Artist Statement
I am a fine art photographer working with both representational and interpretive images. I am drawn to photography because, by combining creativity with mechanical and technical skills, it meets the needs of both the left and right sides of my brain.
Recently, composite images have been a major focus of my work. By combining multiple images, I am able to move past the traditional boundaries of the medium of photography, opening new paths for expressing creative thoughts. The animal world (particularly crows, ravens, and magpies), symbology, and references to literary, cultural, and mythological icons form the basis of these creations.
Process Statement
Starting with either digitally captured photographs or scanned negatives, I use the digital darkroom to perform both traditional wet darkroom type adjustments and newer photo compositing techniques to create desired effects. This is a process that often requires many hours of minute adjustments, refinements, test prints and subsequent revisions. I print my photos on high quality photographic paper using archival pigment inks and large format professional printers. I personally perform all the work of producing the finished result, from image capture to digital darkroom work to printing, mounting, and framing.
Larry Blackwood is a self-taught fine art photographer with over 40 years experience exploring self-expression through photography. Born and raised in Kansas, he earned a Ph.D. in statistics and worked in that field for 30 years while pursuing photography part-time. In 2007 he switched to photography full time.
Larry has had major solo exhibitions in a number of venues including the Wichita Art Museum, the Center for Contemporary Arts (Abilene, Texas), the Museum of Idaho, the Hockaday Museum of Art, the Art Museum of Southeast Idaho, the Viewpoint Photographic Art Center, the Hockaday Museum of Art, The Holter Museum of Art and the Emerson Center for Art and Culture. His work has also appeared in many other major juried shows including venues such as the Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, OH; Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in Sacramento, CA; the Center for Visual Arts, Toledo, OH; the Center for Photographic Arts in Carmel, CA; the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper, WY; the Center for Fine Art Photography in Ft. Collins, CO. as well as several galleries and museums in China.
His work has been published in major fine art photography publications including LensWork, B&W, Shots, Color, Popular Photography, Best of Photography Annual, and Shutterbug. He has received a number of awards in international photography competitions including the World Photography Awards and the B&W Spider Awards and has received grants sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the states of Montana and Idaho.