Takkun
Ian M.
http://seattletimes.com/html/obituaries/2023842398_johnstametsobitxml.html
http://www.bullittcenter.org/2014/06/11/remembering-john-stamets/
I meant to post this in June, but it escaped me. Back at the end of my spring quarter, my professor and mentor, John Stamets, passed. I've spent much of the summer helping to organize his personal work, camera collection, and continue a documentary project he started.
I started taking classes in architecture at UW over a year ago, and, despite having a degree in photojournalism, took his intro BW class on a whim. On top of basic darkroom techniques (I can always use a refresher), he taught specifically architecture documentation. It was life-changing, and made me love photography again.
John taught me more about chemistry and printing than I ever learned in undergrad, that film isn't dead, and that yes, my weird obsession with photographing buildings is valued (or at least I'm not the only one doing it).
He took me on a couple of adventures I wouldn't have imagined: a construction site before dawn on a sunday; hanging out of a doorless helicopter over downtown; even a roller derby match. He was obsessed with roller derby (his official derby name? Papa Razzi).
He was known around the department as a verbose but knowledgable oddball. I think we got along so well because we had a lot of the same background and quirks--he started as a news photog, and fell into architecture after looking for a new subject to shoot. He was a collector, a perfectionist, a bit of a gadget geek, but one with little patience for figuring out new equipment.
I think what endeared me most to him was his obsession with photographing anything and everything. We bonded over compulsions to photograph and catalog things like manhole covers and utility poles. And looking through his archive, it's amazing how complete a record of Seattle's built environment he amassed.
Please seek out his work, especially if you're a fan of architecture or Seattle. He published but a single book--"Portrait of a Market," a series of Widelux photos of the Pike market. His work, most of it entirely on film and offline, is going to UW Special Collections, and I can only hope they'll be exhibited soon.
http://www.bullittcenter.org/2014/06/11/remembering-john-stamets/
I meant to post this in June, but it escaped me. Back at the end of my spring quarter, my professor and mentor, John Stamets, passed. I've spent much of the summer helping to organize his personal work, camera collection, and continue a documentary project he started.
I started taking classes in architecture at UW over a year ago, and, despite having a degree in photojournalism, took his intro BW class on a whim. On top of basic darkroom techniques (I can always use a refresher), he taught specifically architecture documentation. It was life-changing, and made me love photography again.
John taught me more about chemistry and printing than I ever learned in undergrad, that film isn't dead, and that yes, my weird obsession with photographing buildings is valued (or at least I'm not the only one doing it).
He took me on a couple of adventures I wouldn't have imagined: a construction site before dawn on a sunday; hanging out of a doorless helicopter over downtown; even a roller derby match. He was obsessed with roller derby (his official derby name? Papa Razzi).
He was known around the department as a verbose but knowledgable oddball. I think we got along so well because we had a lot of the same background and quirks--he started as a news photog, and fell into architecture after looking for a new subject to shoot. He was a collector, a perfectionist, a bit of a gadget geek, but one with little patience for figuring out new equipment.
I think what endeared me most to him was his obsession with photographing anything and everything. We bonded over compulsions to photograph and catalog things like manhole covers and utility poles. And looking through his archive, it's amazing how complete a record of Seattle's built environment he amassed.
Please seek out his work, especially if you're a fan of architecture or Seattle. He published but a single book--"Portrait of a Market," a series of Widelux photos of the Pike market. His work, most of it entirely on film and offline, is going to UW Special Collections, and I can only hope they'll be exhibited soon.
