Gary Cawood exhibit showcases in Lynn Library

March 7,2012

By Jake Childers| Ranger Reporter

“Excavations” is the name of a group of photographs taken by master photographer Gary Cawood.

Cawood spoke about his exhibit Feb. 23 in the College Union Building to a group of student photographers and visual art instructors. His photographs are on display in Lynn Library. During the lecture, Cawood showed photographs from around the country, both in black and white and in color.

Cawood said he did not always want to be a photographer. He went to school for architecture before finding his niche in the photography world.

“I was burned out doing architecture,” Cawood said. “I took my first photography class at grad school.”

He went to Tennessee State for graduate school, where he started taking photography classes.

Many of his interior and exterior night shots are done in black and white. Many of them are inspired by the “Watchman’s Room,” he said.

The “Watchman’s Room” is a photo of a simple room with sheets draped over the furniture.

Cawood agrees with many of his critics and his fellow contemporaries that his photos suggest his inspiration comes from famous painters and nature.

“‘Night Patrol’ is a tour of the ordinary, the kind of places we experience without noticing,” Cawood said during his lecture. “When making the rounds after dark, however, details emerge from the shadows that suggest a more mysterious existence, an unsettling sense that familiarity is just an illusion.

“It seems that photographs are the perfect vehicles for this kind of inspection. Through careful observation, scenes from the real world mingle with the imagination, like stage sets for a drama yet to be invented.”

Some of his other works can be seen in “The Watchman’s Room.”

Several of Cawood’s photos are on display in major museums and galleries nationwide.

Many of his students, both current and former, have said Cawood is an inspiration to anyone who aspires to be a photographer.

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