Dr. James Dowaliby is a retired surgeon, whose second calling in life has always been photography. While he now teaches Basic Black & White Photography at Paier College of Art in Hamden, CT, his color works have an intensity and beauty of contrast and depth.

"I began taking pictures after I got out of the army in 1953," he says. "I had no particular aim in mind, I just wanted to learn how to make photographs, especially in New Mexico, where I had grown up. The sky there is dominant, the light brilliant and the air has a desert clarity that makes even shadows luminous.

"My first teacher was Mack Williams, who owned the camera store in my home town of Roswell, and sold me my first good cameras, an Exakta and a Rolleiflex which I still use. Mack generously taught me basic techniques and allowed me to work in his personal darkroom at any time from 1954 to 1956, when I left New Mexico." Dowaliby now uses a digital process of RGB images, printing with archival Ultrachrome inks on matte paper.

"Upon retiring from medical practice in 1998," he explains, "I studied photography again, this time with Peter Benson at Paier College. When Peter became head of the photography department there, he invited me to join him, and I now teach there.

"My aim is simply to be a prepared observer of the visual world, and on my travels in Italy, Mexico, Norway, Ethiopia, and the Southwest US, I photograph whatever I see that amazes, impresses or charms me. For me, the idea of ‘Technique’ serves this end and rapidly evolves with technology in this digital age. I am by nature contemplative, and my reach exceeds my grasp – I sometimes miss good pictures because I react too slowly. But I do my best, and every once in a while I capture an image that gives me lasting pleasure."