David Rackley

Upon graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology from Arizona State University, David R. Rackley found his camera to be his most treasured companion. And a battered old 4 x 5 continues to be his camera of choice.

For several years he photographed in Alaska and in the American Southwest with occasional trips to Mexico, Guatemala and South America. Rather than focus on the obviously beautiful landscapes these locations afforded, he found himself drawn to the more obscure, often overlooked details: the first blades of grass stabbing their way through the heavy Alaskan snow; a torn screen, discarded on the road to an abandoned gold mining town; the weathered face of a Mayan woman, a weaver of blankets in Santiago, Atitian.

Rackley, now a resident of Alexandria, Louisiana, continues to capture the common but obscure. He feels that the art of photography lies in seeing more, seeing differently and seeing with more than the eyes. He melds the realistic interpretation of the subject with expressive painting - an assertive application of color and texture, a process that involves hand tinting his black and white photographs. Each photograph becomes a one-of-a-kind creation.