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Artist's Biography |
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Dennis Anttila was born in Richmond, California, where he was facinated by cameras at an early age. His father did contact printing and he had to watch under the red light. A seed was planted. Starting with his first 35 mm SLR camera while in the Navy he began photographing sports car rallies. Setting up a darkroom in a garage with his friend and critic Jack he started producing his first black and white prints. Inspired by Ansel Adams and the Zone System resulted in the study of dynamic range and experimenting with chemical formulas for obtaining the optimum print.
Returning to civilian life and in the shadows of an engineering career he continued his photography doing documentary portfolios and portraits in the San Francisco Bay Area. Having an opportunity to travel he spent the next two years in the Seychelles Islands located in the India Ocean. Being so remote no photo services were available locally. Working with the site manager a community darkroom was built and development of color transparencies and B&W capabilities were created. While there he purchased his first medium format SLR camera where a whole new world of large print making was open to him.
Returning to the states he enrolled in the School of Modern Photography to enhance his skills. After completing the required courses he won several photo contests and his work was published in Modern Photography magazine. One of his first assignments was pubilicity photos for foreign exchange students at UC Berkely. Although stateside he still did extensive travel going once more around the world documenting very different and interesting life styles.
Changing jobs to stay more at home he entered the world of sailing. From his 27 foot sailboat he began photographing yacht races and parades of boats. While at a yacht club event he met Renée who would later become his wife. Then there was and upgraded to a 36 foot sail boat and living aboard is Sausalito, CA. Renée always said he had an eye for photography and continued to insist that his engineering must not stifle his artistic abilities. Over the many years to follow and constant job (engineering) relocations he continued his work, shooting portraits, and landscapes. Meanwhile his wife Renée ventured into paintings with Oils, Pastels and Pencil becoming excellent in her work.
Currently living in Arlington, Washington he continues with medium format landscapes and natural light portraits. Having his own darkroom facility allows complete control over the ultimate print. He has ventured into digital photography doing photo restoration, custom business cards and Web publishing but he says it's just not the same. He still prefers the negative film and making silver prints. The prints are an ageless expression of form and shadows in an artful way. He says there is something about having complete control over the outcome as would an artist with a brush and canvas.
Dennis can be reached at:
justbeingme@mac.com
(360) 513-2127
Arlington, WA
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