About Slow Glass Pictures

The term “slow glass” derives from a 1966 short story, Light of Other Days, by Irish journalist Bob Shaw. It is a poignant tale of loss, remembrance and longed-for reconciliation. 

Central to the sci-fi aspect of the story, slow glass retards the transmission of light by months or years. Exposed to, say, a bucolic scene and later installed as an urban window pane, it gives city dwellers a living view of the natural vista "recorded" into the glass. In Shaw’s words, “a new piece was always jet black because nothing had yet come through, but one could stand the glass beside, say, a woodland lake until the scene emerged, perhaps a year later. If the glass was then removed and installed in a dismal city flat, the flat would for that year appear to overlook the woodland lake.” 

I read Light of Other Days when it was first published. The metaphor for photography was obvious. The term is also a play on photographic jargon: large, wide aperture lenses are known as “fast glass”, notable for their usefulness in dim light and characterized by very shallow depth-of-focus. Smaller aperture lenses—slow glass—require more light but tend toward greater clarity.

Background

My interest in photography grew out of a graduate English seminar at UCLA in which I put forth a hypothesis that the medium's veracity contributed to a style shift in mid-Nineteenth Century American journalism that by the 1870's gave birth to the modern novel. 

More intrigued by the possibility of a career as a photographer than in completing my PhD, I stapled a letter of resignation to the paper, took a few basic photo courses, and seized the first assisting job that presented itself. 

I spent several years working for and learning from a number of fashion and product photographers as well as magazine photojournalists, becoming adept at studio and location lighting; small, medium, and large format camera operations; and black-and-white print-making. 

An early adopter and proponent of digital photography, I find that the electronic editing process offers very satisfying avenues for conveyance of mood and clarity of intent in the presentation of the scenes I record. My photographs are meant to be immediately accessible, poetic, enduring, and resonant. Regardless of subject matter, dynamic composition is a recurring motif in my work.

Career Highlights

I dissected a polar bear when I was 17. It had died under mysterious circumstances in our local zoo, and some us wondered why (spoiler: toothache). I've always had such wide-ranging curiosity, and a career in photography proved an excellent way to meet a variety of people and peer into the workings of the many organizations whose activities my photography illustrated and publicized. 

For years I got to mingle with Hollywood celebrities and moguls, kings and Presidential candidates. I spent a month backstage photographing the performers of Cirque du Soleil in its early days. I drank amazing wines in Northern California (and even a bottle of very palatable Chateau Margaux from 1771).

Less than a month before it was gutted by an arson fire I undertook the only comprehensive color survey of the landmark Los Angeles Central Library. Much of the subsequent restoration work was based on my photography. 

I have met wonderfully interesting people and have come away from all of the experiences with marvelous memories and stories. 

As a teacher I shaped the curriculum of one of the nation's best commercial photography programs and helped forge the careers and professional values of some fine and talented students.