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Images Steeped in Stories
Written By: Donna Rhodes | Issue: 2021/12 – December | Photograph By: Kirk Dornbus
For photographer Kirk Dornbush, the secrets of humanity and creation are all around us, waiting for his illuminating gaze.
Photographer Kirk Dornbush saw the light early on. That brilliance has been glowing and growing in him ever since. As far back as he can remember, he’s been drawn to compelling images defined by dramatic light and deep shadow.
But what punches this romantic, right in his core, are the photos that make poignant statements about Humanity.
Storied 20th Century photographers Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, and Edward S. Curtis set the standard for Kirk’s black and white compositions.
Of course their technical perfection mesmerizes him. But bits of life, frozen in time, are his favorite teachers, for it’s in the observation and study of these iconic images that he learns the most. A family dazed and devastated by the Dust Bowl; Native Americans vanishing forever on a fated horizon; on the opposite end of the spectrum, the mind-blowing wonder of the majestic Rockies are just some of Kirk’s best study-guides.
While Kirk is in awe of Lange’s ability to discreetly capture a child’s shellshocked gaze, it’s landscapes that call him loudest. They too have a soul and personality, but they are welcoming and forgiving to a photographer’s intrusions.
Happiest scanning Nature’s panoramas, Kirk snaps vignettes along the Bartram Trail as it winds to the top of Scaly. It’s there, his 35th anniversary nearing, in perfect light, that he photo’d two weather-worn trees, intertwined, roots woven around rock and each other as if to keep from toppling in this crazy world. That iconic symbol of support and love spoke volumes to his wife.
Abandoned, crumbling structures have rich histories, but for their tales to be told well, the light has to be perfect. It’s in a morning or evening glow that their roofs and battered siding reveal their best stories. Kirk is there to give permanence to their memory with a little luck and careful planning,
“Observation is the key,” says Kirk. “ If you have an affinity for photography and you look at enough photos, then framing a brilliant image with perfect light will evoke the emotional response you hoped for. After a while, the process becomes unconscious, instinctual.”
To learn more about Kirk Dornbush’s work, contact him at [email protected].
