Todd Walker (photographer)
Encyclopedia
Todd Walker was an American photographer, printmaker and creator of artists' books who is known for his manipulated images and for his use of offset lithography to produce individual prints and limited-edition books of his work.
so it would render properly in black-and-white. He also used this time to learn about color mixing by combining leftover paints at the end of the day to create new hues.
he established a commercial photography studio in Los Angeles. Through most of the 1950s he was in high demand for his creative advertising work that featured striking visual images and intense colors. During this time he began creating a series of highly distinctive nudes that used the Sabattier effect to meld form and surface together. He also spent much time studying the traditional collotype
printing process, and he was the most prominent of a new breed of photographers who helped revive the popularity of this process.
, and he began to create and publish small editions of books using photolithography
to reproduce his own works. He set up his own printing house, the Thumbprint Press, at a time when there was no desktop publishing
. His involvement led him to explore the chemistry and mechanics of the offset process in detail, and he experimented at length by doing such things as changing the patterns of the printing dots and overprinting images with multiple colors to achieve extraordinary saturation. He was known to have used as many as 35 colors on one image in a medium that traditionally used a standard set of only four colors.
in Los Angeles in 1966. His interest in creative photographic processes brought him to the attention of Robert Heinecken and Robert W. Fichter
at UCLA, and the three co-taught classes for a brief time. In 1970 Walker accepted a one-year teaching position at the University of Florida
. There he worked with photographers Jerry Uelsmann
and Douglas Prince as well as printmaker Ken Kerslake
, who was at that time using photo-etching techniques in intaglio printmaking. Walker taught a photo-printmaking class and a silkscreen class. In an interview in the late 1970s Walker said, "The contact with the ideas of the printmaker have greatly altered my attitudes toward photography, and how each discipline deals with an image." Seven years later he moved to Tucson and taught at the University of Arizona
before retiring in 1985.
s, and he used his technical skills to create some early 3-D images of his work and to create a book in which the text was mostly generated by the computer (Enthusiasm Strengthens, 1987). According to his daughter, Walker never used Photoshop or other commercial imaging software. He wrote his own computer programs and later made use of software primarily designed for cartography. With these techniques he was able to create digital works that blurred, inverted and obscured the original image, making it into an expressive rather than detailed representation of reality.
Walker died of cancer in 1998.
Early life
Walker was born in Utah and grew up in Los Angeles. His father died when he was 14, and he struggled to find a place to belong in life. As a teenager he earned money painting backdrops on movie sets, and he learned to study tonalities when called upon to paint the faux finish on the fireplace in the movie Citizen KaneCitizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
so it would render properly in black-and-white. He also used this time to learn about color mixing by combining leftover paints at the end of the day to create new hues.
Early photographic career
Walker began to learn photography some time in the late 1930s, and after World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he established a commercial photography studio in Los Angeles. Through most of the 1950s he was in high demand for his creative advertising work that featured striking visual images and intense colors. During this time he began creating a series of highly distinctive nudes that used the Sabattier effect to meld form and surface together. He also spent much time studying the traditional collotype
Collotype
Collotype is a dichromate-based photographic process invented by Alphonse Poitevin in 1856. and was used for large volume mechanical printing before the existence of cheaper offset lithography. It can produce results difficult to distinguish from metal-based photographic prints because of its...
printing process, and he was the most prominent of a new breed of photographers who helped revive the popularity of this process.
Thumbprint Press
In 1964 his wife gave him a small offset pressOffset printing
Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface...
, and he began to create and publish small editions of books using photolithography
Photolithography
Photolithography is a process used in microfabrication to selectively remove parts of a thin film or the bulk of a substrate. It uses light to transfer a geometric pattern from a photomask to a light-sensitive chemical "photoresist", or simply "resist," on the substrate...
to reproduce his own works. He set up his own printing house, the Thumbprint Press, at a time when there was no desktop publishing
Desktop publishing
Desktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...
. His involvement led him to explore the chemistry and mechanics of the offset process in detail, and he experimented at length by doing such things as changing the patterns of the printing dots and overprinting images with multiple colors to achieve extraordinary saturation. He was known to have used as many as 35 colors on one image in a medium that traditionally used a standard set of only four colors.
Teaching career and colleagues
Walker began teaching at the Art Center College of DesignArt Center College of Design
Art Center College of Design is a private college located in Pasadena, California, and was cited by BusinessWeek as one of the 60 best design schools in the world. The college’s industrial design program is consistently ranked number one by both DesignIntelligence and U.S...
in Los Angeles in 1966. His interest in creative photographic processes brought him to the attention of Robert Heinecken and Robert W. Fichter
Robert W. Fichter
Robert Witten Fichter is an American photographer.Born in Fort Myers, Florida, he attended the University of Florida, Gainesville, where he studied under Jerry Uelsmann, Ken Kerslake and Jack Nicholsen and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1963...
at UCLA, and the three co-taught classes for a brief time. In 1970 Walker accepted a one-year teaching position at the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
. There he worked with photographers Jerry Uelsmann
Jerry Uelsmann
Jerry N. Uelsmann is an American photographer.Uelsmann was born in Detroit, Michigan. When he was in high school, his interest in photography sparked. He originally believed that using a camera could allow him to exist outside of himself, to live in a world captured through the lens...
and Douglas Prince as well as printmaker Ken Kerslake
Ken Kerslake
Fine artist Ken Kerslake was, according to Dr. Tom Dewey of the University of Mississippi,"one of a handful of printmaker-educators responsible for the growth of printmaking in the southeast in the years following World War II." Kerslake's teaching career was spent at the University of Florida in...
, who was at that time using photo-etching techniques in intaglio printmaking. Walker taught a photo-printmaking class and a silkscreen class. In an interview in the late 1970s Walker said, "The contact with the ideas of the printmaker have greatly altered my attitudes toward photography, and how each discipline deals with an image." Seven years later he moved to Tucson and taught at the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
before retiring in 1985.
Late digital work
While in Arizona, Walker began working with some of the first Apple computerApple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
s, and he used his technical skills to create some early 3-D images of his work and to create a book in which the text was mostly generated by the computer (Enthusiasm Strengthens, 1987). According to his daughter, Walker never used Photoshop or other commercial imaging software. He wrote his own computer programs and later made use of software primarily designed for cartography. With these techniques he was able to create digital works that blurred, inverted and obscured the original image, making it into an expressive rather than detailed representation of reality.
Walker died of cancer in 1998.
Books by Todd Walker
- Enthusiasm Strengthens, Tucson, Arizona (Thumbprint Press?), 1987
- How Would It Feel to Be Able to Dance Like This?, 1967
- For Nothing Changes: Democritus, on the Other Side, Burst Out A-Laughing, Photographs by Todd Walker with excerpts from "Anatomy of Melancholy" by Robert BurtonRobert BurtonRobert Burton may refer to:* Robert Burton , Master of University College, Oxford, England * Robert Burton , English scholar and vicar* Robert Burton, Sr. , printing industry executive...
(1577–1640). Published by Todd Walker, 1976. - Ri is for Rock, 1986
- The Story of an Abandoned Shack in the Desert, 1995 (Reprinted by Nazraeli Press as An Abandoned Shack, 2000)