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Sign the Guestbook GUESTBOOK COMMENTS
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A few days ago, I flipped the page on my 2024 Bullock calendar to the Clouds photo for March. For the first two days of seeing it, I saw the image as clouds against the dark sky. And then this morning, the image suddenly reversed itself — so instead of seeing clouds against sky, I saw a tear in the fabric of the dark sky, with a bright light shining through it. Wonderful. It was like staring at that familiar illustration of the faces / wine goblet. At first, you see one but not the other. Then after staring at it, you suddenly see the other and can’t unsee it. Wynn’s images continue to challenge and inspire.
~ Paul Cotter, Photographer, Charlotte, NC https://www.paulcotterphotography.com and https://www.paulsreflections.com Over the decades I've acquired a very nice collection of photography books. Wynn Bullock: Color Light Abstractions just arrived and will take center stage as my favorite. These images were a tremendous influence in my own photographing and editing of my "Light Wave" series. Thank you for making them available!
~ Craig Blacklock, fine art wilderness photographer, Moose Lake, Minnesota www.craigblacklock.art I consider both Wynn and Edna Bullock as some of the strongest artists who were working through photography. Using the nude as the contrast subject to the landscape makes very strong and beautiful images and they did it so very well. In this digital world of so many bad pictures, Wynn’s and Edna’s work shines as a beacon of quality.
~ Frank Marshman, Harrisonburg, VA I've been familiar with Ansel Adam's work, as well as Weston's, for a long time, and knew places like Point Lobos and Big Sur were favorite backdrops for their photographs. I was less familiar with Wynn's work, but recently stumbled upon the Bullock website as I was looking to learn more about the artists who've used Big Sur for their compositions. What I liked about Wynn's work was that — 60 years later — the photos still feel fresh. I was surprised by the fact that Wynn's work moved me.
As I dug more, I learned about Edna's work, too. I just love the fact that, in her retirement, she picked up photography and started taking her own nudes. It made me feel that Edna was also a vibrant and hugely creative person. ~ Andy Atkins, life-long amateur photographer, Pacific Grove, CA I am a fine art photographer artist and I greatly admire Wynn Bullock's artwork and philosophy.
~ Haydee Yordan, San Juan, Puerto Rico haydeeyordan.artspan.com This world needs more inspiring philosopher artists like Mr. Bullock.
~ Rob Liu, inventor entrepreneur, Fairfield, CA Wynn Bullock's photographic depth profoundly, deeply touched me. Thank you.
~ Manuel Martinez, photographer, Los Angeles, CA. Ever since being introduced 20 years ago to Wynn Bullock via The Enchanted Landscape, whose pages are worn to death, he has been one of my major influences. Astounding work.
~ Rick Menapace, retired, now devoted fulltime to photography (and road bicycling to stay active), Collegeville, PA www.rickmenapacephotography.com Dear Barbara, I would like to express to you, although I imagine you have it heard it many times, what an inspiration your father's work has been for many.
In my case, it was an inspiration that ignited a path for me in my long and wonderful profession as a cinematographer. While attending college as a photography student, I happened across the Scrimshaw Press publication of Wynn Bullock's work. I fondly and vividly recall spending hours and hours throughout my college years, sitting on the floor by the bookshelf in the school library, compelled to dream along with the magical imagery. In particular, there was one image, I had never seen before, that resonated with me completely. "Child in Forest" had presented to me that aha moment of how truly a photographic image could reveal more than what was "seen" on the surface. That an image was capable of 'expressing a story' and can possess a 'poetic nature'...and much more. I began to understand that the photographer could confidently wander in search of discovering something more than what one sees, something beyond the moment or beyond the obvious or beyond the reality...A photographic experience in service of one's philosophy of life and heart and art. In your father's realm, he managed to absolutely not just contribute to the lexicon of fine art photography, but to elevate its long and wonderful history.
