Artist of the Month: Richard Magruder

Richard Magruder spent the first twenty years of his life in Louisiana, dividing his time about equally between New Orleans and Starhill, a very rural community that remained deeply fixed in the 19th century. Since then he's been lucky to travel widely in North America and Europe, especially the British Isles, while pursuing his fascination with languages, history, photography, art and architecture, political science and law. He's worked as an actor, playwright, photographer, standup comedian, attorney, and creative writer for major film studios and projects.

Welcome Mr. Magruder. Are you comfortable? Can I get you a glass of wine? Well, if you're ready to put the bong down, lets get on with the interview.

I really wish I could have a glass of wine or a meg-hit from a bong, but as you know, my health status hasn't allowed me those forbidden pleasures for nearly three decades. A mug of fine tea is about the outer limit of my vices. I'm sipping one now as we conduct the interview. It's an honor and a pleasure to be chosen Artist of the Month.

Q: How long have you been taking pictures?
A: My father was a very avid amateur photographer so I grew up being fascinated by his shots, but I didn't get into photography until 1971 when I was stationed at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. One of my classmates, Greg Blackman, was an accomplished photographer who offered to teach me basic camera and darkroom techniques using the photo lab located on the lower Presidio. I took my first serious photos using his Nikkormat SLR during the California Rodeo in Salinas in early July, 1971. Greg and I remain very close friends. He's become a highly regarded commercial photographer and college photography teacher back in Pittsburgh, PA. He still offers me the most insightful criticism and guidance that helps shape my work.

Q: Digital or Film? Which and why? If digital, what did you leave behind?
A: I hate to admit to being such a Luddite, but I have been doing digital photography for less than three months, and only began when another dear friend and major fan of my work, Richard Landon, sent me a digital camera as a gift so I would be inclined to share my work more frequently. I'm in the very early days of working with digital, so it is still hard to compare the two media, but already I'm discovering the advantages and shortcomings of this new mode. The major advantage I've come to really love is how the digital sensor handles extremely low ambient light conditions. With film, even very high speed film, it is maddening to try to compensate for film reciprocity failure, a very frustrating technical issue that doesn't exist at all with digital. I've captured crisp, high resolution images in virtual darkness with my new digital camera in conditions that would have utterly stymied me using my trusty Nikon film camera. On the other hand, very subtle lighting conditions such as fog can play hell with the digital sensor, but maybe that is simply inexperienced operator error.

Q: What equipment do you use?
A: My digital camera is a Fujifilm Finepix S1000 FD 10.0 mega pixel. I have Nikon and Pentax film cameras. The photos you've published were taken with all of them.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish with your photography? Do you hope to make a living some day taking pictures?
A: I've been fortunate to be able to pursue photography for pleasure and as a source of revenue. I began selling photos within two years of owning my first SLR and managed to be hired part time as staff photographer at Monterey Peninsula College soon thereafter. The huge volume of work I had to produce in that job really honed my skills and allowed me to branch out into other commercial work, much of it for performing artists and arts organizations and local publications. My work has also been used extensively in CD-ROM's and websites produced by major film studios. I shoot photos primarily for the sheer joy of it, and because my close friends seem to genuinely appreciate my work, but I don't mind picking up some cash now and then when the opportunity arises.

Q: Do you have a subject(s) that you return to over and over again?
A: Most of my best work consists of photos I've taken while hiking or kayaking or canoeing, so clearly the natural environment and all its occupants are my favorite subjects. I remain especially fascinated by reflective surfaces which often transform the natural world into surrealistic, otherworldly scenes where dimensions are layered in brain-twisting, impossible ways. I've done some minor darkroom manipulation and am starting to learn how to tweak digital images to bring out their full potential, but almost all my images are what my eyes really saw and the camera captured in a single shot.

Q: I hear that you're an exceptionial cook. If you were planning a Halloween party, what would be on the menu and why?
A: You are too kind with your praise for my cooking. I am a hardcore foodie, just like my father before me. A festive Halloween menu would have to include grilled Cajun blood sausage (boudin), with slow roasted beets drizzled with a balsamic vinegar/olive oil/gorgonzola dressing, and "Silence of the Yams" casserole, with blood orange sorbet for dessert. Why? Because the references to gore are so literal and obvious I couldn't resist being silly.

