Carl Gillette - Biography

Carl Gillette, owner of Delta Image Photography, works from his studio located on an eight-acre farm in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.

Creative people often determine their calling in life at an early age. This was the case for Carl, who, at the age of ten, sent in coupons from the backs of Superman Comic books, to get his first camera. He received a cardboard Three Stooges camera with Stooges action negatives and printing out paper. Carl impressed his friends by exposing the negatives to sunlight then developing the pictures under the garden hose.

Until his mid-30's, Carl was self-taught. In the late 1980's, he returned to school at Daytona Beach Community College where he received his degree in photography and training in commercial illustration.

His professional experience and body of work encompass many genres, including commercial illustration, documentary, portraiture and fashion. Carl's photographs demonstrate a remarkable ability to capture mood, emotion and character. Images involving the female form exhibit an esoteric awareness of the feminine psyche. His interest in and mastery of the cyanotype has led to publication in Darkroom Photography magazine and placement in a permanent collection at Valencia Community College, Florida.

"Perception and reality diverge at any given instant in time," says Carl.

Carl lives with his wife, Barbara, a professional writer, and their Golden Retrievers, Chance and Gypsy, and a stray who came to stay, Curly.

About "Fish Camp: A Living Legend in a Vanishing Frontier"

This selection of photographs comes from an exhibition entitled "Fish Camp," a personal documentary completed in 1989. These large format black and white photographs depict two closely related fish camps on the St. John's River near Osteen, Florida, and the people living and working there. The images from "Fish Camp" are pure Americana, human interest photography which captures the souls of the people and the moment in time. More importantly, the images express humble values which some of us still hold in high regard: a simple lifestyle in rhythm with the environment, where common sense is the rule of order. However fleeting, these values and the 'Old Florida' of my childhood, and my ancestors, still exists.

All of the "Fish Camp" photographs were taken with a Crown Graphic 4x5 camera and are available as fine art Giclee prints.