~ Steven Finestone, Cinematographer, Los Angeles, CA www.stevenfinestone.com I am very pleased with the Child in Forest poster and it now has pride of place on the living room wall. I have adored Wynn's photography with people in nature since I did a photo project on his work for a darkroom course at university. His work greatly contributed to the inspiration to set up a darkroom of my own.
~ Ben Forbes, Germany. www.instagram.com/__benforbes Your 2021 calendar is special. I keep looking at it. I love the juxtaposition of the photos!
~ Peggy Schmidt, retired attorney, Pacific Grove, CA The photo of Child on Forest Road has been a favorite of mine for several decades and even longer for another friend of mine. There are so many other photos of Wynn's I hadn't seen until I viewed your website yesterday. What a great photographer he was and what a wonderful website you have created. I have only just begun to explore all the rest of the photos and the accompanying comments. Thank you very much!
~ Larry Thibault, Santa Cruz, CA I have only two copies of the Family of Man, one hard cover and one soft, and as a student at the School of Visual Arts photo major, I was fortified by my study of all the greats including Wynn Bullock. Thank You for all you do to advance the benefit of Wynn's vision and his life's work.
~ Mitchell Kearney, commercial and fine art photographer/videographer, Charlotte, NC www.mitchellkearney.com I am an amateur, but dedicated photographer, and Bullock has been one of my favorite artists and inspirations.
~Kenneth G. Fendler (retired and reveling in life all around), Bella Vista, Arkansas Just got the chance to see the wonderful Two Photographers: Wynn Bullock and Imogen
Cunningham film. It's very well made and I really liked the follow-up feature. Having
the perspective of people who actually interacted with the photographers adds to the
magic! I think it's a treasure.
~ Nadir Mauge, filmmaker and photographer, Bethlehem, Palestine www.nadirmauge.com Such a pleasure to view work that exudes such strong and challenging emotion. It is even more refreshing to know Wynn Bullock's work is more about the Art of Photography...work created using traditional photography skill sets, including visualization. Love this site, great commentary and photography examples: a great source of inspiration for all levels of photography. Thank you.
~ Lance Lewin, photographer and co-owner of a telecom company, Atlanta, GA www.visualizingart.com I absolutely loved your recent newsletter [September 2018]! It held the most incredible information, because of the exciting events that continue to celebrate both of your parents' accomplishments thanks to your ongoing efforts and also because I was hungry for news of Bullock photography! There is so much goodness happening and I am delighted to learn of it!
First let me say that I would love to purchase both of the [2019] calendars that you have put together. Your calendars bring me much joy throughout the year, both the images and the words. The quotes of your father's are often a great inspiration to me in life and in my own attempts at creative expression. I cannot thank you enough for keeping your parents' lights burning bright. I find that I need that. I love that your mother will have her own exhibition in a couple of months. I will do my best to view this in person, no doubt with tears rolling down my cheeks. I will never forget her as I knew her and will love celebrating a side of her that I have come to love and admire later in life. It will be so special! Thank you again for being a champion of the photographic legacy that you had the privilege of being raised with. I bow to you for carrying it on so strongly. ~ Janet Sutherland Boeke, Longmont, CO, retired educator and school arts coordinator After your talk at the Figge, I spoke briefly with Brett Abbott and thanked him for all the research and work he did assembling such an impressive retrospective of your father's works, and for the brilliant way in which he curated the work into various "conceptual" categories. Over the years, I have seen many exhibitions of wonderful black & white analog prints (including 3 or 4 exhibitions of Ansel Adams' work), but I can honestly say that none have impressed me more than the current Revelations exhibit. Thank you again for so generously sharing your talented father with all of us; not only through his images, but also through your wonderfully humanizing stories, memories, and conceptual comments about his life and works. It was a special evening of the very best of what the photographic medium is capable of in the hands of a true artist and master of the medium, and one that I shall long cherish.
