Wayne Abraham

My interest in photography started at the age of 12 when my parents bought me a Polaroid camera.  It was one of those Polaroid cameras, after you took the picture you waited 60 seconds for it to develop and peeled off the top sheet to see how it looked.  I used it to take photographs of our farm and animals. At the time we lived on a 20-acre farm in Pennsylvania.  At the age of 14 I put together my first darkroom in a closet where I was able to develop film and make prints.

In 1975 we moved to Las Cruces, NM.  My interest in photography continued to grow as I attended seminars and did a lot of self-study from books & magazines.  I studied business at New Mexico State University and also had the opportunity to attend Brooks Institute of Photography for 6 months.  I continued my education at NMSU where I received my Bachelor’s degree.

During the 1980’s I operated a photography studio in Las Cruces. About 1986 I met former pro football player, Bob Lilly, who had played for the Dallas Cowboys from 1961-1974 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980.  Because of his interest in photography, he opened a photography gallery in historic Old Mesilla.  I took a few promo shots for him, as he still did radio broadcasts for the Dallas Cowboys.  One day he gave me a couple rolls of black & white infrared film to try.  I used it during an unusual snow storm we had in Las Cruces.  I photographed a large grove of pecan trees in the snow and the results were spectacular.  It’s one of my favorite photographs.

I continued my photography career (part-time) into the 1990’s, but I had a series of job transfers that took my family to Tucson, AZ and then to Reno, NV.  While in Reno, I did have the opportunity to photograph the Yosemite Valley, Lake Tahoe and Mono Lake a few times.  Ansel Adams took some his well-known photographs in Yosemite. I have always admired Ansel Adams’ photography and darkroom genius.  A few years ago I was able to participate in a 4-day Yosemite workshop conducted by Alan Ross, who was the photographic assistant to Ansel in the 1970s. 

Much of my work is in the form of Gelatin Silver (B&W) landscape images, hand printed and archivally processed in my personal darkroom.  My work is always printed on fine art fiber-based paper, air dried, matted and overmatted with 4-ply archival museum board.  My limited-edition prints are all signed, numbered and kept in a registry. The name of my company came about by looking at the chemical process of exposing the silver halides in photographic paper to light, hence, the name, Silver Images.

In 2005 my wife (Jill) and I decided to move back to New Mexico.  We both have family here and I wanted to concentrate more of my photography in “The land of Enchantment”. 

My work has been shown at the Belen Art Gallery, UNM Galleries,  as well as at juried art shows, such as the New Mexico Arts & Crafts Fair and the Ruidoso Art Festival.

Please visit Wayne's personal gallery at www.silverimages.net .