Rick Katz in front of his photograph titled The Wave from his series “Images of America’s Parks” during Sheridan Road Gallery’s, Meet The Artist event on July 6, 2014. Rick’s exhibition in Sheridan Road Gallery, Highland Park, IL will be on display from July 1 – July 31, 2014.
NS: Hi Rick. Thank you for contacting me last week to invite me to your show and interview you during your show's opening. A few minutes ago I over heard someone express to you how much he's enjoying looking at these landscapes. I didn't quite hear your reply. What motives you . . . you hope to express to people through exhibiting "Images of America's Parks"?
NS: When I first walked in today, you were explaining to a student of yours about the photographic quality you strive to achieve. You've been teaching Photo II at Chicago Photography Classes for a long time. What are these elements you were pointing out to her in these printed photographs?
RK: Hmmm. during the day, I spoke to so many people about the photography. I would have to guess that what I was telling her about included being in the right place when the light was right. I am a firm believer that capturing the image in the camera includes getting the right look, the correct perspective, the shadows and exposure so that all that is required in the computer are minor adjustments. What I was probably stressing to her was having an idea about what it is that I want to show before even taking my camera out of my pack. Usually it means walking around to check various perspectives then figuring out if I want to compress the distance or show the distance, which, f course, determines which lens to use. For sure, I told her that the images in this show have not been heavily adjusted in any of the programs I use. The one exception is the Grand Canyon panorama, which is two rows of nine images put together in Photoshop and then taken back into Lightroom for final adjustments. That panorama is about seven feet by two feet, so I wanted to make sure everything lined up correctly.
NS: Before I came here today, I visited your website, I saw you share it with your wife's watercolor and acrylic ink paintings at www.JREcreations.com. What does the 'E' in JRE stand for?
RK: JRE stands for Judy (my wife), Rick and everybody. We thought that it would be whimsical and gives us the opportunity to have other family members display on the site. Actually, two of our grandchildren took a series of butterfly images at the Chicago Botanic Garden when they were 11 and 9. The images were then in two shows, one in Skokie and one in Lincolnwood, so for a while, there were four of us on the website.
NS: Thank you Rick. Please let me know when Judy's work will be on exhibit.