~ Michael Godsil, Photography Instructor at Knox College, Galesburg, IL Navigation without Numbers is one of the most evocative images I've seen, period. I absolutely love this image.
~ Myron Rosenberg, fine art photographer, Anchorage, Alaska Color and organic abstraction – in combination with nature – are the two most compelling inspirations for my work…. Abstraction has come later in life – perhaps a function of age. There is less interest in specific detail and more fascination with infinite possibilities, the stories within the stories. I am encouraged along this exploratory and experimental path by the philosophies and wisdom of Wynn Bullock. It is not the techniques and practices, but the spirit of Wynn Bullock that informs my work. Spirit. Color. Light.
~ Janet Sutherland Boeke, Longmont, CO, retired educator and school arts coordinator I remember the image of Child in Forest from when I was a girl in the 1960s and often looked through The Family of Man book. Recently, I was out in a primeval-feeling forest in Maine and had an experience reminiscent of the photograph which felt like a union with nature. I want to remember that we are not so separate from the Earth. It feels important to me to have the poster of this very special image that you and your father created. Thank you.
~ Elizabeth Moore, Freeport, Maine The most gifted and gracious teacher I have had. I will always remember our class offered through UC Santa Cruz Extension 1974. Thank you, Wynn Bullock!
~ Richard Urrutia, retired photography teacher (San Jose City College), San Jose, CA I love the 2018 calendars! I have always loved Wynn's work since the first time I laid my eyes on it back in my youth.
~ Robert Scott, Cheshire, CT Wynn had a huge influence on my work, and that influence continues to this day. I have to say that his daughter Barbara has had a huge influence as well through her writing in the book Wynn Bullock – Photography: A Way of Life. The importance of awareness which she so eloquently emphasized in the book is something that I continually practice and remind myself of, particularly when I am photographing. I can't thank Wynn and her enough for this lifelong lesson!
~ Lynn Radeka, photographer, Buena Park, CA www.radekaphotography.com My wife, Irene, and I finally made it to the Wynn Bullock: Revelations exhibit at the University of Maryland Art Gallery. What an extraordinary treat/feast for eyes/soul/mind! Beautifully curated; among the best such shows I've seen in a long time. We spoke for some time with Taras Matla [gallery director]. His passion for the gallery in general and Wynn's work in particular were both very much evident. The exhibit includes a number of prints that I do not recall seeing earlier; or, at the very least, had not viewed within a context of related images, by theme and/or time. I lamented (only slightly J) not seeing more of Wynn's color abstracts, and feel ashamed at that. Seeing those on display for the first time as contemporary estate prints and not reproductions for books or web - is an experience I will not soon forget.
As we were concluding our visit, I commented to my wife how even this relatively small slice of Wynn's oeuvre demonstrates how far beyond his most esteemed peers his artistry took him. While Ansel Adams (who was and remains a powerful beacon for me) had a singularly powerful vision, it's scope was - by comparison - almost myopic by comparison to Wynn's breadth. Landscapes infused with metaphysical realities, abstracts evoking inner truths, metaphors made incarnate, the list goes on and on; experimenting, always experimenting. Each image offers a deeper - and slightly different - glimpse of something he seemed incessantly in search of. Just a magnificent display of the élan of Wynn's life and art! Thank you so much for this treat. ~Andy Ilachinski, Physicist and Photographer, Springfield, VA www.tao-of-digital-photography.blogspot.com/ I thought I would take just a moment to say how much I enjoyed seeing Wynn's retrospective show at the art gallery at the University of Maryland. I so wanted to see the show when it was in Atlanta at the High Museum, but I wasn't able to and I figured it would just be one of those things that wasn't meant to be. Then I saw that it was going to come to Maryland. It was such pleasure to see original prints of the images that I have long admired and that have inspired me since I first picked up a camera in the early '70s. Many of the images in the show were familiar, some not. I think I went through the gallery four times, just to soak up the beauty of Wynn's vision.
