Portrait of the shooter © 2012 Lee DeForke Jr.
Fort Travis, Bolivar Peninsula, Texas USA
(Pictured with the nikon FM2 body and drive,
55mm micro-nikkor lens, eddie bauer daypack, and
bogen monopod - the best hiking stick you'll ever need...)

I remember being fascinated at an early age by my father's Argus C-3 35mm camera while the family was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany (...yes, along with younger brother Dennis, we were army brats...). It had "real" exposure adjustment buttons for both shutter speed and lens aperture. It also focused with a dizzying, tiny viewing range finder. An alternative was to use the distance numbers on the lens ring, but what fun is that? Exposing the film was all manual, no built in meter. Pop did have a crude but effective Weston exposure meter, but I rarely saw that in use. The information sheets that came folded in film boxes ended up all over the place with me attempting to make sense of what seemed like cryptic photo techno babble. Probably the best education one could have. While our parents took color slides and color 8mm movies, Dennis and I were given inexpensive rolls of Verichrome black and white film...

Compared to my "eye-level viewing" pink Imperial Mark VII, and brother Dennis' "waist-level-top viewing" black Brownie Hawkeye 620 film size cameras, Pop's Argus was the ultimate in high-tech coolness with its brown leather form fitted case and optional flash gun that fired off big bulbs. You could feel the heat from those babies ten feet away and many blisters were produced by grabbing those expended bulbs too soon.

It was during one of our annual road trips somewhere in France that I recall being drawn to shooting something other than wide open scenics, snow covered Alps, or our travelling group posing at a roadside attraction...a foreign license plate on a Volkswagen, a "closely cropped detail" compared to anything else I had captured...that feeling and vision remains as I tend to wander and "collect" the overlooked or ignored. Many weathered, derelict and worn. When caught on film these can make for some rather confusing and/or humorous pieces.

Rusty Nails		Beached Sneaker		Fuzzy Critter

As with many, the usual distractions while growing up caused any hint of a "photo bug" to slowly slink away.

As an army family we would move every 6 months to a year...another house, new schools, new friends (Dennis and I were never in the same school at one time until high school when he was a freshman and yours truly a senior...). Luckily we had each other for company during these relocations, and the spread between us only three years. We were quite an adventurous duo during those times, wandering three different neighborhoods in Spokane alone: plus Frankfurt, Germany: Park Forest, Illinois (...a south Chicago "suburb"...): south Chicago itself: Kansas City, Missouri: Venice, Inglewood, Marina Del Rey, West Hollywood (Los Angeles, California "suburbs"...): and myself continuing with Hawthorne, Redondo Beach, West LA, Santa Monica (Los Angeles, California "suburbs"...): Capital Hill, Redmond, Mercer Island (Seattle, Washington area "suburbs"...): Galveston, Texas: Jackson, Mississippi: Baltimore, Maryland, and Portland, Oregon. I have a "travel bug" to this day...

My first taste of "publishing" came with news-staff photography, cartooning and graphics while a junior and senior at North Central High School in Spokane (g. 1969). A big break came selling regular cartoon spots to "Modern Photography" and "Popular Photography" magazines when only a senior in high school. Interest in "real photography" re-ignited in college (Spokane Falls Community College in Spokane, 1969-72) while in the art program. That was fanned into an inferno when I discovered a friend's mother had a darkroom below the stairs in their basement built by his grandfather. Before any formal training, photo books, learning about the "Masters", Mike Sheets (Owner of ARO Designs, Spokane, WA) and I would experiment with the whole photographic process to our hearts' content. Black and white film, we discovered, was available in 100 foot bulk rolls...and cheap! We were hooked! Occasional photographic and cartooning assignments with a Spokane based underground christian newspaper (Voice of Elijah's "The Truth") led to the same experiences with a move to Los Angeles. Independent "custom black and white photographic technique and processing" with films and papers, shooting club "custom sound and lighting systems", interiors, entertainment personalities in and around The Troubador Club in Hollywood, McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, and the occasional music festival...many contacts and opportunities made possible by old friend Matt Kramer, now living north of San Francisco in Cotati, still managing the Santa Monica Pier Twilight Dance Series during the summer months. A long weekend commute to Los Angeles...

Eventually the desire arose to specialize and I discovered medical. After a two year Bio-Medical Photography program at Bellevue Community College east of Seattle, spending ten years "in the trenches" at the University of Texas Medical Branch on Galveston Island, Texas USA. Clinical, surgical and intense after hours emergency room madness...a very interesting position to be in. Two years were also spent with the Sisters of Providence Group in Portland, Oregon USA with the medical photography team at St. Vincent Hospital up the road from downtown Portland in Beaverton. It was during these times spent as a medical photographer that my "after hours/free time" personal approach and attentive eye seemed to mature into producing a type of visual diary or collection of images. Favorites are stored to print at later dates for hanging at home, exhibits and sales. That synthesis of specialized schooling, intense shooting and a deep familiarity with my primary tools has eased the technical aspect. The actual shooting becoming second nature, allowing more time to enjoy surrounding scenes. I can be found wandering local streets and sites with good company, a worn but well maintained 1975 Nikon F2 Photomic camera, Nikkor 24mm lens, Nikkor 35mm lens and a 55mm micro-nikkor lens. Depending on sky conditions, each lens sporting a deep red #29a filter. These "daypack standards" are backed up with a Nikon FM2 (…with winder attached but seldom used…simply fits my large hands better…), Vivitar Series1 90mm macro lens and a Vivitar Series1 28-105 zoom macro-focusing lens. Favored films have always been Kodak's tri-x and plus-x processed in Kodak's D-76 @ 1:1 dilution. An occasional roll of Kodak's T-Max 400 or 100, Ilford HP5 or FP4 joins the bag of goods, but that has become rare. Favorite printing paper has been and still is Ilford's RC Pearl surface. I have yet to actually weigh that ol' Eddie Bauer daypack, but I can tell you that seams at the main stress points have been reinforced with heavy duty thread and 3M's super weatherstripping adhesive. The inner lining of "weather-resistant" material sloughed off long ago, therefore many items are protected in old Domke inserts or wrapped in tough, durable automotive rags...
Time for a new daypack? I don't think so. Now where did I put that tube of 3M…