Frank Iannotti

A camera lost, a passion found…. My affair with photography began when I was 12 years old, I bought my first roll of film at the local pharmacy and returned it there for processing… IT WAS BLANK! I would need to process my own film… I somehow managed to convince my mother to buy a plastic developing tank and chemistry at a local camera shop… and my first roll of film was mostly of my dog Paco. I stared at those reversed B&W images, holding them up to the ceiling.

My fascination and determination was rewarded with a willingness by my mother to take me back to Kingsbridge camera to buy a Bogen enlarger, 3-5×7 trays and a box of 4×5 paper… in a not so light tight closet and my new enlarger I made my first prints, I was 12 years old.

At age 14, I discovered a series of books at my local library by Ansel Adams. I learned of his technique to pre-visualization the final print and through meticulous control of processing he could control the tonal values of the finish print.

Photography in this context of print visualization and science based execution removed the randomness of chance and allowed photography to be my preferred method of self expression.

Formal education in art and photography lead to assistant-apprentices in...