Camp likes to create photographs that people recognize and relate to while seeking to capture the special qualities of a place or moment. He especially enjoys photographing the vast expanse of Okanogan County, where he lives in Washington State. He wants his photos to produce an emotional response in people kindred to what he felt when he tripped the shutter.
Wilderness landscapes, rodeo and western flavored images in black-and-white and color.
He works with a large format Linhof (4x5) for landscapes and a Nikon 35mm camera for photojournalism work. He prints his own black-and-white silver prints, archivally processing and selenium toning them in his darkroom at home. Al uses an Aristo Variable Contrast Head for print control. For color printing, Al uses Seattle's Ivey Seright.
Al switched from large-format photography in the late-1970s to 35mm photojournalism when he left college and got a newspaper job. A love for fine detail and landscape photography brought Al back to the large-format approach to creating quality photographs in 1989.
Since then he's roamed Okanogan County, recording its many physical features. In the last few years, he's expanded his horizon to include photographic trips to the Oregon coast and rock formations in Utah and Arizona.
He's attended many workshops and learned from many fine photographers in an effort to improve, including Jodi Cobb and National Geographic/Life Magazine, Ruth Bernhard, Jay Dusard, Huntington Witherill, Ray McSavaney, Bruce Barnbaum, Lee Mann, Stu Levy, Don Kirby, Alan Ross, John Sexton, and Reed Thomas.
His formal education includes a BA in Communication/Cinematography and a BS in General Studies/Physical Sciences from Washington State University. While at WSU, he studied photography for a year with Francis Ho using a large format press camera.
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1978-79 Advance Photography Class, WSU. Instructor Francis Ho, center. Image on top and bottom are different, with All being in the bottom image. The double-negative print was inspired by Jerry Uelsmann.
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His newspaper photos have won numerous awards, both regionally and nationally, have been shown at Washington State University and Confluence Gallery in Twisp, and are hanging at Sun Mountain Lodge near Winthrop. An image of football players taken in the statewide project, A Day in the Life of Washington, landed in the archives at Washington State Museum of Natural History.
Al's a photography section editor (BoP, one of the first editors at ODP) at Open Director Project (ODP).
Al was born March 1, 1951, in Tacoma. He graduated from Stadium High School in 1969. Al currently lives in Okanogan with his wife, Dee, and son, Douglas.
In the last 25 years, Camp's photographs have appeared in magazines, including Washington, American West, Alaska and National Enquirer, and in newspapers, including The Seattle Times, Spokesman-Review and The Idahonian. His photographs also have been sent over the Associated Press wire service.
CONTACT Al for more information.