ANNOUNCING...the start of my new website!
www.photographerrogerwatts.com
is now freely available for you to review
At this site you can find carefuly curated and edited images
of archival quality like this one of Honolulu at dusk...
You can order prints of this photo and hundreds more in a catalog with a terrific line of sizes, formats, and styles, and merchandise also.
So...check it out today!
"The Best Thing I've Seen All Day"
- Oaxaca de Juarez -
Oaxaca (English: wah-HAH-kah) is officially "The Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca", and is one of the 32 states that compose the Federative Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 570 municipalities, of which 418 (almost three quarters) are governed by the system of usos y costumbres (customs and traditions), with recognized local forms of self-governance. Its capital city is Oaxaca de Juárez.
Oaxaca (English: wah-HAH-kah) is officially "The Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca", and is one of the 32 states that compose the Federative Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 570 municipalities, of which 418 (almost three quarters) are governed by the system of usos y costumbres (customs and traditions), with recognized local forms of self-governance. Its capital city is Oaxaca de Juárez.
Welcome!
This site is the "official" collection of my work as a photographer that spans five decades. It has some narrative about how it all began, what some of the experiences
were like making the photographs, and carries you through to what
photography is like now for me. I hope you find it interesting...
were like making the photographs, and carries you through to what
photography is like now for me. I hope you find it interesting...
IN THE LATE 1960s I had a part-time job working for a small local photography studio. My Mom got me the gig. She did accounting for Al Davidson, and I hitched on as an assistant to him with his wedding photo business. I carried the bags and the tripod for a while to a dozen or so weddings taking place in and around a broken-down small city in southeastern Massachusetts. My interest rose as I saw what Al did, and I soon started to pester him to see if I could make a few pictures of my own. He let me, and we both would shoot a wedding and give the bride the benefit of two sets of eyes to see her big day. Eventually, with the approval of his wife who actually ran the place, Al sent me out one Saturday on my own. That assignment started my relationship with a lover...photography.
The rest is history. I did a lot of weddings for Al Davidson. Back then, we had a strict formula of how to document weddings to give the bride a "package" of photos in albums for herself, her family and especially her Mother who often was the real client. The formula included the fact that we were also on a strict film budget: I could only make 96 color photographs of any wedding which meant that, because the unwieldy large format cameras we used at the time only shot 12 frames per roll, I had only nine rolls to give the bride a lasting memory of her biggest day.
That was a lot of pressure. The restrictions meant that every shot I made had to say something iconic about that wedding, and, every shot had to be perfect. I can honestly say that I never made a bad shot. Some might have been cropped in the camera better because we always shot the scene as to how it would fit into an album with the need for mostly horizontal 8x10 photos. But, by the time a couple of years passed, I was both pretty good at it and pretty sure I didn't like the business of wedding photography. So, I stopped taking pictures completely then, and didn't pick up a camera for 11 years.
When I finally got back in, I started taking pictures more out of necessity to have a job than anything else. The story here will widen a lot in each of the sections to follow. But, it's safe to say that on and off for the past four decades or so, I've had a love affair with photography. This website is about that relationship.
RPW
That was a lot of pressure. The restrictions meant that every shot I made had to say something iconic about that wedding, and, every shot had to be perfect. I can honestly say that I never made a bad shot. Some might have been cropped in the camera better because we always shot the scene as to how it would fit into an album with the need for mostly horizontal 8x10 photos. But, by the time a couple of years passed, I was both pretty good at it and pretty sure I didn't like the business of wedding photography. So, I stopped taking pictures completely then, and didn't pick up a camera for 11 years.
When I finally got back in, I started taking pictures more out of necessity to have a job than anything else. The story here will widen a lot in each of the sections to follow. But, it's safe to say that on and off for the past four decades or so, I've had a love affair with photography. This website is about that relationship.
RPW
Oaxacan Journal
Steam Ticket art magazine
University professor Matt Cashion discovered my website a while back and thought my work might fit the magazine at the University of Wisconsin/LaCrosee. Steam Ticket is the publication, and it is... magnificent! Some of my work done purely for artistic stake is interspersed with some very important poetry and short story accounts. I could not be more proud to be in a publication than this.
2 0 2 0
"T h e b e s t t h i n g I ' v e s e e n t o d a y"
How This Site Works...
The Headings at the top of every page will take you to the main pages that have some descriptions of the topic and links to other pages with the photographs about that topic.
The ORANGE headings will take you to pages with specific content...Just click on any orange word and it will take you to the photographs.
Slide shows run automatically when you go to a page. In most cases, it will be necessary for you to scroll down on a page to make sure you see these slideshows. The slide will change every 9 seconds, but you can stop the slide from changing by clicking on the picture. You can also advance every slide manually by using the arrows at the top right within every slide show.
The ORANGE headings will take you to pages with specific content...Just click on any orange word and it will take you to the photographs.
Slide shows run automatically when you go to a page. In most cases, it will be necessary for you to scroll down on a page to make sure you see these slideshows. The slide will change every 9 seconds, but you can stop the slide from changing by clicking on the picture. You can also advance every slide manually by using the arrows at the top right within every slide show.