Dick Spas Book

Dick Spas has been doing photography in the southwestern Unites States for over 50 years. He came by this art naturally. Not only has he been influenced by a long line of photographers, artists, characters, friends and adversities, he has intentionally chosen to open to the opportunities that a long and full life presented. The personality, the perceptions and technical skills on display in this magnificent volume evolved through the effort of years.

Dick recognizes two primary formative influences that have shaped his life and art. Earliest was his first 7 ½  years of nurturing care from maternal grandparents from whose instruction and example he absorbed the principles of ethics and moral values; his grandfather carried a box camera wherever he went. The second developed in Albuquerque on his daily walk back down Copper Avenue after class with Mt. Taylor in the distance. He was “captured and never let go by the clear light, the sky so blue it hurts your eyes, and the 180° views with mountains in every direction.”

Soon after completing a four-year hitch in the US Navy aboard wooden minesweepers, Dick was admitted to the University of New Mexico on the G.I. Bill, following cousin Phil, an anthropology student at UNM. Detours into marriage and pursuing the American dream led dropping out of school to work midway through his junior year. Following a divorce and travel adventures to Mexico, he re-enrolled at UNM, this time in the Art Department specializing in photography.

Dick encountered fate once again when he found himself outside the Fine Arts Library door unexpectedly face-to-face with a display case containing a large print of Ansel Adams’ Moonrise Over Hernandez. Awestruck. Inspired. He recognized “this is what I want to do.” Fortune smiled again when he met and reviewed his portfolio with Ansel in Ansel’s Big Sur home.

Inspired by Ansel’s generous technical advice, encouragement and friendship, Dick plunged headlong into his lifelong quest to master the unforgiving art of black and white photography. 

Keeping his contacts with the university, Dick relocated to Taos and its fecund collection of famous artists and unique characters in January 1968. That summer a friend dropped by his studio with word that a movie was being shot at Taos Pueblo. He grabbed his camera and captured his famous postcard image of Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper riding a motorcycle into the Pueblo during the filming of Easy Rider. He rarely left home without his camera.

Well done, black and white photography first requires the curiosity to notice the details of place and of all the intangible vagaries of the human condition … age, innocence, beauty and irregularity, joy, humor, curiosity, attitude and more. Second, it requires getting the right mix of chemicals in the darkroom, and the developer’s artistic skill to bring to life the magic the photographer saw through the lens. Each informs the other. The continuing commitment to get better every day inevitably spills over into a way of life.

This enduring collection of images, captions and stories is a unique record of a life well seen.

John Pruit

Publisher, Dog Soldier Press, Taos, February 2023