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Rangefinder Magazine
Features/February 2002
Profile: Gary Fagan by Linda L. May
“I
feel anyone can get as far as they want in this profession.”
Gary Fagan, co-owns Fagan Photography with his wife Jan, in Dubuque,
Iowa. Fagan specializes in location and outdoor portraiture—and in
particular, high school seniors, family groups, executives and head-and-shoulder
portraits for corporate promotional use. In 2001, Fagan earned WPPI’s
Accolade of Lifetime Excellence, the highest award given by that organization.
Growing up, Gary was exposed to photography because of his father, who
was an avid amateur photographer. Fagan watched his father start out with
old Brownies and move up to 35mm SLRs. Gary’s fascination with photography
increased along with his father’s interest. However, it was not until
after Gary retired from a 30-year career as a tool and dye maker at John
Deere, that he seriously pursued this profession. Before he formally retired,
Fagan was already shooting weddings on a part-time basis. At one time,
he was photographing about 50 weddings per year, along with hundreds of
portraits. However, four years ago, he stopped shooting weddings altogether
to concentrate totally on portraiture.
“The style of my photography now is environmental, incorporating
people into beautiful landscapes, to tell a story. My goal is to create
works of art, not just to shoot pictures,” Fagan says.
Last November, Fagan was the first photographer from Dubuque to ever be
invited to display prints at the Rock-A-Budda Art Gallery in Dubuque.
More than 70 of Fagan’s images were sold during this exhibit, so,
by all measures, it was a great success. He is already booked for the
next display in two years.
Gary and Jan operate their in-home studio by themselves, with no other
employees. Gary does all the shooting while Jan keeps the business organized
and running smoothly. For outdoor sittings, Fagan Photography boasts an
elaborate, in-yard garden, complete with bridges, flowers, rocks, a gazebo,
and split-rail fences. The half-acre garden faces north, for the best
light.
Gary talked about the social aspects of belonging to an organization like
WPPI and what it has meant to him. “As a WPPI member, it’s important
to socialize with fellow members and learn from each other. The experience
has helped me grow as a photographer. When I first joined, I’d admire
the prints and watch the people going up on stage to receive all those
awards, and it made me want to do it someday. So, I started entering prints
and now I’m one of those photographers winning awards,” Fagan
says, smiling.
Not only is Fagan winning WPPI awards, but he is now one of the speakers.
At the March 2001 WPPI convention, he taught a workshop titled, “Mastering
the Subtleties of Window Light,” which included detailed information
on posing, lighting and the proper use of light meters.
Gary Fagan has always taken numerous photo classes through the Mid-American
Institute of Professional Photography in Iowa, where he met Don Blair.
Through these many years, they have become good friends. Fagan even travels
with Blair and assists him in his portrait workshops around the nation.
Last year, on a trip to Mexico with Blair, Fagan captured an award-winning
portrait of his friend and mentor, which he titled “The Legend,”
which won Fagan “Best of Show” at the 2001 Heart of America
Professional Photographers annual four-state convention. In August, Fagan
received the Kodak Regional Medallion at the ASP Banquet for “The
Legend” as well. This print also won Second Place in the 8x10 Individual
category in the 2001 WPPI print competition. Also in 2001, Fagan’s
print titled “The Artist,” won First Place in the 8x10 Individual
category and was also chosen Portrait of the Year. In the16x20 WPPI print
competition, Fagan won First Place in the Portrait category for “Sleigh
Ride For the Master.”
Fagan is fortunate because he does not need to advertise to keep clients
coming in. Fagan Photography does not even run an ad in the Yellow Pages.
Most of his business comes through word-of-mouth advertising. However,
he is subcontracted to John Deere to shoot all the corporations’
promotional photographs, including head and shoulder shots of retirees
and those promoted within the company. This contract provides steady income,
and referrals.
