— Journal

Burning with desire.

Essays, history, and field notes on the medium of photography.

Black and white photograph of a halved artichoke by Edward Weston

f/64 – Revolution in Focus

Edward Weston - F64 revolution photographer seeking detail above pictorial illusion.

— Journal

Sam's Red Hots hot dog stand in Chicago photographed by Patty Carroll

The Elevation of Color (1976)

The search for color in fine art photography found early forms in dye sublimation prints made from Cibachrome - like "Sam's" by Patty Carroll from her 1980's series on Chicago Hot Dog stands.

Read essay →
Retouched 1949 press photograph of Humphrey Bogart from Knock on Any Door

Photoshop – Now What? (1990)

Giving images impact, outside the camera, has a long history in photography and publication of photographs. By 1991 and the release of Photoshop version 1.0, airbrush, oil paint, litho films, and other retouching tools were crushed by computer rendering and digital manipulation. Above actor Humphrey Bogart has his hand-bearing cigarette removed for a film still advertising the 1949 Columbia picture "Knock on Any Door".

Read essay →

Hunter’s Home – Jennie Ross Cobb

Hunter’s Home, Tahlequah OK - Seroco Camera (1904) using historically correct hand-coated, dry plate film on glass, and original film holders.

Read essay →

Cinematic Staging (1980)

While composite imagery had been practiced before 1900, and the darkroom mastery of Jerry Uelsman stood almost without equal in the 1970s, influencing the decade of the 1980s was the staged and composited photographs of an Canadian artist named Jeff Wall and Buffalo NY photographer Cindy Sherman. Ten years later the arrival of Photoshop version number 1 would begin the crush of analogue methods into chemical vapor. Yet for the period of the late 1970s early 1980s, Jeff Wall and Cindy Sherman's cinematically derived compositions would be the new contemporary discourse.

Read essay →

Notes from the Magic Kingdom 

In the 1960s my parents, Charlie and Martha, loaded my brother Jeff and I into a station wagon with a rear-facing seat and drove Route 66 to California's Disneyland. The park was eight years old when we arrived–coincidentally, the same age I was.

Read essay →
Color chrysanthemum archival photo print from the Flowers in the Studio series by Chuck Davis

Chrysanthemum – Color

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 11x14 inches
Edition
Edition of 10
Price
$540

For several years I shared a studio on Emma Street in Springdale, Arkansas where annually we would setup for a Flowers in the Studio event. These images are my favorites from this period.

White Rock Spiral archival pigment print by Chuck Davis on Red River premium photo paper.

White Rock Spiral

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 16x20 inches
Edition
Edition of 15
Price
$820

White Rock Mountain Recreational Area offers one of the most stunning panoramas in the Natural State of Arkansas. It was a perfect place for in camera light painting at dusk one evening in 2015.

Eureka Springs Ford archival pigment print featuring a vintage Ford in Eureka Springs, Arkansas by Chuck Davis

Eureka Springs - Ford

Medium
Archival Pigment Print on Red River premium photo paper – matted to 16x20 inches
Edition
Edition of 15
Price
$820

Eureka Springs, Arkansas is a favorite destination of mine due to its diverse community and rich history of natural springs. In 2026, I was in there in residency at Dairy Hollow Artist Colony for ten days.