Curious Camera People
Mary FindyszCurious Camera Founder |
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Mary got her first camera from her Mom and Dad when she was in second grade. But it wasn’t until high school that she began to consider photography as a career. She would sit on the floor in the public library, under the photography section, and read every book on photography she could lay her hands on. Mary attended Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California at the time when male students out numbered female students at a ratio of 10 to 1. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with an emphasis in Industrial/Scientific and Commercial photography. Immediately after graduating, Mary moved to Honolulu to work for Camera Hawaii as a commercial photographer and studio manager. She also worked in Los Angeles for various commercial and advertising studios before moving back to Tucson, Arizona, where she opened her own commercial studio at the age of 25. Four years later, Mary opened Photographic Works, a custom/pro photo lab, which grew to include a Digital Imaging Center and a satellite lab in Flagstaff. In 2003, she merged digital with traditional photography. Mary moved Photographic Works forward once again and began specializing in fine art print making for both photographers and fine artists and in 2007, Mary opened ArtsEye, a gallery that collaborates with the artist and offers a special place for art buyers and those who appreciate art. Currently, Mary is working on Curious Camera, a project she sees as an opportunity to promote the spirit and creativity of photography.
JP WestenskowRebellious Analog Film Instructor |
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JP Westenskow is enamoured with photography using film, and every kind of Lomo camera out there. He has won a myriad of awards from the Lomo community including the Lubitel Lovers Grand Champion. He is an inspiring teacher and has a vast knowledge of all that is this alternative style of photography. Ask him what the JP stands for and he’ll tell you a different story every time.
Kathleen VeloPinhole Camera Instructor |
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Kathleen Velo has been using pinhole and plastic cameras to create unique photographs for over 15 years. She has taught photography for over 20 years, including many pinhole workshops, locally and nationally. She has been awarded numerous grants and fellowships, and her work has been exhibited widely nationally and internationally.
Kathleen has a BFA in sculpture, an MA in Art Education, and an MFA in photography. She currently teaches photography at Pima Community College and creates her painted pinhole photographs in her studio in Tucson.
She can be contacted at kathleenvelo@gmail.com
Matthew YatesPlastic & Toy Camera Instructor |
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Matthew Yates was born in Long Beach, California, and lives and works in Tucson, Arizona. After studying photography at the Kansas City Art Institute and earning a BFA in Photography in 1997, he worked as a freelance photographer and assistant for various private and corporate entities, including Hallmark Cards Inc. In 2005 he was selected for the Arizona Biennial, guest-curated by Siri Engberg of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. In the Summer of 2007 Matthew is granted an Artist Residency by MOCA [Tucson], and he is invited to exhibit and participate in PhotoEspaña, Madrid. Recently he was awarded Grand Prize and an Honorable Mention for the All Souls Procession / Day of the Dead Photo Competition, juried by Terry Etherton. Matthew has exhibited his works in Portland, Oregon, Kansas City, Missouri, Tucson, Arizona, Madrid, and most recently Paris, for Les Rencontres Leica curated by Dominique Charlet. Matthew also launched fotovitamina – a team photography endeavor catering to a clientele with an artistic palate. Editorial and documentary in nature, fotovitamina is based on the photographers’ artistic visions.
An exhibition in New York for the Tribeca Film Festival 2007 featured works by fotovitamina created for the Tucson Film Office [see the new Tucson Film Office Production Manual]. Upcoming projects include shows in Seattle and Milan, Italy.
Rosanna SaloniaPlastic & Toy Camera Instructor |
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Rosanna Salonia was born in 1971 in Milan, Italy; she lives and works in Tucson, Arizona. After studying Fine Art Photography and Art History at the University of Arizona and interning at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA+BA in 2000. From 1999 to 2006 non-consecutively, her works were exhibited and collected by the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts in Kiyosato, Japan, directed by Eikoh Hosoe, as part of their Young Portfolio program - an effort in recognizing and preserving works from photographers under-35 world-wide.
Rosanna has exhibited widely in private and public institutions in Tucson, Arizona, as well as in Phoenix, Los Angeles, S. Diego, Monterey, Seattle, Washington DC, and New York. In Europe she has exhibited work in Milan, Trento, Paris, Birmingham, Köln, and Berlin, where she received an honorable mention for her Holga works. In 2005, her work was featured on PBS Channel 6 for KUAT/Arizona Illustrated, a TV cultural magazine. She was also selected for the Arizona Biennial 2005 at the Tucson Museum of Art, curated by Siri Engberg of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. She received a Juror’s award at this exhibition. During the 2006 Fotofest edition in Houston, Rosanna's unique manipulated beeswaxed works are purchased by curator Anne Wilkes Tucker for the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and by a number of independent collectors/curators/dealers from Houston, New York and Italy. In August of 2006 she was invited to exhibit said works during the XIV Encuentros Abiertos de Fotografia, Festival de La Luz in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the support of various public and private entities, such as Fundación X La Boca, Museo Benito Quinquela Martín, and Fundación Andreani, among others. In 2007-2008, Rosanna exhibited new works from her collaborative venture with partner Matthew Yates, [fotovitamina], in New York in occasion of the Tribeca Film Festival. Said works are featured in the current Tucson Film Office Production Manual. She was also awarded a MoCA [Tucson] Artist Residency, a Residency at the Petrified Forest National Park, and other acknowledgements, including honorable mentions in Tucson, New Orleans and Arles, France, during the Rencontres de la Photographie 2007. She also made the Top 50 photographers cut for Critical Mass 2008.
Rosanna‘s works are in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, Japan, the University of Arizona Special Collections, the International Center of Photography Scavi Scaligeri, Verona, Italy, Grevi Mode SaS, Firenze, Italy, Fundación X La Boca, Buenos Aires, Youkali Kultur Hotel, Buenos Aires, and the Tucson Realty and Trust Company. Rosanna’s works are available through: True World Gallery, Joshua Tree, California + Triangle L Ranch, Oracle, Arizona + Kiva Café Gallery, New York + ArtPlayFactory/TRACE, Milano + Charlet Photographies, Paris, France