“Looking back on my career, and how I started out knowing nothing,
and where I am today, I feel anyone can get as far as they want in this
profession. It’s not going to be handed to you, but if you really
want to succeed, and work hard, you can do it. That’s the same way
to look at digital imaging. You can’t just go buy a digital camera
and instantly become a photographer. But if you take seminars and practice,
you can conquer digital as well. Learn at your own pace. Don’t be
rushed!” Fagan says.
Recently, Fagan took a two-day seminar in Photoshop and is practicing
by manipulating and enhancing his own images. He uses a Dell PC system
with an Epson 1280 printer.
“I am putting a lot of my scenics on the computer and making changes
in Photoshop—deepening contrast, changing or intensifying colors,
putting borders on prints and experimenting,” Fagan says. “If
I don’t get into digital in some way, I’ll be missing out and
losing business. Photographers need to remember that when you start shooting
digital, you become the lab and the workload increases. You have to do
you own digital manipulation to maintain control over your work. But I
don’t intend to spend every day in front of the computer. There’s
only one way to get excellent portraits, and that’s to shoot them
with traditional film.”
For his environmental portraits, Gary shoots by available light for the
most part, but uses fill-flash when it’s needed. “I use flash-fill
primarily on groups. For individuals, I use reflectors,” Fagan says.
Fagan uses Lumedyne lighting equipment, and barebulb heads. Don is always
trying different lighting techniques. He picked up using barebulb lighting
from Don Blair, who is the “Barebulb Master,” according to Fagan.
Fagan shoots strictly Kodak films—the Portras for color and T-Max
100 and T-Max 3200 for black-and-white work He loves T-Max 3200 window
light for grainy but creative images.
Gary is an expert at shooting by window light and insists that the meter
you use can make all the difference. “The kind of meter and how you
position it in relation to the subject makes all the difference, Fagan
says. He uses a Minolta Spotmeter, and reads the shadow side of the face,
and exposes for it, not the highlights, as many photographers do. That
way he gets detail in the darker shadow areas. “If you meter for
the main light source, the shadow side goes black,” Fagan explains.
Fagan believes in creating “pictures with punch,” so getting
the right light is very important. In the studio he uses 16-inch parabolic
reflectors with barndoors for a completely controlled light source. “If
you skim your subject with the light then it is softer and more appealing.
You don’t want to blast the face directly with harsh light. I also
use Don Blair soft focus filters on my lenses—either a #1 or #2,
for even greater softness. I call this technique ‘in-camera retouching,’
because it’s so soft. There’s a variety of soft focus filters
on the market. Some of them are mushy, some flare, and some will create
a ghost image along the nose line, so check them out carefully before
you buy,” Fagan says.
Because correct exposure is so vital to producing pictures with punch,
Fagan is never without his trusty light meters. For indoor, studio work,
he uses a Sekonic 508 flash and incident meter; for outdoor and window
light shoots, he uses the Minolta Spotmeter.
Gary’s latest adventure has been with infrared film, which is “very
tricky to use,” he says. Fagan loves infrared for competition and
fine art photography. For best results, Fagan recommends shooting infrared
on a bright, sunny day with blue skies and puffy, open clouds, using a
#25 red filter on the lens and he always brackets his exposures three
to four f-stops, because there are no guarantees with this type of film.
Fagan does all the black- and-white labwork himself in his 8x10-foot,
in-house darkroom. American Color Imaging and Lattins Lab, both located
in Cedar Falls, Iowa, do all his digital imaging, proofing, and enlargements.
Through the years, Fagan has formed a good working relationship with both
labs.
In the future, Gary Fagan plans to increase his speaking engagements.
He also plans to purchase a digital camera soon because John Deere always
wants the orders back in a hurry. He intends to continue learning and
practicing Photoshop so he can do all of his own digital imaging one day.
Of course, Fagan will continue shooting black-and-white fine art images
and market that work more aggressively. That is the main reason he is
now building a website.
Readers may contact Gary Fagan at Fagan Photography via e-mail at: faganphoto@aol.com;
or by phone at: (319) 556-6097.
Linda L. May is a writer living in the Midwest.
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