Q: If you were a zombie, what wine would you serve with foot? What sauce would you prepare?
A: The choice of an appropriate wine for foot? That's a complex calculation. It really depends on the foot's species and freshness as well as the diners' preferences. In my experience, most entities that order foot are more focused on quantity of beverage rather than appellation or vintage and seem content with a large bucket of windshield washing fluid, but it never hurts to ask, if you can understand their grunts. The most popular foot sauces are, I'm told, poached vein reduction, phlegm glacee, and smegma chiffonade. I think I remember the mess hall serving those when I was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas but I can't be sure; I've always tried to avoid dishes concocted from extremities, viscera, or connective tissue, so I never gave them a try. I have no idea where the mess sergeant procured the feet, but the casualties over in VietNam were at their peak at about that time; maybe he had a connection over there

Q: Are there any artists you look up to? If so, why?
A: The photographers I admire the most and who have most strongly influenced my work include Ansel Adams, Cole Weston, Yousuf Karsh, Eve Arnold, Ernst Haas, Jerry Uelsmann, Frans Lanting, and Jim Brandenburg to name a select few. All are superb technicians with very keen eyes for composition, color or tone, balance and weight, and a deep respect for their subjects and their craft.

Q: What advice can you give to the struggling photographer trying to get their images seen?
A: With the advent of the internet there is no excuse for an aspiring photographer to lack venues for exhibiting photographs.

Q: What is the most difficult thing you've ever had to photograph?
A: I've found most wildlife very challenging to photograph, especially raptors and quail. The most difficult photographic assignment I ever had was to create a slide show that was one element in a very complicated multi-media production of a Berthold Brecht play. I had to capture images taken from multiple angles of each actor for virtually every line in the play so the plot could be visually foretold before each new development occurred, emphasized as the action took place, and then replayed from different perspectives to reshape the interpretation of the action. And the theatrical lighting had to be accurately captured so it matched the mood of the production lighting. And I had to shoot in both color slide film and black & white print film. There were so many technical challenges that nobody knew if we could ever make the thing work, but we eventually pulled it off.

Q: Who's the most famous person you've ever photographed?
A: The most famous definitely is William Jefferson Clinton, but it was just some photos of him at a political rally, not a portrait he invited me to come shoot at the White House. I also have some shots of Jack Nicholson taken on a flight to London; he tried to ride incognito in coach, but everybody knew who it was. Maybe the fact that Michelle Philips (of The Mamas and Papas fame) was his companion was a tip off.

Q: Has being a photographer ever gotten you laid?
A: I've been happily married for nearly 25 years, so I'm not quite sure what you're referring to. Oh, that! Well, let's see if I can give a discreet answer that won't guarantee that I never get laid again. Long ago, before cameras were as common as shoes, a fancy SLR was an excellent conversation starter with attractive young women, especially those who had unexplored tendencies of an exhibitionist nature. If the photographer with the nice camera had a certain charm and was not physically repulsive, it was not unheard of for photographic sessions involving less than fully clothed attractive young women to evolve into intimate, consensual explorations of sexuality. On the other hand, back in that era getting laid wasn't the biggest challenge on earth; cameras were not, strictly speaking, the only ice breaker known to lead to fairly casual sex. When I lived in Germany I discovered that a goodly number of young women apparently considered the fragrance of household cleaners to be powerful aphrodisiacs.

Q: What are your favorite horror movies? Why?
A: I totally loved horror movies as a kid, particularly those with Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Lon Chaney, Jr. Great makeup, spooky atmospherics, improbable but captivating plotlines, strange foreign accents, sudden events that scared you so badly you nearly wet your pants.....everything a kid could want. As I grew up my preferences shifted to other genres, especially after too many visits to the head and neck tumor clinic at M D Anderson Cancer Center completely eroded the ability of any horror movie to shock or frighten me. I rarely see any horror movies now, but I still find the first "Alien" film by Ridley Scott has the ability to spook me and make my pulse rate jump real good, so I guess that means it must be high on my list of favorites.

Q: Who are your favorite authors? Why?
A: I've been reading nonfiction almost exclusively for a very long time, but I still enjoy Shakespeare's incomparable command of our language and need to re-read Tolkien every few years, just to revisit beloved old friends. My choices of books are usually based on the subject matter, typically history, law, politics and biography, but there a few authors I read because they are such talented wordsmiths I know I'll love just about anything they've written. That list includes Chalmers Johnson, Andrew J. Bacevich, Tim Pat Coogan, Stephen Ambrose, Richard Rhodes, John McPhee, Simon Winchester, and Robert Fisk.