~ E.E. McCollum, Photographer, Fairfax, VA www.eemccollum.com Just came back from seeing the Wynn Bullock exhibit at Maryland University. It was a great moment and revelation to me. Two friends came along and they were not disappointed. The retrospective is very well done. I didn't know Wynn before. I love this artist and his approach to the art of photography.
~ Regine Guillemin, Photographer, Washington D.C. I think Wynn Bullock's photos are inspiring. They go right along with what I am currently working on as a photographer. I had never seen any photos by Mr. Bullock until now and my work is on the right path after viewing some of his work. I am an artist too and am glad that now I have someone to learn from such as Mr. Bullock. Thank you.
~ Marvio Santana, Brazil What beautiful, inspirational images and certainly deserving of the accolades and attention. Wynn Bullock may have been overshadowed by Weston and Ansel, but his art is just as inspirational.
~ Mark Seawell, fine art photographer, Ogden, Utah www.markseawellphotography.com Wynn Bullock's work is inspiring for me. I'm just starting in photography. Glad to find your website!
~ Lucas Mendonça I'm not sure how you do it all! Barb, you are my idol! Thank you for sharing Wynn's work for all to see! We love you!
~ Deb Wilson, Physical Therapist and one of Wynn's granddaughters; Pat Carney, granddaughter-in-law, Florida Wynn's work is inspiring; it makes me want to look at the world with more open eyes. And his daughter Barbara's reflective essays are beautiful additions to his visual work. I deeply appreciate what he has done and what she is doing.
~ Angelika Bammer, Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities at Emory University, Decatur, GA Love Wynn’s work…it is amazing…it is so peaceful and rings of the soul of the earth.
~ Mark I. Nelson, photographer, Elgin, IL www.precisiondigitalnegatives.com
Wynn’s images are simply stunning. I came upon his name in the book by Bruce Barnbaum, The Art of Photography. I am going to suggest Wynn's site to my photography friends and I know they will be as smitten as I am.
~ Marlene Hodge, darkroom photographer and metalsmith, Centralia, WA
I’m so glad that you continue to offer the Wynn Bullock calendars. Thank you, too, for maintaining such a wonderful website!
~ Gerry Meekins, photographer, Elkton, MD www.gerrymeekins.com
Just received my 2016 black and white calendar and it is terrific . . . great production quality and a wonderful selection of images. Thanks so much!
~ E.E. McCollum, Photographer, Fairfax, VA www.eemccollum.com
Although I always enjoy your newsletters, this time I especially did so because of the link to Chris Johnson's talk. His comments were deeply moving and illuminating. Many thanks.
~ Dan Perlstein, Berkeley, CA [Editor's note: The newsletter referred to is the October 2015 issue.)
I was one of the very fortunate budding photographers who visited your home during Craig Varjabedian’s California workshop on October 5. It was a transformational experience in my journey into photography, so I write to thank you again for sharing your home and stories. It meant a lot to me and will be gift that keeps on giving. I am also writing to note that I just placed an order for the book Wynn Bullock: Revelations. I look forward to spending a lot of time with Wynn and his work over the next few years.
~ Andy Epstein, Boston, MA
Wynn Bullock has some really amazing photographs. A very good website for both information and as a memento of his works.
~ Glenn Shi, Melbourne, Australia
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to look into the photograph and understand it with greater depth.
~ Carol Isaak, Photographer, Portland, OR www.carolisaakphoto.com
I have long been a fan of Wynn Bullock's work. My love for photography began some forty years ago while in high school. I can remember stumbling onto Wynn’s work in a book and immediately felt something deep and spiritual about his photographs. Exploring your website has helped me to renew that early discovery and appreciation of his work. I especially enjoyed listening to his daughter Barbara’s words about her father’s images. Her writing and voice are beautiful complements to his amazing body of work. It was a real pleasure to listen to her commentary on the Child in Forest photograph. Her expression is pure and eloquent, as one might expect from a daughter who so obviously loves and admires her father. I look forward to exploring more of the nooks and crannies on the website and receiving the newsletter.
