Photographer Kent Wisner

Today we are pleased to share the work of Kent Wisner. We met Kent in last years call for entry INPrint.

Would you please tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a recovering lawyer, now business executive as my day job, a father to three, two launched and one on the verge. I’m also passionate about art and photography.

How did you get started photography?

I learned to print in a darkroom before I learned to shoot, thanks to a friend who invited me to help him print a mid-term photo project in college. I went out and bought a used Pentax ME and some Tri-X and started shooting.

Where did you get your photographic training?

I’m mostly self-taught but my outlook on seeing the world changed fundamentally during a 2006 Santa Fe workshop with Cig Harvey. I am eternally grateful to her insight and artistic generosity.

Did you have a mentor?

Other than my week with Cig Harvey, no.

If you could spend a day with any other photographer or artist living or passed who would it be?

Robert Mapplethorpe.

What hangs on your own walls?

A Ruth Bernhard lithograph, a Viktor Skrebneski male nude print, a painting by Bill Cass, a Cig Harvey print, a self-portrait done by my daughter, and my favorite image of mine from the inside of a grain silo.

Would you share with us an image (not your own) that has stayed with you over time and why?

A metaphor on balance, and a study in palette and composition and light by Cig Harvey taught me to read images on many axes at once.

What image of yours would you say taught you an important lesson?

I almost threw away a set of negatives shot on a 2×3 Horseman 985 Field Camera because it was shot at night and was really dark. But I let the images sit for a month and then found an image that had some context and mystery, some interesting details I’d forgotten from the scene (e.g., a door without a knob) and a feel that I loved. It taught me to let images germinate. My perception of my own work always changes over time.

What equipment have you found essential in the making of your work?

A fast, sharp lens. And a tripod. The tripod makes me slow down.

Is there one thing that you wish people would stop doing when it comes to the creative process or the photographic world?

Giving artistic value to how technically difficult a shot was to execute. The image should stand on its own without some extra credit for being hard to execute or discount that a chance event creates a great image without any planning or training. This isn’t Olympic diving. No degree of difficulty multiplier.