Archives West Finding Aid

The Northwest Photographers was a group of practicing photographers who exhibited their work around the region.

A native of New York, Ted D’Arms moved to Seattle in 1969. Ted D'Arms's work has been exhibited at places such as the Polly Friedlander Gallery in Seattle, the Bellevue Arts Museum, the Silver Image Gallery, Tacoma, Washington, University of Washington, and galleries in New York. As a well-known actor with the Seattle Repertory Theatre and a photographer, director, and teacher, he developed the skills to be a lecturer at the Seattle Art Museum. Additionally, he was published in Camera , a well known Swiss photography magazine, and Aperture magazine. D’Arms participated in the Festival 72 at the Seattle Center, an art festival that included various mediums of art. He was the first photographer to be awarded the 1972 National Endowment for the Arts Photography Fellowship.

Victor Gardaya was born in 1945 in Port Chester, New York, and received his BA in Philosophy from the City College of New York in 1968. A freelance photographer since 1973, Gardaya is also an instructor in photography at Seattle Central Community College, where he has been since 1977. In 1979 he became affiliated with the Factory of Visual Arts, Seattle, as an instructor of photography. In 1979 Gardaya also began to work with Art Week , Argus and Northwest Photography as a writer, photographer and film critic. In 1979 the Washington State Arts Commission awarded him a special commendation in the Honors Program for Visual Artists.

Michael Gesinger has exhibited his work at the Silver Image Gallery, Tacoma, Washington, Lamkin Camerawork Gallery, Fairfax, California, and was invited to both the Bellevue and Seattle Invitational Photography exhibit. After studying photography at the University of Washington, he was published in Camera magazine and First Proof magazine. Gesinger was awarded the Virna Haffer Memorial Scholarship to complete his MFA at the University of Washington in 1975 and was commissioned by King County Art Commission in the same year.

Lynne Harrison is a self taught photographer and worked for the Mercer Island Reporter as a freelance photographer. Her exhibition career started in 1966 at the Seattle Art Museum, the Art Museum of Greater Victoria, and the Colorado Photographic Arts Center. She is known for making everyday objects into art, aiding in the creation of photography as a fine art.

Paul Macapia was the staff photographer at the Seattle Art Museum, prior to which he was a medical photographer. His work was featured in the Masters of the Northwest exhibit in 1976 at the Seattle Art Museum. Macapia and his wife, Mary, traced the Lewis and Clark trail for a Bicentennial show centered around the two explorers.

Johsel Namkung was born in 1919 in Kwangju Cholla Province in South Korea. Before becoming a photographer, he was a musician studying at the Tokyo Conservatory and working for several operas in Asia. After graduating, he worked for the airline companies and was forced to give up singing. Needing a creative outlet, Namkung took up photography as a way of self-expression. Namkung joined the circle of Northwest artists in Seattle in the 1950s. He went on to study theory and technique in color photography under the direction of Chinese photographer Chao-chen Yang, and black and white photography with Ansel Adams. Namkung’s large format photographs transcend traditional landscape composition and capture the abstract, rhythmic and elegant beauty inherent in nature.

Don Normack is most widely known for his documentation of Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles. In 1949, he spent a year capturing images of the Mexican-American community just prior to the displacement of its 300 families. His work was featured in a PBS Independent Lens documentary, Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story . In addition, in the 1960s and 1970s, his worked appeared regularly in Sunset magazine. More recently, Normack's focus has been in capturing the struggle to preserve the South Central Farm in Los Angeles.

Mary Randlett is one of the most interesting collaborators in the Northwest Photography Guild. In 1971, an exhibit of her work was displayed including portraits of several leading Northwest artists in their studios or offices. Randlett learned photography at Whitman College as a mentee of Hans Jorgensen, the leading fashion photographer of the time. She graduated with a BA in Political Science in 1947. She is the recipient of multiple awards including the Washington Press Women’s Association Award, 1979, the Governor’s Award, 1983, the GAP Award, 1989 and 1992, the Individual Artist Trust, King County Commissioners, 1989, and a National Endowment for the Arts to restore and conserve historical photographs of Washington State 1976-78. In addition, she was the artist in residence at Lakeside School in Seattle, Washington, 1971-72. Randlett’s photos are held in more than 30 permanent collections nationwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institute, and several major Northwest collections. She has been included in over 50 exhibitions in the past 20 years, more than 20 of which were solo exhibits.

Claire Trotter is a nature photographer living in Eugene, Oregon. She began her professional career with an apprenticeship to a commercial photographer in Chicago. Trotter's work has been exhibited in museums and galleries in the United States, Europe, and Asia, published in journals devoted to the arts, and is featured in both public and private art collections.