By Bethany Bray
Andover photographer Jack Holmes saw his father become restless six months after retiring from the Navy yard. So when he retired, after 36 years of teaching chemistry and physics at Lynn Classical High School, he knew he wanted to "retire into" another occupation.
So far, his retirement has been anything but idle. He has traveled around the globe with his wife, Meg, and takes trips overseas four or five times a year, shooting photographs.
Holmes, 64, had been taking photographs since high school, and has turned his passion for photography and travel into an occupation in his retirement. He operates a small studio-gallery in Lowell at Western Avenue Studios, and two of his photographs have won awards this year.
His image "Violent Ballet" was awarded first place in National Geographic's Expedition 2008 photo contest. The photograph is a scene of a matador and bull from a small plaza de toros in Mexico.
His image "Windy Hill Apple Tree" took first place in the Appalachian Mountain Club's 2008 photo contest. The photo, which pictures a wind-torn apple tree surrounded by snow, was taken in Jackson, N.H.
Holmes is mostly self-taught, he said. He shoots with both film and digital cameras, not preferring one over the other.
He has always been known as the National Geographic photographer in his family, he said, and has shared slide shows of travel photos with his family throughout the years. He's in his fifth decade of photography, Holmes said with a chuckle, but has been shooting seriously for about 10 years.
Jack and Meg Holmes moved to Andover in 1978. When they are not traveling, Meg is a tai chi instructor.
The Townsman sat down with Holmes, to see what inspires him:
How did you shoot "Violent Ballet," your photo of a bull fighter?
I was taking a National Geographic course in Mexico, which was taught by photographers for National Geographic magazine. It was a week long, and one of our assignments was to shoot an amateur bull fight.
When I saw the image on the light table the next day, I knew I had something. It's not about a sharp and gritty bullfight, but an artistic view of a classic sport. It's one of my favorite images. It tells the story of bull fighting, but it's also an art image. When you blow it up, you realize the only thing in focus is the dust in the foreground. The dust becomes the major element.
Which do you prefer, film or digital photography?
I still shoot both film and digital. Some places we travel to, you can't trust the electricity or conversion. Digital is much less expensive, and you know you have the image once you take it. They each have their own advantages and tyrannies.
With film, you get deeper tones, but then I have to scan them in to make them digital. Proofing, editing is much harder with digital. Each one has its advantages.
One trip I took to China, I shot 30 rolls of film. Within that, you throw away one-third, save one-third and use the last third as working images that I might reproduce or sell.
Where have your travels taken you?
My wife and I have been to about three dozen countries. In 2005, we took a trip around the world. We started in Paris, and ended in Mauritius (an island off Africa) with EarthWatch, doing archeology research. We volunteer with EarthWatch (an organization that uses volunteers to do ecological field research around the world), and then hook on two, three, four weeks of travel to the trip.
We've done six trips with EarthWatch, doing water research in Iceland and Mongolia, and digging archeology in China. You end up in places you wouldn't normally go as a tourist.
Do you have a favorite place you've traveled?
A small town in China called Yang Shuo. All of those pointy haystack mountains you see in Chinese prints are there — geological formations called karsts. I would really like to go back there.
Other favorites are Mexico, Iceland and Canada.
What are you drawn to photograph?
A common theme in my images is, when we go to cities, I like to get people into pictures. I go to marketplaces, streets, and take cityscapes with people.
I also have a fond attraction for reflected images in water and glass — I always find some way to shoot that. If I'm in Nova Scotia, it's reflection of masts (from ships) in the water. If I'm in a city, it's someone reflected in a coffeeshop window.
Afterwards, I put together photo essays, slide shows to show family.
What inspires you?
National Geographic has influenced me quite a bit. I like to get a feeling for a place and the people in it (through a photograph).
It doesn't have to be exotic, it can be any place. I started taking pictures on trips around the U.S., and would show them to family. I would bring them into classrooms (when he was a school teacher), and use them to show the kids about other places in the country.
How does being a photographer make you see things differently?
I'm looking at these things in terms of experiencing the place, but with the camera in mind. I'm looking at the big scene, and seeing if I can find a smaller image in that scene, something in the context that says something about all of it.
What advice do you give to amateur photographers?
Shoot a lot.
Some people with a point-and-shoot camera, looking through the small screen, have a hard time seeing what they're framing. Make sure the image you've got is big in the frame, but doesn't hang over the edge.
It's not the camera — you can get images with any kind of camera. I've shot with a Holga (plastic, Russian-made camera) or a Brownie (Kodak camera introduced in 1900).
What you put in that lens is the issue. It's up to the person's brain and eye to put that in the lens. Once it's there, the camera will do it. You've got an image that's solid.
Anybody can shoot.
