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The Stories that Can be Told Through Photography (cont.)

Pretty soon he began to get calls and assignments. It worked out well, because the calls started coming just as the oil business started to bottom out in Texas.

From the very beginning, he has tried to avoid being categorized as a commercial or advertising or location photographer. "My interests run the spectrum of what's out there," he has said, "and I want and like the freedom to select whatever moves me—the light, the moment, an incident, a gesture, a graphic element."

While he doesn't get the choice of subject in his commercial work, he says he still looks for the basic elements he seeks out in his personal work: a quality of light, a strength or subtlety of color, strong graphic composition.

The seeking is not a task for Arthur, as photography is a lot more than a job—it's a passion. "I refer to myself as a photoholic. I love looking at pictures, looking for pictures and taking pictures. I hang out with photographers, talk shop with them all the time. I even once had a dream that was in the form of a slide show: an image would come up, then come to life, and then, click, another one would come and come to life...."

His passion drives his personal projects, which pretty much follow his interests. Like his series of cowboy photos. "They came from wanting to go to a ranch, a working ranch, and photograph a lifestyle that was always interesting to me as I was growing up in Texas. I wanted to see what it was all about."

Arthur's passion also includes teaching. Over the past ten years, he's inspired photography students from Florida to New Mexico, Tuscany to Mexico, and has even taught in China. "The course is called The Color of Light. I tell my students they should think about creating some kind of project or idea. Then they're not just shooting randomly, and they're showing that they can focus on something and bring energy and continuity to tell a story. When they're shooting for themselves I tell them to shoot what they're interested in."

Whatever interests you will make the best story.

Arthur Meyerson has been an NPS member since 1977.