Lick Creek Photography, LLC

Howard's Bio

I have been involved with photography as a hobby for over 30 years but more recently it has become a serious endeavor, one I love and find continually challenging.  My involvement in photography began shortly after my wife, Joy, and I married and set up a darkroom in the bathroom of an apartment. We spent most of our free hours shooting photos and making prints, but after a couple of years, family and career became priorities and photography was sidelined until about 1998 when we became more involved again.

My objective in photography is to create lasting images of high quality with the intent of evoking some emotion and personal connection. I am especially drawn to the challenge and character of black and white prints, but find that many times color is a necessary ingredient. In some images, I feel that color may be a distraction and black and white best cuts to the heart of a scene and may better present the lines, tonality and/or interest as intended to be perceived. However, there are many photos in which color plays a primary role, and my good friend and professional photographer Earl Brockman states that in these images “color is form”, and in these cases necessary. I particularly enjoy photographing in the McCall, ID region, which is rich in character with the old homesteads, mountains, lakes, streams, and wildlife. I also enjoy photographing in the Southwest and Mexico.

I essentially have had two careers: one as a materials engineer in the aerospace industry where I was involved with the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs, and more recently in education as a professor of engineering at Washington State University. Photography feels like a third career, and one that is equally challenging and gratifying to those involving the engineering sciences. As a component of the industrial and university work, I spent time involved in optical and electron microscopy, both of which have influenced my photography from a technical side.  However, over the past decade, I have begun to make the transition from science to art photography, and this transition has been enormously satisfying as well as challenging. As a part of this transition, I have made an on-going effort to cultivate the photographic art, such as attending symposia, independent study, and becoming a member of photography clubs and groups where the sharing of photo work has been rewarding, educational and highly enjoyable. 

A number of my photos have been submitted to competitions, juried exhibitions and shows and have received local, regional and national awards.  Most recent are a Merit Award by Black and White Magazine (appeared in Dec. 2008) and a first place award at the Salmon River Art Guild Show (Oct. 2008).  Some of the photos appear in the McCall-Donnelly Education Foundation coffee table photo book “Images of McCall, Valley County and Beyond” (2006), and in Photographer's Forum "Best of Photography Annual" for the years 2006 and 2007.  Other photos of Alamos, Mexico and the Sea of Cortez have been part of a juried traveling exhibition. Some of my photos can be found at the artiZen gallery in McCall, ID and on-line at www.lickcreekphoto.com.  My home is in McCall, ID, where I live with my wife and photographer companion, Joy.