~ Larry Vogel, Artist, Oceanside, CA www.lavogel.com
I've talked a lot about Wynn’s photography and its impact on me. Now, after reading more of the Bullock books and articles, I'd like to share my admiration for his daughter Barbara's writing. She has taken some of the most profound concepts in the universe and explained them simply and eloquently. She has helped me to understand more deeply why I have been instinctively drawn to Wynn's work and to see his photos through fresh eyes, with a better appreciation for what he was trying to communicate. She has given the world stronger insights into him as an artist, a father, a spiritual seeker. She has given all of us a canoe with which we can quietly paddle across the very deep waters that are Wynn Bullock.
~ Paul Cotter, Photographer, San Francisco Bay Area, www.paulcotterphotography.com
I had not heard of Wynn Bullock before I found this website. I really enjoyed the audio commentary of the images. Thank you for sharing these treasures here on the site.
~ Alex Saunders, Landscape Photographer, Glasgow, Scotland www.saudners-photography.co.uk
Thank you for keeping Wynn's work alive for new generations! He was an important artist who taught us to not simply accept conventional truths but to ask questions, search beneath the surface and strive to uncover an essence not readily evident.
~ Bill Kane, Artist/Fine Art Digital Printer, Petaluma, CA www.billkane.net and www.digitalgrange.com
As a friend of mine once said, "It takes courage to grow old." I would add that it is our brief glimpses into the wonders and mysteries of life that make the journey worth traveling and provides the courage we need for the trip. This is why I have always valued Wynn's photography so much.
~ Dennis Stefani, Carnation, WA
The May 2015 newsletter is one of your best. I love all of the photos in the Russia story. It gives us all a better connection to what it was like for Anastasia to visit you and see Northern California for the first time. The one where she is leaning on the bridge and looking out shows so well how she felt. The shots from the San Francisco Airport Museum are great, too. What a marvelous thing to have a museum at an airport, much better than expensive food and mass advertising displays. It's also great that Child on Forest Road is the cover image for Jean-Marie Pelt's book. A Bullock photo supporting other people's important work – that's so cool!
~ John Wilson, photographer and massage therapist, Houston, TX www.johnwilson.zenfolio.com
Thank you for continuing to show Wynn's "Woman and Dog" picture of my mother Nancy...
~ Cynthia Bottero, wedding and special event coordinator, Carmel Valley, CA (Nancy worked with Wynn in the early to mid-1950s and together they produced some very memorable images. She and her beloved Collie, Prince, became good friends of the Bullock family.)
I always look forward to receiving your newsletters and all the updates they contain. I'm sorry to hear the reasons for the delay in the production of the latest newsletter. I hope Gene's recent problems are just a temporary glitch in the system and he will be back to normal soon. I, too, have been experiencing more "glitches" in my systems since the years are adding up, but I have to keep reminding myself that getting old is not so bad when you consider the alternative. I'm looking forward to you and Gene doing the important work you've taken on with Wynn's photography for many years to come.
~ Byron Basler
I just listened to the commentary for the Featured Image Child on Forest Road, 1958. What an interesting story behind this truly wonderful photograph! Of Wynn's photographs that I have seen, this one remains a favorite. The back story is rich and interesting; photographically, this reminds me that often inclusion of people in an image can make an ordinary photograph, extraordinary. Count me among those who love it.
~ Bill Chiechi
My first exhibition and award for a photograph was in 1962 at the California State Fair. Wynn was the judge and I watched the process and then talked with him for a while after the judging. I will be judging the photography portion of the CA State Fair this year [2015] and will channel Wynn for his wisdom.
~ Kurt Edward Fishback, photographer, Antelope, CA www.fishbackphotography.com
I was looking at Wynn's color abstractions today and I realized that I was seeing the universe, quite literally, at play. Some lyrics from a George Harrison song came to mind, from the Brainwashed album that he recorded shortly before he died: "Universe at play/Inside your DNA/ You're a billion years old today". It occurred to me that Wynn Bullock and George Harrison probably would've enjoyed each other's company.
