Dave Sharpe

Photography

Artist Statement:
Dave Sharpe has been a photographer for 25+ years since graduating from college. At that time, he was starting a new career as a Registered Nurse and needed a new hobby to take the place of all the studying he’d been doing while in school. In addition, he had more money to burn, and photography managed to use all that extra free time and money nicely.

Dave says, "I started with a 35mm film camera and soon found myself spending a small fortune on film and processing, finally slowing down when I realized that this “hobby” was beginning to take a bit too much of my time and money. Eventually, digital cameras arrived on the scene and I jumped on the bandwagon right away, buying a small digital point and shoot. By this time, I was working on a helicopter as a Flight Nurse, and that digital camera went with me even on the job. I wrote articles and spoke at national Conferences about the use of digital cameras by EMS workers, helping to set standards for this relatively new tool. Upon moving to Whidbey Island in 2004, I found myself in a photographer’s paradise, with wonderful scenes everywhere I looked. I’ve explored much of the Pacific Northwest and beyond in my RV, usually looking for the most scenic places so I could create new images."
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For several years, Dave Sharpe was recognized as a Master in the Arcanum, an online photography education group. He had the opportunity to personally mentor photographers from all around the world, through the magic of internet education. Dave has found that such personal mentoring is one of the best ways to learn photography, with direct critique and feedback on an artist’s work by those who truly want to see the artist succeed.
More recently, Dave has been exploring environmental portraiture and surrealistic studio work. He is also dabbling in composite work, combining elements from multiple photos into a whole new concept image.

​Dave states, "I believe that photography occupies a unique niche in visual communication. My goal in most of my landscape work is to present a visual scene that represents how I actually saw that scene at the time. This often means that my photos are manipulated in the computer to overcome the inherent limitations in the camera, with an eye towards realism. However my newer work in composite and surreal imagery is often drawn from another source - my own imagination and often these images carry a message or speak to the viewer in a way that is very different from my landscape work."

"This is my first gallery showing, although for many years I’ve displayed images in Whidbey General Hospital, the Coupeville Surgery Center and at Coupeville Coffee and Bistro. I’m honored to say that one of my images won “Best of Show” at the Coupeville Arts Festival Juried Art Show in 2014."
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Website: www.photowhidbey.com
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Video: https://youtu.be/wY7t1Ll1O5Y
Garry Oak Gallery - An Artist Owned Gallery | 830 SE Pioneer Way | Oak Harbor, WA  98277 | (360) 240-0222
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