Dennis Chamberlain


From early childhood, Dennis has been a story teller. His father was a lifelong Eastman Kodak employee, and he gave me Dennis his first camera when he was seven. It would have made sense that he would tell stories with photographs, and yet that took some time to develop.  In college, Dennis worked the late-night shift at Kodak (dad was the processing lab manager in Dallas) and his imaginary stories collided with the harshness of reality. Dennis says, "At the lab I was introduced to uncensored, behind the scenes, private and secret views of life, many of which were never meant to be seen by anyone other than the maker. Included in all of this chaos were beautiful scenes of America that I remember to this day. Seeing this range of beauty and harshness, of sadness and euphoria, had a profound effect on me."

Experiencing such extreme contrasts gave Dennis more appreciation of the beauty in life. It also brought about, for better or worse, a blend of reality and fiction that is an integral part of Chamberlain's being.  He became a serious photographer and moved to New Mexico, and it was no surprise that the beauty of the terrain made his heart soar. He explains, "My artistic goal for landscape photography became clear: to convey the thrill and to capture what is in my heart when witnessing the wonderful scenes of our state and the rest of the Southwest. The spectacular landscapes awe and inspire me, sending me down an endless path to try to share my passions through my photography. In particular, the textures of the Southwestern terrain are a focus for me, and they are recurring themes in my scenic photography. To try to communicate what I feel - rather than simply what my camera clinically records - requires all of the various tools available today, and I use them without apology or restraint." Chamberlain wants to reproduce the drama, vibrancy and emotion that emerges when he is on the shooting location.

Currently, Chamberlain's photography ranges from “real” to “imagined” and all things in between - from moderately edited photos to completely original compositions, in which I start with a “blank canvas” and create the entire scene using elements or “pieces” of other photographs he has taken. In these compositions, all of the elements come from his photographs (he does not use any artificial intelligence artwork in his creations). It is in these imagined compositions that the story telling from his childhood finally comes to life.