Like many others, John Larson went to Vietnam in the 1960s. He didn’t spend his months on the front lines, however. As a photographer for several military news outlets, he wasn’t bound to one place. Larson often snapped the usual “grip and grin” shots—posed officials and leaders shaking hands and smiling—but he also had opportunities to explore.
The photographic results of his explorations will be on display at the gallery at Gold Coast Art and Frames throughout December.
Larson searched through hundreds of negatives from his Vietnam tour to put together the exhibition. The effort brought to mind the days he worked with film, carefully capturing select images and scrutinizing each scene before triggering the shutter. Now, Larson estimates he shoots a couple thousand pictures a year.
“It’s digital,” he explained. “You don’t like it, you can throw it out.”
Larson majored in art design and painting at UCSB, because there were no photography or printing programs at the school at the time. He then enlisted in the Air Force and was sent to Vandenberg Air Force Base. Six months later, he was sent to Vietnam on his photographic mission. Because of his assignment, Larson called himself “one of those people who joined the service and was lucky enough to be sent to do what I already knew how to do.” But he also recognized that that position gave him a unique opportunity to look beyond the surface of what was happening and see things from a different perspective.
While he took many photos on assignment for military news organizations, he also used his free time to record his observations of the world of Saigon. He spent 20 months in Vietnam. Pictures of children playing with rocks on the ground, pictures of people at work, pictures of guys playing cards all figure prominently in his work.
“I enjoy photographing people doing things,” he said. “I’m not a portrait person and not really a landscape person. I approach even family photos as a photojournalist.”
He said his work has always reflected his background in art.
“I’m the guy lying on the ground, getting a good angle,” he said. “When I work, I keep composition and content in mind all of the time.”
That artistic sensibility also keeps Larson doing what he does for art’s sake rather than for what he can potentially gain from the photos. He makes his prints because he enjoys them, because they translate what he sees.
“I don’t look at them for marketability,” he said. “If I don’t like it, I don’t care, I’m not going to print it. Even if it’s not right technically, I will keep and print it if I like it.”
Arts Editor Shelly Cone writes what she likes and likes what she writes. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 2-9, 2010.