Featured Artist Dale George

Creativity is a source of expression, we all have this trait in some form or fashion be it creating the perfect recipe, drawing, painting, musical talent, designing your favorite tattoo…the list is long and varied. If you are lucky, you discover this hidden talent early and are able to nurture it for a lifetime. Others come to realize this talent later in life, this is true in my case. My name is Dale George, I am a retired automotive technician.

I had always struggled to find a way to release the creative energy that I knew I possessed, but could never quite find my particular niche. I had tried my hand at drawing, painting, playing guitar but it wasn’t until my wife bought me a moderately priced digital camera for Christmas one year that my interest started to grow. I had always taken vacation photos even in the film days, but usually only returned home with mixed results leaning towards the boring side. After receiving a decent camera, and realizing that taking as many photos as I wanted was not only ok, but also necessary to be sure I came home with at least a few good photos.

Then I joined the Caveman Camera Club to learn as much as I could about the process behind good photos from other club members who were more than willing to help. I slowly began to find my particular style of capturing and editing that was unique to my own personal taste. For me, there is a great deal of satisfaction in capturing, editing, printing and mounting a beautiful image that makes people want to stop and take the time to look at it. To me, that is the essence and purpose of art.

The type of images I will be showing at Gallery One on “G” Street will be varied, but will lean towards my favorite type of photography, architecture and Americana. I am particularly attracted to lavish interiors of Victorian homes, castles and palaces of the bygone days. I am also drawn to the eye candy of the interiors of the mega hotels of Las Vegas. All of these images are shot using a process called HDR (high dynamic range) which is helpful in order to bring these indoor spaces to life in a photo.

The only rule I have is that these images must NOT have persons drifting through the scene. I prefer to have the image void of people in order to allow the viewer to imagine themselves standing in that space and time period. It turns out that not having people in the scene is the hardest part, and requires a lot of patience and planning to achieve. Sometimes this means getting out of bed at 3:00am and shooting the lobbies and architecture when the gamblers have gone to bed. Sometimes its waiting till the last tour groups are leaving a Victorian home or royal palace to get the shot I want. Whatever the case, its the end results that make it worth the extra effort.

My wife and I have called Grants Pass home since 2005 and consider ourselves lucky to live in a town that supports art and has so many talented people in our midst. I hope the readers will come out from our Covid cocoon and enjoy our downtown Gallery One art community and museum. Admission is free, enjoying yourself is optional.