STEP INTO THE LIGHT

When I hear or read the name “David Buffington” I think about a high “pilotage” of visual communication, divine photographic techniques, and 30+ years in editorial and commercial photography being fulfilled by projects with Getty, Corbis, and Intel – to name just a few.

Needless to say, I was delighted when David agreed to participate in the “Wednesday Guest Blogger” post and share his thoughts and memories about the beginning of his career in photography, including a couple of examples of his 1974-76 student work.

When I was a child, I enjoyed using my mother’s Brownie camera and taking pictures around home, photographing my parents, our family dog and neighborhood friends. I was always fascinated with photography and while I was in the 6th grade, I went to a camera store, purchased an instructional book and the chemicals to process film and soon processed my first roll of film in my bedroom closet.

I remained interested in photography, and as I grew older, I fantasized about owning a 35mm camera. They looked so cool, all the dials just added to the fascination! I had other hobbies that captured my interest more at the time, learning to fly an airplane, in addition to getting my license to be an Amateur Radio Operator. I continued to enjoy using my Kodak Instamatic camera and I remember playing with it and placing a crystal chandelier glass over the lens to create effects. I took my first trip to Europe at age 19 and I returned with many snapshots of my travels in England, Germany and Holland.

After completing 2 ½ years of college, I dropped out for a while and began working as a maintenance man at an apartment complex. Somewhere with my interest in photography, I learned of Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California and when I saw their catalogue, I was hooked! I felt a strong passion to attend this school and become a professional photographer. Eventually I returned to my hometown of Midland, Texas to live with my parents. In that process, the local portrait photographer was scheduled to photograph my sisters wedding and he learned of my interest in photography and attending Brooks Institute. Seeing an opportunity for him, he convinced me to work for free for him and that he would teach me photography. Young, eager and gullible, I took the bait and I worked for free with great passion and interest. After several months of my ambition having little rewards, I realized I was being taken advantage of and I quit my job and again considered going off to photography school.

The year was 1973 and there was a waiting list of 1½-2 years to get into Brooks Institute. Fortunately, when I worked as a maintenance man, I met one of the residents who was a graduate of Brooks Institute and told me that with his referral, I could get into school with no waiting. I was very excited at the prospect of going to photography school and from viewing the school catalogue; it looked like the environment was paradise. Finally, with my parents’ money and blessings, I took advantage of the early admission opportunity and in October of 1973, I began my 2-½ year program at Brooks Institute of Photography and graduating in April 1976 with a BFA in photography.

My time attending Brooks Institute and living in Santa Barbara are some of the fondest of my life. I was young; passionate, driven, ambitious and had an opportunity to follow my dream. In school, I made lifelong friendships and I think much of that were our common interests of photography. Common interests create great personal bonds.

At the time I was in school, the curriculum consisted of a series of three seven-week classes on Basic photography, followed by a series of three seven-week classes in Applied photography, followed by the chosen major. The majors at the time were Motion Picture, Portrait, Industrial, Illustration or Commercial (being a mixture of other majors). My major was Illustration, and my passion was to create advertising and illustrative images. Illustration consisted of 4 courses, the first two being taught by Bob Smith and the final two being taught by an elderly man, Phil Cohen. Phil Cohen had a reputation and a place of honor among the Illustration students. I think that by the time I got to my final two classes before graduation, Phil Cohen had a place of awe and respect for me before I ever entered his classroom. My sense of him was of being old and wise and I think I looked up to him as a man of great knowledge and wisdom.

I think that Phil Cohen conducted his classes in a way that taught us how to think about a project, an idea, a concept. We were expected to already know “How” to take a photograph, and now we were led into a different thought process and creative process. He guided and stimulated us to analyze a problem and find a creative solution.

Phil Cohen was a man that earned great respect and dignity. He had an interesting and varied carrier, which included being a ghostwriter, a chef, a psychologist and eventually a photographer. I do not recall a single photo that Phil ever created, but I remember him as an inspiration and a man of dignity and honor.

One of the things that I still specifically remember was the day Phil was speaking to my class and of the future of photography. He told us that one day we would be able to take a trip around the world and capture every image in a little card, and using his hands to show the size of the card, it was about the size of my compact flash card, which is in my Canon 5D MII. When I think of his comments made 33 years ago, I am again in awe of my instructor, Phil Cohen.

- David Buffington

To learn more about David’s award-winning work, visit his website at http://www.davidbuffington.net.

More to come…