Jerry Uelsmann, master of photographic illusion before Photoshop, dies at 87

Most people may not know the name of Jerry Uelsmann, but photographers know him as a photographic artist — and ultimate craftsman and visionary.

He’s known for his composite photos back in the days not only before Photoshop but even before computers were household items. Uelsmann died on April 4 in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a professor emeritus at the University of Florida. He was 87.

I first became fascinated by his work when I was a photo student about 40 years ago. Learning how to use a single enlarger with a single negative, I would be stumped by how he would create his fantastical, jaw-dropping images. Uelsmann would use several enlargers, each with a different negative, to create his images.

Uelsmann used his technique to further his surreal artistic vision. Not only would they be technically beautiful, but the scenes would evoke ethereal fantasy, often combining the natural world with manmade scenes or objects and infused with thought and emotion.

Viewing his work is like looking at waking dreams. An untitled piece from 1976, one of my favorites, features a mysterious wood-paneled room. Instead of a ceiling, there’s the sun peeking through a cloud-filled sky. At the center of the room is a slanted drawing table with what appears to be a large map on it. A tiny person walks off of a small book also on the table and onto the map.

There is an enigmatic and mysterious quality to Uelsmann’s work. I’ve always believed that he embodied a quote by the late Ansel Adams: “There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer,” meaning that while he has a voice and vision for his images, viewers need to also to bring their own interpretation and feelings to the experience.

Indeed, many of his works are untitled, which forces the viewer to even further decipher meaning and emotion from the images.

Uelsmann would explore the world with his camera just as any other photographer should. But things would diverge when he got back to his darkroom:

“My creative process begins when I get out with the camera and interact with the world. A camera is truly a license to explore. There are no uninteresting things. There are just uninterested people. For me to walk around the block where I live could take 5 minutes. But when I have a camera, it could take five hours. You just engage in the world differently. If you can get to a point where you respond emotionally, not intellectually, with your camera there's a whole world to encounter. There's a lot of source material once you have the freedom of not having to complete an image at the camera,” Uelsmann said in a 2007 interview with Shutterbug Magazine.

What’s remarkable about Uelsmann’s process is that it’s all manual. He meticulously exposed a piece of photographic paper through several enlargers and developed them in trays of chemicals. Today, photos like these can be combined on a computer, but it still would take someone very skilled to match the level of Uelsmann’s expertise and precision.

While he found today’s digital techniques interesting, he stayed with his analog ways: "I am sympathetic to the current digital revolution and excited by the visual options created by the computer. However, I feel my creative process remains intrinsically linked to the alchemy of the darkroom.”

Uelsmann’s innovative and creative vision will not be seen again and death is a tremendous loss to the photo world. But we still have his enduring images and with them we can dream.

Record photographer Clifford Oto has photographed Stockton and San Joaquin County for more than 37 years. He can be reached at coto@recordnet.com or on Instagram @Recordnet. Follow his blog at recordnet.com/otoblog. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Jerry Uelsmann, master of photographic illusion, dies at 87