. Read about them. Then use your imagination with photography as your guide.
And I do have some direct visual influences, especially Joel Meyerowitz (photography), Rackstraw Downes (painter) and Sarah Jones (St. John, N.B., painter).
Style
Long narrative horizontal views.
Technique
For the most part multiple exposures stitched together.
Background
B.A., M.L.S., McGill. But photography has been of interest for 15 years so.....while working as a librarian I started moonlighting as a darkroom technician at a commercial photography studio in Montreal. I was soon assisting on camera and later was hired as a freelance product photographer. Freelancing continued with a move to Toronto and work in several commercial and advertising studios from 1984 - 2009. After retiring I became involved with the Newmarket Studio Tour/Newmarket Group of Artists, 2009 - 2011. A move to Wolfville in 2011 has led to new landscapes and associations. I have been a member of ViewPoint Gallery since 2013 and served on the VANS board of directors, 2015 - 2018.
Publications
Various catalogues and brochures for Eaton's, The Bay, Avon, Canadian Tire, Consumer's Distributing, Zeller's, Farm Boy, several small food distributors and retailers in the greater Toronto area. Cover photograph for "Potato Blossom Road" by Brian Bartlett, 2013.
Prices
$50 - $400, unframed, 8"x10" to 24"x60"