Photographer David J. Griggs grew up in Middlebury and journeyed to the Southwest. He is back in Highgate Center. His contemplative images make up a solo show at the NMC Gallery this month.
Mr. Griggs has been fascinated with photography since his dad gave him an Instamatic at age ten. His father was a "semi-serious photographer" in the early days; they shared their own darkroom. He refined his "artist's eye" by experimenting with painting, writing, and metal sculpture at Johnson State.
"It's fun [to be here]," he said. "I'm focusing on the seasons and seeing the differences in the landscape. I keep going back to the same places and it's making me look more carefully."
His images have the eye drawing vibrancy, timelessness, and contrast of traditional black-and-white printed on silver halide but the punch of modern High Dynamic Range color.
"I like taking photos of common things that people just walk by. I want to put a photo on the wall that makes you stop and look again."
Solely a digital photographer today, he is thinking about returning to film. We talked about the improvement in camera technology (today's full frame cameras compete with and surpass film in both resolution and color depth). "I see it as similar to records versus CDs," he said. "The CD may be technically superior but there's something special about an old vinyl record."
He has exhibited in a series of juried shows in the southwest including the Albuquerque Photographers Gallery, Arizona Artists Guild, Sedona Arts Center, and the northeast at River Arts Gallery in Maine, the Darkroom Gallery in Essex Junction and PhotoPlace Open in Middlebury. Island Arts has a scheduled a one man exhibition at the South Hero Merchants Bank this summer. Arizona Highways magazine selected one of his images for their September issue. He is a represented gallery artist at the Sedona Arts Center.
"It's exciting to view the world through a camera lens and be able to share that vision with others."
Visit djgriggsphoto.com to see more of what he sees.
Grand Canyon Juniper
Before the Storm
Desert Sentinals
Frozen Fence
Missisquoi Fog
Missisquoi Sunrise
Mollie Comes Home