~ Paul Cotter, Photographer, San Francisco Bay Area www.paulcotterphotography.com
Hi to the Bullocks! Claudio Edinger (Sao Paulo) recently talked about
Wynn's work, and on seeing it, I discovered how lovely and fantastic it is.
I came into the photography world decades after he passed and it's my loss
that I haven't seen the work until now. Just wanted to send an admiring
shout-out for a master photographer with such wonderful instincts. I learn
something new every day and today was certainly a good day! Makes me wonder
what kind of a troglodyte I am to have missed so much for so long. All the
best to you who carry on Wynn's legend.
~ Leslie Powell, New York
My favorite Wynn Bullock image, Tree Trunk, is now in my collection
and brings much pleasure every time I view it.
~ Ray Michalek, mathematics professor, New York
I want to extend a long-overdue congratulations to you for a superb job on the publication of Wynn Bullock: Revelations—I received my copy about a month ago (which I ordered from the University of Texas Press)—and I have been poring over it again and again, drinking in the inspiring imagery, and reading the wonderfully insightful text—I especially enjoyed Brett Abbott's "Revelations" essay—and the timeline with so many anecdotes and details was also wonderful—I think Brett Abbott did an amazing job in his research, no doubt with lots of help and guidance by you, I'm sure—but it was all such a pleasure to read. It truly inspired me.
I guess I have been guilty of waxing existential since I was a little kid—questions like "why are we here" and "where are we going" used to consume my daydreams, I guess like most kids... and when looking up at the night sky on a clear evening, it always seemed to me that we are all part of something so much bigger than just ourselves and this amazing Earth (Planet Ocean as I tend to see it!)... and that the stars, and galaxies and everything "out there" (and "in us") †is turning out to be the same "stuff"—everything in the Periodic Table of Elements—I found Wynn's observations and insights regarding the space time continuum and the concept that we—and all things—are radiant energy a mind boggling, but ingenious observation that was surely ahead of his time, and as I've read your new book, and revisited Wynn's images more and more, I can see and feel this even more strongly in his work... .he was REALLY onto something wonderful and powerful, and I only regret I never had the opportunity to meet him—and am thus even more grateful that you saw to it that this beautiful book—and a phenomenal new retrospective show in Atlanta -- came to fruition for us all. Kudos to you for a job well done! ~ Chuck Davis, marine photographer and cinematographer, Pacific Grove, CA www.tidalflatsphoto.com I lost both of my parents to Alzheimer's disease. One day as my father was entering the final stages of the illness, he stood in front of the toilet in the bathroom, drawing a square shape in the air with his fingers. I asked him what he was doing. He replied simply, "Nothing looks the way it's supposed to." The significance of that remark stunned me, as I realized he was seeing a radically different version of the world than I was. I suddenly questioned the nature of "normal" and "reality." The same phenomenon is viewed differently by an insect with compound eyes, a bat with UV-sensitive vision, and a human being with dementia. So what is "real"? How are things "supposed" to look? Wynn Bullock knew the answer, and he showed us through his brilliant color light abstractions. How are things supposed to look? Wynn tells us: It all depends.
~ Paul Cotter, Photographer, San Francisco Bay Area www.paulcotterphotography.com Sometimes it's really hard to turn the page [of a Wynn Bullock Calendar]…. During the month I get so attached to an image, I have a hard time going on to the next. However, that passes pretty quickly once I see the next image! Being from an analog "film & paper" background, I sometimes wonder what went through Wynn's mind as these terrific images emerged in the developer tray. I imagine him singing. I know they sing to me! Thank you again for making these available and keeping Wynn's legacy alive!
~ Gerry Meekins, photographer, Maryland www.gerrymeekins.com |
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