Harold Wood
Photography

After seeing my images many people wonder why these photographs look like paintings. The answer isn’t a simple one. Since graduating from Art Center College of Design (Los Angeles) in 1971 I’ve been earning a living in Photography. Because of this experience I can see potential in unusual subjects, and am able to capture images under challenging conditions. Another difference is a matter of philosophy. I approach a photograph as a painter approaches a canvas. The Image is the sacred element, not image integrity or detail. Anything captured by the camera that takes away from the essence of the image has to be dealt with. Typically I make hundreds of changes; simplifying, eliminating or exaggerating elements within an image. Each of these changes moves the image away from its photographic roots, and toward something a painter might create.

Harold Wood
541.757.9663
3541 SE Shoreline Dr.
Corvallis, OR 97333
www.photoartsguild.org

 

 

The following information was conducted in a recent video interview by Ashley McNutt-Kaestner, a senior at Philomath High School.

Tell me about your journey to becoming an artist.
I think that’s the hardest journey I’ve ever made and I’m not sure that it’s there yet. I think to call one’s self an artist is a very difficult thing. Nobody comes up with a diploma and says “you’re an artist now.” There are tons and tons of self doubt. It helps when somebody other than your mother buys your work.

When someone sees your art, what would you like him or her to experience?
They wonder where their credit card is. To be serious, I would like them to think that somehow it enriches their life. I want them to experience something that touches them and makes them want to have that in their life. I think most of my images I want to relate to a person on a, I hate to use the word spiritual, but a touching level.

Tell me about me about becoming inspired to do a particular piece of work.
That’s difficult for me. Sometimes you just have inkling that something might be good and there’s a very tenuous decision. “Do I stop and take that?” Because sometimes you don’t even know what there is about an image that has great qualities. You don’t often know until you get back to the computer or to the lab and you start looking at it and you say “Oh, of course, this is what it’s saying.” So sometimes it’s obvious and sometimes it’s not.

Tell me about the meaning behind your art.
I think that’s the component I work with that I struggle with the most. Most of my work doesn’t say anything. That’s a hard thing to do. A lot of my work, especially the work that sells is what I call the pretty pictures or maybe the parlor décor. It’s for somebody that wants to put it over their couch. I don’t know. Some of my more significant maybe only says something to me; sometimes I’m not exactly sure what that is. I just feel like it makes something more than just a photograph of someone. It says something about the human struggle and the human experience whether it’s joy or happiness or whatever.

Tell me about the introduction to the medium you used and how you got introduced to it.
I came to hear about a lot of artists. Homer and Hopper were illustrators. They worked in a commercial side of art. I came in art that way. I went to Art Center College and design and got a degree in photo illustration. I worked thirty years in advertising, and I considered myself a legitimate artist. I worked for higher I did what the client wanted. I tried to do my interpretation the best I can. It wasn’t until I retired until I started really studying fine arts and doing what I like to do. As a photographer I moved into the fine arts.

Why do you continue working as an artist today?
I do it today because it just fascinates me. I find it very rewarding. I’m as excited today as I’ve been in any party of my life. It’s just so fascinating and exciting; I love it.

How has art shaped and changed your life?
What it did as an illustrator, was allow me to be creative in creating images. I had a patent with a product I designed. I’ve done this and pottery, painting, watercolor and drawing. It really has influenced me widely in different ways.

How do you get through times when your piece just doesn’t quite fit together?
What I do is go back to studying. Gandhi said an interesting thing along the lines of, “once you begin a process you should never question yourself and change course.” The idea was that you need to make sure your course is correct to start with. You shouldn’t let failure or a lack of results deter you from what you’re doing and what you’ve decided to do. Art is very much that way. Very often you fail at art and what you wanted to do. Dealing with failure…Well I lost track of where I was going…But what I do is I go back to study and I go back to drawing. I just back off slightly. I think that everything you do in your life, everything you read, all your skills and talents and experiences combine to make you more rounded and experienced. You can then bring more to your art. If you’re a shallow person, your art is going to be shallow. If you’re distorted and wacko like Francis Bacon, you’re art will be weird too.

Tell me about where you make your art and the mental process of making it.
Well it varies with the images I do. I start with a photograph and then I Photoshop. It’s really a wonderful tool because Photoshop allows you to take risks and then there’s no risk. You do something and you ask, “Does that work, is that better than this?” And I say, “Okay then I’ll keep it.” If it’s not better, I undo. If I’m not sure, I can save it as a different file and come back to it. There’s no downside to taking a risk. All it really costs you is the time it takes to do that. It took only a couple seconds. But that to me is the power of this medium. With particular programs you can do paintings and color to make it look like oil paintings or pastels. I think in an honest way there is a look that Photoshop and computers use. It may look like a different medium from a distance, but when you look closer you can see it.

What are some key components needed to make successful artwork?
I think that as a human being you have to capture something, in other words, if I take a photograph and all I’ve done is captured a good photograph then I have only succeeded as a photographer. If I take a photo of someone and it speaks not as them but as a young high school student in America in the 21st century than I have succeeded beyond just recording them as an individual. I think that artists try to do that and it’s a very difficult thing. Not necessarily in portraits but in other forms of art too.