White Rock, British Columbia, 1981

“Photography is the critical instrument of the curious” ~ Larry Fink

The quote above is also the title of a Time Magazine interview with photographer Larry Fink, famous for his unflinching documentary photographs of wealthy Americans, contrasted with less affluent folks in collections like Social Graces.

I happened upon the interview this morning, surfing a wave of social media happenstance. I hadn’t thought of Fink for ages, until I saw mention of him on Instagram.

In the interview, Fink laments the influence of post-modernism and its inward gaze on todays’ photographers. Opportunism has replaced sincerity and, I guess, curiosity. Fink distrusts the conceits of the art world. So do many photographers, like Brian Duffy and David Bailey. And me.

“Fine images depend upon thinking about what you see and understanding what you feel about what you see” ~ Freeman Patterson

In the rainy June of 1981, I was between jobs (Two months later I’d hire on at Mountain Equipment Co-Op). I’d just returned from a spring bicycle trip across BC, returning by train from Invermere with my daughter. During the trip, I kept detailed notes on every exposure made with my new Nikon camera, with the intention of improving my skills. I read the print off of Freeman Patterson’s Photography for the joy of it.

Back on the west coast, my diary records climbs in Squamish, including my then-6-year-old daughter’s first route at the Smoke Bluffs. An attempted midnight ascent of Siwash Rock with Vancouver climbers Dean Hart and Randy Atkinson was foiled by a rising tide.

Often, a roll of Kodachrome I’d started on a climbing trip was finished back in town, where the customs of civilization appeared curious and fascinating.