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 John
Barton Rogers began his career in photography processing black and white
film in a garage darkroom. His interest in photography blossomed with
the birth of his first daughter, and the purchase of a good single lens
reflex camera. While many of his early pictures revolved around family, his
love of walking carried him to
Venice Beach
,
California
and the broad walk there. An astute and sensitive observer, he shot
revealing photos of people in
Venice
, at LAX and driving the surrounding streets. He soon built a darkroom in
the garage and spent many hours working with his photos to bring out the
best he could in each shot.
In the sixties photography was still considered by many to be a craft, and
very little was available in museum space for the photographer. A
photography class at UCLA helped to develop his sense of dramatic light, and
started him on a path that lead to his having the first, non professional
one man show at the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry.
For
many years, John stayed with black and white photography, so he could
process his own work. He did shoot many colored slides and when he branched
out into digital photography, he converted both black and white negatives
and colored slides into digital images.
 Later
in life he joined the digital revolution, shooting hundreds of pictures a
year, and using the transforming tool of the computer to present new and
sometimes startling perceptions of the world that surrounded him.
Rogers combined images freely, using montage and computer manipulation
techniques to create unique compositions from multiple subjects.
Starting
with Adobe Photoshop 3, John’s abilities as a computer programmer-analyst
and a dark room photographer, led him on a path of photographic manipulation
that lead to some of his most lyrical work.
In
the late 1990s form, color, and the small details of our world became the
focus of his artistic eye. Utilizing a practiced sense of color and graphic
design, he sought to expand and enlighten our view of the world through his
work. Rogers’ photographs include figurative, landscape, and
abstract subjects. His images are emotive, sometimes mysterious, sometimes
humorous, and hint at a greater meaning beyond the subject portrayed.
 As
a member of Spectrum Gallery in
Fresno
, John participated in a number of shows, and in each he tried to extend the
use of space to take the photograph out of the frame and off the linear
wall. Often his shows would hang in the center of the gallery suspended by
nearly invisible fish line, surrounding the viewer and responding to all the
air currents in the gallery. He built boxes with interior lighting and
collages of negatives and photos. He loved to experiment with space and
color and words.
Always the observer, he loved to
photograph the natural world around him and collected rocks, scraps of wood
and bark, weeds, lichen, leaves, whatever caught his eye and put them into
his work. The ranch in Ahwahnee which was his home for over 30 years
provided his camera with endless changing vistas to capture and he was
taking pictures there until the end of his life.
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