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JOHN TELFORD

1944-2019

BiographyTelford, John W. (1944-), of Sandy, Utah, is a talented present-day Salt Lake City photographer/teacher now associated with Brigham Young University. In early days, he experienced some formal training in photography at BYU but has always been essentially self-taught, even though he is now the holder of an M.F.A. from the University of Utah. Telford worked for the U of U (supervisor of photography, Educational Media Center) long before he picked up his advanced degree, and for a number of years, he was director of the Edison Street Gallery in Salt Lake city for Borge Anderson and Associates. Telford also taught for the U of U's Division of Continuing Education as an associate instructor of the Department of Art, and was on the U of U/Snowbird Summer Arts Institute faculty for several years. Other teaching assignments include Westminster College, the Salt Lake Art Center, Hill Air Force Base, and the Kimball Art Center, and his photographs have appeared in "Fortune," "Stern," "Communicative Art," and "People" magazines (the latter fortunate enough to employ John as "regional photographer"). (b. December 4)

Olpin, Robert S., William C. Seifrit, and Vern G. Swanson. ARTISTS OF UTAH. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1999: 253.

John Telford is a native of Utah and has been making photographs of the landscape and environment for nearly 25 years. His photographs have been published extensively (including over 50 cover photographs) and exhibited both nationally and internationally and are included in numerous public and private collections. Coyote’s Canyon (photographs by John Telford, stories by Terry Tempest Williams) was published din 1989 by Peregrine Smith Books. Two additional books, Shadows of Time, The Geology of Bryce Canyon National Park, and Lake Powell, A Different Light, were released in the fall of 1994. Utah: A Portrait, (Text by William B. Smart), a celebration of Utah's unique and diverse beauty, was published in conjunction with the statehood centennial celebration in 1996. Telford also recently completed a collaboration with two other photographers documenting Native American rock art in Utah which was published in the book, Sacred Images, published by Gibbs Smith Books.

Telford received an MFA from the University of Utah and is currently an Associate Professor at Brigham Young University where he recently won the Annual Teaching Excellence Award in the College of Fine Arts and Communications. He has also taught workshops and seminars throughout the West, has won several awards and honors and is included in Macmillan Biographical Encyclopedia of Photographic Artists and Innovators.

The Light Humor Series
Photography is the medium of Light. Photography literally means light drawing. Light is a fundamental tool of the photographer, and the photographer who does not understand light does not understand photography. In addition to its definition as illumination or radiant energy, light also means not heavy, cheerful, happy, not serious, unimportant.

Over the past several years, while traveling to make photographs for one project or another; I have come across things that just seem a little strange or humorous; things that seem out of place, or juxtapositions that create unintended visual humor. At least I think they're funny. I chuckle a little, make a photograph and move on. About a year ago while reorganizing my files, I realized that there were enough of these photographs to actually comprise a "series" and the logical name seemed to be "Light Humor." In the sense that they are photographs, they are also about light. While in pursuit of serious photographs, these pictures gave me an opportunity to laugh a little. Hopefully, they will give serious art viewers an opporutnity to chuckle a little as well.

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