Peter Szarmach

My love of photography blossomed at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Studying photography under Esther Parada and Hans Schaal, I learned how composition, light, color, shape, and texture combine to bring about an exciting image.In my later years, I began to focus on nature where I feel closer to everything. Among nature, I find a meditative state, and try to capture the vastness and the details that create visual awe or a wondrous abstract.As the master photographer Paul Strand said, "I think of myself as an explorer who has spent his life on a long voyage of discovery." As with Strand, I hope to keep exploring nature on a voyage with delightful discoveries.

I guess you could say my relationship with photography began when I won a raffle prize of a Kodak Instamatic camera at a plumbing show. (I was there because my dad and uncle owned the local hardware store.) I remember taking that Instamatic to Mexico City and Acapulco on a high school Spanish club trip and shooting all the sights.While earning a BA in Graphic Design from the U of Illinois at Chicago, I was able to study photography with great professors such as Esther Parada. There my love of photography blossomed. Learning about the critical elements that make up a striking image has stayed with me over time.For a portrait project, I would visit O’Hare airport and photograph passengers as they waited for their flights. There was one Asian boy who was pushing a small suitcase around the airport who became a subject of a series of images that resonated with many viewers.One of my early “self-assignments” was to photograph the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada. I ended up carrying so much equipment that I made it to the press room without a press pass! I was fortunate to have some of those images shown in a neighborhood Chicago gallery.As a working graphic designer, I would often incorporate photography as part of a design solution and for a time had my own darkroom where I would manipulate images for better integration into my design work. My best “gig” as a designer was being the tour photographer for a group of college students touring Europe and then coming back and designing the itinerary booklet for next year’s tours.More recently, I have found a passion for capturing the vastness and the details in nature. Composing landscapes and natural abstracts excite me. In recent years, I also had the pleasure of capturing some coastal birds of Texas. These creatures are wondrous in flight and curious on the ground.I am currently a board member and volunteer docent at the San Antonio Art League & Museum and a member of the New Braunfels Art League & Gallery.My images have been in juried shows across the U.S., and I have self-published three books: Sacred Places, Natural Abstracts and Trees & Canopies that feature the vastness and the details I enjoy about nature.