R I C H T U R N E R

HOW I SAW IT

5 Decades Behind the Lens

It’s been said that life deals us the cards. That it’s not so much the cards we are dealt but how we play them that makes all the difference. Maybe so. But starting with a decent hand can certainly help.

There was that Navy personnel officer who actually took the time to look at my aptitude test scores before I left recruit training. I had enlisted thinking I was going to be a mechanic and since I wasn’t necessarily college bound I thought I’d at least gain a marketable skill while serving. Those cards again. And that Navy officer. He told me that indeed my scores were high in mechanical arts but he saw higher scores somewhere else. “Graphics,” he said. Wondering what that meant, he explained, “…like photography.” Oh, yeah, I had 3 years of photography too, enjoyed it and was pretty good at it, I told him. He gave me a choice, a mechanic or a photographer. What luck. I didn’t know it at the time but I was being dealt a pretty good hand of cards. So began my professional career.

This diverse collection of images gathered over 50-plus years celebrates the fact that my working life as a professional photographer has led me in countless directions. That eclecticism continues to hold my interest and keeps me trying to see rather than just look.

Honor serendipity – and that lucky hand of cards.

After all these years the sheer power of the still image continues to astonish me.

To see the uncropped images click on the first one to begin the slide show at your own pace.