Henry Gilpin, Photographer

A most respected teacher and mentor for forty years, Henry Gilpin continues to impact the world of photography with every image he makes and student he teaches. Henry isn't changing photography's direction but is substantiating and clarifying it with his mastery of the technical and aesthetic issues. He peels back the layers of the day's ever-present noise and distractions to show us what is truly there. With almost an uncanny awareness of what's to come or happen in front of the camera, Henry constructs balanced compositions that would seem to take hours to arrange yet, they are 'captured moments.' A quiet, humble and complex individual with monumental gifts freely shared to all.

Henry Gilpin began his photographic life in Yosemite in 1959. He says it began as he held the work of Paul Strand, Walker Evans, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams and other early masters. This was his introduction to all that a fine photographic print could be!

Henry Gilpin has taught photography to students at Monterey Peninsula College since 1963. A background in engineering probably helped Gilpin's understanding of the technical process of photography, an area that Ansel Adams mastered, and Henry Gilpin soon began teaching.

Gilpin's motto for his students is: Do it right, do it yourself, and use the Zone System. Although Gilpin personally chose to remain with his first love of the full-tonal-range silver print, he encourages his students to learn the new tools of photography, the digital tools.

Gilpin enjoys making landscapes and abstracts mostly. [He refers to abstracts as designs]. He also prefers to work with black-and-white film. He uses a 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" or 5" x 7" format camera.

Aside from his college teaching career, he has been instructor for many workshops over the years, including Ansel Adams workshops in Yosemite; the Friends of Photography; Owens Valley Workshops; John Sexton Workshops; University of California, Santa Cruz workshop; and the University of Alaska.

Henry Gilpin's work has been collected and exhibited internationally. He lives with his wife, Doris, on the Monterey Peninsula.