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As a child who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Les enjoyed the outdoors, collecting artifacts of nature and viewing a simpler world. He received his first camera from his father when he was about twelve years old and shortly after built his first darkroom. The process of darkroom photography for Les was like magic: a feeling he still experiences today in the darkroom.
Les is a self-taught photographic artist and photogramist specializing in landscape, portrait and experimental avant-garde types of imagery, which include photograms and chemigrams and what are known today as alternative processes. This work includes minimalist designs and representational imagery created in color and monochrome and is created using conventional and alternative methods. Les makes a very personal connection to the hand-made print. His inspiration is the opportunity to capture the beauty of the natural world and to apply artistic vision to the photograph. His work is generally experimental with a mix of minimalist composition. Les both takes photographs in the environment and makes photographs in the darkroom using photogram and chemigram techniques and applies these ideas using alternative processes.
The search for images allows Les to use kinesthetic and visual modalities. These same two modalities are at work in the conventional darkroom. He uses the arrangement of objects and manipulation of the direction and intensity of light sources to create the abstract nature of unique images. His photograms are new forms created by light and shadows. In addition to the use of light to project the shadow of an object on a photosensitive surface, he uses the action of chemicals to construct unique imagery on the photosensitive surface. The final print takes on a very personal, never repeatable, essence.
Les is now a resident of Scottsdale, Arizona. He has taught photography at the Princeton Friends School in Princeton, NJ and also privately. His earlier photography is included in a variety of publications including Ducks Unlimited, and several issues of New Jersey Outdoors and in New Jersey Monthly. He was commissioned and provided all of the photography for the book “Awakening the Hidden Storyteller”, by Robin Moore. His more experimental work can be seen at photograms.org, a continuously growing review of the history of the photogram as an artistic endeavor. His photography also appears in “The Daily Book of Photography. His work is collected, and has also been purchased for interior decor and for corporate clients. His more recent exhibitions include Olney Gallery (Trinity Episcopal Cathedral), Shemer Art Center, The Phoenix Public Library – Yucca Branch, Art Intersection- Light Sensitive, and his work has been published in “The Daily Book of Photography”, in annual reports, and on book covers. He has shown recently at Mayo in Scottsdale. He is a juried member of the Arizona Artists Guild.
