John Spence

Landscape photography for me is an ordering device. The boundaries of the frame organize space and objects. Being at the right place at the right time with the right equipment in the right frame of mind is essential.

The photographs which result are documents of the physical landscape, but while the palate is sky, earth and trees, the reason for doing it is to create a visual image of an emotional response to the place where I am.

Making photographs is about making a private world public. The trick is to use a vocabulary everyone can understand and then speak clearly and distinctly.

Artist Bio

John Spence was born in Abilene, Texas in 1943 and lived in western Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado before moving to Beatrice, Nebraska where he grew up. He attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and received a BFA in 1969 and in 1972 an MFA in photography. Spence worked for Nebraska Public Television for five years in their film unit before starting his own business as an independent film and video producer.