Adventures in Light -
LoDo Photog Knows the World
by Jon Koerselman

If you catch the incorrigibly happy photographer in the office, glance at his calendar. It shows Mexico, Lake Powell, and Canyon Lands for the first half of 2002, interspersed with photo classes he teaches at Arvada Center for the Arts or one of several other locations.

Also look at his office walls. They're festooned with images of people as well as places. "I've found what I'm really best at is people," says Shaw. "I've photographed many people while traveling; they're environmental portraits that say a lot about the places people live and work, really character portraits."

His travels, including treks to Machu Picchu in Peru, boating down Russia's Volga River, and biking in New Zealand, yield an array of images noted for their artistry as well as their realism.

One photo, a lobsterman tending his traps; craggy face, gray beard, wind blown hair, was a rare gift from a crusty resident of Prince Edward Island. Shaw's rapport makes that kind of "gift" common on his expeditions. "Today I'm willing to become involved verbally and emotionally with people; it helps with the photo," says Shaw. "I think this is one of the things many people photographers overlook."

"Doing a good portrait of person is akin to doing a good interview, you should spend time getting to know them." On an expedition to the steppes of Russia, Shaw spent time talking with "babushkas" and children who had never met an American. It was time well spent, producing several of the best photos of his career.

Shaw's publication credits are diverse; Outside Magazine, Travel Holiday, German GEO, Ladies Home Journal, and Destination Magazine. Pick up a travel brochure from Globus & Cosmos Travel Tours and you'll likely see a Shaw photo. A long-time resident of LoDo, Shaw's first studio was at 19th and Wazee, just a block from what is now Coors Field. "That was in 1982. Clients were reluctant to come down here in those days, except perhaps in an armored car at High Noon," says Shaw. "It was a visually interesting area even then, but it's chief lure was a lot of space for little money." Even before LoDo became up scale, however, Shaw's clients included Frontier Airlines, Rossignol Ski, and Sperry Univac.


Although classically trained in black and while photography, today Shaw works mostly with color. He feels capturing people in their natural surroundings demands artistic skill with natural light; he puts less emphasis on F-stops and shutter speeds. "God gives you the light and you do what you can with it. You need to choose a time of day when the quality of light is right," says Shaw. "There are little things you can do, but when you photograph the natural world you must get the right quality of light to the film."

After thirty years Shaw's enthusiasm for snapping photos is stronger than ever. "There's that little bit of magic; there's that gut wrenching bit of doubt every time you shoot that it won't turn out as good as you'd like," says Shaw. "You have a vision, and one of the ways you know you're getting better is when your photos closely resemble the vision you had before you clicked the shutter."

Shaw's class at Colorado Free University emphasizes achieving the "vision" new photographers must cultivate. He works to teach people to "see" a composition before they click the shutter. It's the kind of knowledge that comes only from personal experience. Shaw senses his students' success. "A little homing beacon flashes faster and brighter when they begin zeroing in on composition," says Shaw.

After twenty years of perfecting his craft, Jerome Shaw still views every assignment as an adventure. "Locations, people, experiences, settings, that's what interests me," says Shaw. Those are the things that make his business fun, whether it takes him to a bed and breakfast in New Mexico, the onion-domed churches of Moscow, or the dusty bazaars of Egypt.

Jerome Shaw can be reached at Studio 303 1836 Logan Street Denver, Colorado 80203