When I took this photograph the business had already closed its doors, and soon it was to receive a makeover. I have not gone back to photograph it as it is now. I think the morning light (or is it the glow from high-pressure sodium lights) makes the image. Speaking of lighting, ten years ago there were very few LED street lights. I recall flying from San Francisco to San Diego one evening. Looking out the window, I watched the gold-colored lights of the cities along the coast. They looked like sparkling gems. Nowadays, they must look like sparkling diamonds.
THOMAS ALLEN BETHUNE
I have been interested in photography for most of my life. I started taking photographs with a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera when I was eight years old. My early subjects were trains and engineered structures as well as landscapes and family portraits. My interests and vision have matured, but the subjects that catch my eye continue to be of the same genre as my earliest visions.
A neighbor man had a darkroom, and he showed me the basics of camera operation and darkroom processing. I took courses in art and photography in high school and college. I worked as an apprentice to a commercial wedding and event photographer, and I was in charge of a recreational dark room while I was in the military. As an adult, I earned a bachelor’s degree in photography from Humboldt State University. My experience with film formats included 35mm, 2 ¼”, and 4”x 5”. I exhibited at galleries near my home in Arcata California, and in Santa Fe New Mexico.
All my current work is digital. I am scanning many of my legacy negatives and slides. I sometimes process and print the scanned negatives. I often post them on my blog. I process all of my prints with archival media.
An award winning fine art photographer living in a redwood forest.
BA Photography
Director, Redwood Art Association, Eureka CA
Co-curator, F Street Foto Gallery, Eureka CA
"I AM"- are the two most powerful words in the dictionary because the ending determines your destiny....so join me in my fight against PD to make sure that everyone who suffers from this chronic progressive degenerative disease can develop the courage to shout to the wind- I AM Fierce and Courageous ....
Thomas Bethune's Photographic Journal 