Nicholas Blair Photography

Capturing Light

In 1973, I dropped out of high school in New York City, and after hitchhiking through South America for fifteen months, landed in San Francisco. There, I joined my brother Doniphan, and with a few friends created Ancient Currents Gallery and a small arts commune called The Modern Lovers. We hosted art exhibitions, performance art and musical events. We were fascinated by world culture and members would travel for extended periods, conversely touring artists would often stay with us. 

Shortly after my arrival, my brother introduced me to the photographer Larry Bair, who, after taking me under his wing introduced me to the esteemed photographer and teacher, Henry “Hank” Wessel. Both of us would sit in on Hank’s classes at the San Francisco Art Institute.  I immersed myself in photography and built my own darkroom to concentrate exclusively on black and white which I loved for its less literal but more evocative quality. I could also control the entire process. Color was a harder operation, and unless the light was soft, the images would be contrasty and harsh.  Eventually I earned my MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute without an undergraduate degree.

Growing up my father, Vachel Blair, a cinematographer, showed me photography books and we discussed composition and lighting.  Now, after studying with Larry and Hank, I was perfecting a method of candid photography that entailed using depth of field to pre-focus the lens before quickly aiming the camera and releasing the shutter. I would try to suspending premeditated thinking and see things with in-the-moment awareness. The rewards were photographs connecting the interplay of light, people, and their surroundings. I was fascinated by how the camera creates relationships with objects included in the frame, and transforms the three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional image. Although a photograph meticulously describes what the camera sees, it never-the-less remains an illusion that insinuates a combination of both fact and fiction. 

Starting in 1977 I took a number of lengthy trips wandering with my camera. A few times through Mexico, then for a year in India and Europe. New York City was also a favorite spot since I was often there visiting. I discovered that travel and photography are similar activities: both are about being in the moment and observing your surroundings. 

In 1985 I was offered an assignment photographing with a film team covering the famine in Ethiopia. This led to more travel assignments and the beginning of a parallel career in filmmaking. It was then that I moved back to New York City where I reside. 

(Image: San Francisco, 1977)

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