JOE WALLES
The decisive moment…
JOE WALLES
Joseph N. Walles shoots black and white documentary style photography. Each gelatin silver print is archivally printed in his darkroom by the artist. His award winning images capture everything from city life to wilderness and from people to natural textures.
Joseph N. Walles studied Mathematics, Business Administration, Education, Liberal Arts, and Sociology at the University of Toledo from 1966 to 1972. He began shooting for Toledo area newspapers while still in high school. In Florida, he was a photographer for the Clearwater Sun until 1980 when he began as a photographer for the St. Petersburg Times. He was a picture editor there from 1995- 2011, but continues to be a photographer for his own creative satisfaction. Mr. Walles has exhibited his award winning work since 1979, including solo shows at Florida Gulf Coast Arts Center and the Arts Center in St. Petersburg. He has had his work published in calendars, books, and record jackets. His work is in numerous private collections and the American Securities Insurance Corporate Collection of American Photographers.
Artist Statement:
My mother was an artist and my father was in the newspaper business for 35 years. His hobby is photography. When I was 13, I learned how to use a camera and develop black and white film. Since then, I have spent a good deal of my time capturing selected fragments of the visible world through the view finder of a camera. The moment the photograph is made and the shutter closes, that particular moment is gone forever, except for the light that was chosen to “stain” the film. The photographs I make reflect my desire to record the unadulterated moment. What I choose to shoot, how I frame it and how I print the resulting image are the means of my expression. Shooting in black and white distills an image to its structure, which is expressive in itself. The challenge is to make a personal statement about my subject while showing only reality. Only when I have captured the moment and printed the image that I had visualized am I satisfied. When the print is shown and understood, that is a fortunate bonus.