Tom’s interest in photography began as a teenager. He set up a darkroom in his mother’s basement laundry room, printing black and white images of family members, local scenes, and travel photos taken on vacation.
In the early 1980s Tom started using light, compact cameras on trips to the arctic, whitewater boating, and hiking in the desert southwest. By 1993 he had become more serious about his photography, graduating from 35mm to a Mamiya 6x7cm medium format camera and always used a tripod. Finally, being frustrated with the inability to fully control perspective, image geometry, and plane of focus, he began using a 4×5 large format view camera in 1998. The use of medium and large format cameras, slow fine grain film, and the patience to pay attention to details are the ingredients for producing his sharp vivid landscape and architectural images. For some work Tom is also now using a Canon digital camera with a variety of lenses including a TS-E lens which mimics the movements of a view camera.
Until 1998 Tom was self taught. Since then he has studied nature and landscape photography with Gary Ladd, Jerry Sieve, Jack Dykinga, and the legendary David Muench as well as Royal Photographic Society Fellow Joe Cornish. Dykinga is the most influential and best teacher he has had. While all scenic locations interest him, Tom is most prolific and creative in a desert environment, particularly the American southwest. As one who likes variety, Tom has also photographed extensively in coastal New England, Michigan, Nova Scotia, and Scotland.
In 2019 Tom was sponsored by the National Parks Arts Foundation for a month in Death Valley California as Artist in Residence.
Tom utilizes some of the finest photo labs in the country for printing. Since 2001 he has been using high resolution scans of the film as well as digital camera files to personally prepare images for digital printing on various media including laser print, metal dye sublimation prints, and acrylic face mount prints. This hands-on approach helps to produce the “look” of the final print.
Tom may be contacted through galleries which represent his work, his web site Tom Daniel Photography, by e-mail, or phone at (203)847-5959.