Thursday, January 31, 2008
The Pacific Northwest of Jim Hughes
Pardon my indulgence. Today's post consists of biographical notes I prepared for an exhibition of my father's photography on display throughout February at Cocopelli's Coffee & Tea at the Academy building in Vancouver, WA.
Jim Hughes had the great fortune to use his photography to share his affection of the Pacific Northwest for over forty years. The work displayed in this room can be viewed as a kind of summary and coda to much of the kind of work he did during his career with the US Forest Service and Washington State Department of Natural Resources. The sixties, seventies and eighties were decades where those agencies made it a priority to promote and display the range of natural wonders that they were responsible for. Jim’s lifelong commitment towards photographic excellence and love of the Northwest was definitely up to the task.
Mountains and forests made a huge impression when he went to Fort Lewis as a young serviceman in the late forties and inspired him with almost immediate resolve that this was a place he was going to live someday, a region that had so much contrast with his prior life experience in the California’s San Joaquin valley or Oklahoma. After the service, while studying Journalism at Fresno State University, Jim attended a guest lecture by The Columbian’s Managing Editor, Erwin Rieger to immediately inquire about the possibility of serving on summer internship for the paper. This led to a four-year relationship with the Columbian where he helped usher in the 35mm photojournalism revolution to Vancouver’s paper and gave him the opportunity to refine his skill set as a photographer and writer.
Jim’s interest in great photography was first sparked as a boy who looked forward to the weekly delivery of Life magazine. He continued to be impressed throughout his lifetime with phenomenal photographic talent like W. Eugene Smith and others who were associated with Life’s legendary photo editor Roy Stryker. And he appreciated other greats such as Edward Steichen, Magnum’s Robert Capa and Elliott Erwitt and, of course, nature photographers of the likes of Elliot Porter, Ansel Adams and Galen Rowell.
His 25 years of work with the PNW region of the US Forest Service allowed him to photograph in all of the National Forests and most of the wilderness areas in Oregon and Washington as well as events and individuals significant to the life of the agency. His work for the Forest Service appeared in a wide range of government publications such as maps and visitor guides, but also was used in a number of major magazines throughout the world such as National Geographic and American Forests. Near his retirement in 1987, Jim’s work appeared in retrospective exhibits at the Western Forestry Center in Portland, OR and the Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington, DC.
After his formal career, Jim continued to spend much of his time photographing the Northwest, creating an independent freelance business, Photoventure, which enabled him to visit some favorite locations and discover new ones. This exhibit samples Jim’s work from those years of drives with his wife Priscilla to the Columbia River Gorge when he had reports that balsam wood flowers were in bloom, winter trips to the Oregon coast in search of spectacular post-storm sunset or to other promising locations up until his death in 1996.
“The Pacific Northwest is a great place to be a photographer.” he once told a writer and friend of his who was preparing an article on Jim’s work for a national magazine. That enthusiasm for place coupled with his devotion to the art and craft of photography will continue to stand as the legacy of his work.
posted by well-executed buffet at 5:31 AM
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