|
I
recall having cameras in my hands all throughout my life.
Something has always drawn me to capture “moments.”
However, it was a long time until I found any confidence in my creative
side. In fact, it was in high school that I was confronted with an
art class requirement that pushed me into photography. I chose photography because of the chemistry and optics
involved. I loved developing my
film. However, I was very insecure
about having to create something artistic that would hang on the wall in the
classroom! Well, I continued taking pictures fairly seriously, mostly as documentation of the beautiful parts of the world I was traveling. I started to feel some success with my photography, as I was beginning to bring home images of the world that others were impressed with. With time, I began to understand how to take photographs that told stories, and this was probably the point at which I felt that photography was truly important in my life. Towards the end of college, I began to feel the need to get more out of my photography. There was one moment in particular, when my girlfriend and I were chatting with a couple of fraternity brothers, an done was showing off his cartoons. Dannielle asked me what my creative outlet was, and then immediately followed the question with the statement: "oh yeah, your photography." I was immediately relieved, yet concerned. At that time, I was only using my camera on the occasions that I traveled. Somehow, this concerned me that it wasn't a creative outlet, but merely a documentary of the fantastic places I had been. I began to pick up my camera more often. Bringing it with me on hikes, taking pictures of little things around me that struck me as interesting. I took many, many boring pictures, but my eye was slowly getting tuned to find dynamic images that could translate onto film as a story. Since then, I have been aggressively looking for beauty wherever I am – at home, with family, on vacation, at work. Beautiful moments, singular or complex, are always around us. It’s just a matter of looking hard enough. Once I graduated college, I had a difficult time finding work relating to nuclear physics, so I grabbed a job at the local camera store. I was fortunate enough to be working at a fairly high end store that had some pretty great gear, and most of the salesmen were professional photographers. I was hoping that I would find a job in physics soon, so I picked everyone's brains pretty aggressively, and I learned a ton from them. I also met two of my best friends, Steve and Dave. I came back from Massachusetts realizing that I had missed all sorts of opportunities to travel and see some beautiful parts of the country like Acadia National Park in Maine, the mountains in Vermont, Cape Cod. I hardly even spent much time in Boston. I vowed not to take my surroundings for granted, and began hiking quite a lot around Washington - always with my camera. For a number of years I took photos while backpacking and hiking in Washington and California. I was also exploring abstract photography of flowers. After a while, I began to yearn for photos with more of a story, the human endeavor. Pinar and I began climbing together and then traveled to a number of countries, and this led to more opportunities to get the kind of images I was interested in. Since then, I have continued gathering images of my travels and adventures, hoping to relate stories of the people around me.Recently, my career interests have turned more academic. This evolved over the last few years, as I had become increasingly interested in climate and the myriad dynamic and interrelated earth systems. My initial interest was in Atmospheric Sciences, so last year (fall of 2003) I took an undergraduate level class in Atmospheric Science, where I was fortunate enough to have Greg Hakim as my professor (quite possibly one of the best professors I've had in my post high school education). During this quarter we were asked to do a research paper on any atmospheric topic. Being a nukie kinda guy, I decided to research isotopes that are formed in the atmosphere in the same manner that C-14 is formed (the radio-carbon dating technique is based on tracking the concentrations of this isotope). I discovered a whole group in the University of Washington's Earth and Space Sciences Department that studied these isotopes (both stable and radioactive) and applied the studies towards erosion, glaciology, climatology and tectonics. I contacted the people at the Cosmogenic Isotope Lab, and they indicated that I should come down and have a chat and I should do so quickly, as they were all leaving for Antarctica in two weeks (they also do research in the Himalaya, the Andes, Colorado mesas, etc.)... A match made in heaven? So far it seems so. So now, I am enrolled, as a full time student, teaching freshman level physics for the Physics Department, and taking a serious load of classes, and very, very happy in the Earth and Space Sciences Department. I am hoping that I will have a PhD in five years, and be able to continue studying cosmogenic isotopes as a means to study climatology and the many facets of the Earth's complex systems. There are many people I should thank. Those who have provided inspiration, technical help, taught me photography and digital stuff. I am sure I will be leaving someone off the list who deserves credit, and my apologies go to whomever that may be. First would be my parents for providing me so many opportunities to explore the world, and instilling an appreciation for the outdoors; my brother, Adam, for inspiring me to think harder about how we live our lives; Bob Koon for showing me how to be an explorer, rather than a tourist; Pam Cooper and Paul Van Allen for so much support and encouragement with my photography; Paul Harris for building www.davidargentophoto.com and being an awesome friend; the numerous lovely people in CHAOS and all my fantastic climbing partners in Washington; Melissa Haltuch for teaching me to climb better, rather than harder; Goran Kropp, Renata Chlumska, and Erden Eruc for insisting on doing things the right way; Michael Burns for being a wonderful friend, inspiration and climbing partner and mentor; Russ Rockne for his web site advice, but mostly his twisted friendship; Steve Kincaid and Dave Friedle for their endless support, friendship and photographic knowledge. I also have another site (as I mentioned above) that is functioning as my online portfolio. No stories, and far fewer pictures, this is where I showcase the best pictures:
Ciao! Dave |