In 1987, at the age of 56, my life took a new path. I came to serious photography because of a book given to me by a friend. The book was 'Farber's Nudes,' by Robert Farber. His soft and feminine nude photographs inspired me to attend his week-long workshop in Northern California. I became hooked. Shortly thereafter, I designed and built my own darkroom where I developed and printed all of my photos, and built a photo studio in my loft. In 2006 I added a natural light studio. In addition to 35mm and medium format black-and-white (and occasional color) film, I shot 35mm b&w infrared film, usually unfiltered to enhance the subtle qualities of skin.

In 1999, I was asked to write an instructional book on b&w nude photography by Amherst Media, which is still available from Amazon and in many retail camera stores. My need to experiment and grow led me to try digital photography in 2000. Within a year I had abandoned my darkroom. Although I still create b&w, sepia and simulated infrared images as well as color photographs, most are now finished in Photoshop rather than with chemicals and an enlarger. My first love remains: the black-and-white fine art nude image.

Primarily I'm a self-taught photographer. But I did learn some key techniques during several workshops with artists like Joyce Tennyson, Ken Marcus, Jerry Uelsmann, Michael Kenna and Sally Mann (all exceptional printers). My work is entirely the fine art nude. I have chosen to do no commercial work. Until 1998 I owned a gallery in St. Louis, Missouri, which was the first gallery in the area exhibiting strictly photography. My passion to create fine art nude images continues. I do a minimum of two photo sessions per week with models. They are my inspiration. My preference is to photograph a particular model over a period of one or more years. Doing so builds a remarkable rapport that improves the work. The model and I are frequently co-creators. And as a group I find that models are more creative than most others. While I photograph in all kinds of light, my favorite is back and side lighting with one light source. In my opinion, this allows me to express more drama and create visual interest than with a complex array of studio lights and reflectors.

My confession is that I am sometimes overwhelmed by what I see: a model at a stream in the early morning, fog lifting, her form touched by the first muted rays of sunlight; or in my studio with such touching expressions of light. My models forgive the occasional tears that come to me.

Because I have exhibited regularly for years, I have 500-600 11x14-inch prints, matted to 16x20, that have always been stored in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. All of these darkroom prints were selenium toned on fiber paper, many on papers such as Portriga Rapid and Oriental Seagull, which are sadly not made anymore. About 100 images were from infrared negatives. Most of my work, including the latest digital images, are available in limited editions as small as six. My website is now my gallery. It has about 500 images in the permanent collection, plus a new temporary exhibit which changes weekly.

Stan Trampe
2007