• Charles Farmer

• Richard "Dick" Garrod

Charles Farmer

Charles is a large format photographer of the inner landscape. "Chuck" was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1947. He received his education at Northwest Missouri State University in music and Draughon’s College where he received a degree in Topographical Engineering. He began the shift to art and serious photography some twenty-five years ago. In 1978 he relocated to Santa Barbara, California where he continues to live with his spouse, Marta.

Since that time, his work has appeared in countless exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the United States. A highlight of his art was the publication and exhibition of Portfolio I, "Sonata in F#" and Portfolio II, "Alexis," which has been acquired by The Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Many other of his images and portfolios are in private and corporate collections throughout the world.

He has been published frequently during the course of his career in numerous magazines and news papers, including Art West, Photographers Forum Magazine, Leisure Magazine, The Denver Post, Shutterbug Magazine, View Camera Magazine, Photo Techniques, The Wisner Newsletter and Jobo Quarterly.

As a photographic consultant, Chuck has worked with a number of view camera builders utilizing his combined talents of engineering and photography to make a unique contribution to the improvement of the tools of the art. Others who have consulted with him have included various equipment fabricators, darkroom chemical and equipment manufactures, optical engineers and corporate heads desiring special equipment. He has further served as a consultant to private photographic collectors, fine art photographers and is presently a private large format consultant to "famous trial lawyer" Gerry Spence.

At present, Chuck continues to produce his art and is the proprietor of Charles P Farmer Photography and Large Format Consulting Services. An expedition to the top of Mt. Whitney in the Eastern Sierra with his 8x10 camera and friend Ronald Wisner, was a landmark in history. This was the first camera of such great size ever packed to the summit. He has also expanded his work to incorporate a series of large format workshops held throughout the United States and has become one of the most popular and sought after instructors in the field due to his patient sharing style and wealth of knowledge. It is his hope that he can in this way share his knowledge and experience in photography and contribute something to this unique art form. In his words, "We are all in this crazy world of large format photography together".

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Richard "Dick" Garrod

Dick was educated at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Berkeley, where he received his MA degree. He also majored in photography at Pasadena City College. Additionally, Richard studied with Bret Weston (his best friend), Ansel Adams and Minor White. He has lectured at a number of forums including the Ansel Adams’ Yosemite Workshops, the Monterey Peninsula College, Friends of Photography, the Photographic Center of Monterey, U.C.S.C. Extensions, the Charles Farmer Workshops and of course his own workshops.

Dick's Photographs have been printed in numerous publications and have appeared in more than fifty solo and group exhibitions including Focus Gallery, Visions Gallery, the F Stops Here Gallery, George Eastman House and more. His images remain in many private and public collections including the Oakland Museum of Art, the George Eastman House, the National Museum of Modern in Kyoto, Japan and the Smithsonian Institute.

Ansel Adams referred to Richard’s work as " displaying a great solidity and constant awareness of beauty." Glenn Wessels, Professor of Art - Emeritus University of California said, "Garrod deals poetically with any subject matter and enlightens us with his perception and selectivity. He has a gift of making apparently unimportant visual events important by the way he sees them. A very ordinary assemblage of form is given significance by his insight and the viewer shares his vision through his excellent prints." Charles Farmer says of Richard, "Dick is not only one of Americas finest photographers, he is the most giving and generous persons I have ever had the pleasure to know. He holds no secrets and shares his endless photographic knowledge with all."

Mr. Garrod has been a member of the board of directors of the Friends of Photography, the Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, and the Arts Coordinating Council of the Community Development for the city of Monterey.

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