Lee-Volker Cox always had a love affair with photography, from as far back as he can remember. Even when he was in the U.S. Air Force, he tinkered with the hobby.
In 2007, he had the opportunity to take an assignment as installation commander at Thule Air Base, a remote location in Greenland. Cox used the assignment as an excuse to invest in a new camera and spend time getting reacquainted with the medium.
“The photobug kind of caught me again,” he said. “Ever since then I never go anywhere without a camera because I learned the best pictures are the ones you’re not planning for.”
It’s a slightly different story for Frederico Domondon. An impressionist painter for most of his life, he had a long and successful career selling his art. He never thought of himself as a photographer until he was invited to exhibit his work in New York, his first ever trip to the famous city.
“I was blown away by the city,” he said. “It ignited something within me. The trip changed my life. I brought along a camera and everything changed.”
While they both came to photography from different paths, both artists share an eye for the exotic. For one day, these unique photographers will come together for a showing of their travel photos at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Santa Maria on March 25. The show features images from the artists’ travels throughout Asia, North and South America, the Arctic, and Europe.
After retiring from the Air Force, Cox continued to explore photography, working as a motivational speaker and graduate school instructor along the way. He now makes his home in the Santa Maria Valley, which features prominently in much of his contemporary work.
“It’s been a real joy to tell stories with my photos,” he said. “That’s what I enjoy most about it. I’m retired and I don’t have to sell photos to make a living, which frees you up to do a lot of different things. I don’t have to worry about shooting photos so people will buy them. I can just focus on the story that I want to tell.”
Cox said he looks for images that will evoke emotions in people. His previous shows have featured the agriculture community of Santa Maria, highlighting workers and their crops, as well as other landscape scenery in the region.
In 2017, Cox went to Alaska where he had the opportunity to observe the famous Iditarod Trail sled dog race. His photos fluctuate from dynamic shots of the race in mid-action, dogs flying off the ground while racers cling to their sleds with stone-faced expressions, to quieter more intimate moments between dogs and their handlers.
“We followed them for an entire day,” Cox said. “We hiked in through heavy snow. It was really amazing.”
Domondon has spent more than two decades as a fine artist, specializing in landscapes and Impressionist work. An avid and passionate globe traveller, Domondon has shot in Paris, Venice, London, Cinque Terre, Milan, Madrid, Lisbon, Prague, the Philippines, and New York.
After his first big trip to New York, he posted photos on Facebook and noticed an immediate and excited reaction. People were eager to see more of his work and he decided to pursue it professionally.
“A lot of people tell me my strength is composition,” Domondon said. “I’m not really a true photographer who took lessons. I just take unique angles and think about taking different pictures than what everyone else is taking.”
Domondon’s shots of the Golden Gate Bridge in his hometown of San Francisco are a perfect example of this. He shoots from distinctive perspectives that have a surreal abstract quality to them, where form and shape are favored over postcard simplicity.
There is also a distinct painterly quality to much of his work, especially in the color palettes. Domondon’s photographs are vibrantly bold; from a distance, they could easily be mistaken for more of his Impressionist paint work.
“I think it’s more natural for me because I painted for so many years,” he said. “My artistic background really helps me in my photography.”
The two photographers said they wanted to do the show together to have an opportunity to introduce their work to another audience. Domondon said he enjoys the simple experience of meeting new people and talking about photography. For Cox, it’s all about leaving the viewer with something more than a photo on the wall.
“In my perspective, when people leave, they haven’t just seen a photo,” Cox said. “They’ve had an experience.”
Arts and Lifestyle Writer Rebecca Rose shoots from the hip. Contact her at rrose@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 22-29, 2018.