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Photographer Dale Graham, left, donated eight prints to the College of Pharmacy on Thursday. Accepting were Dean Clarence Ueda, Pharm.D., Ph.D, middle, and associate professor Sam Augustine, Pharm.D. |
A native of Chappell, Neb., Graham says his photography is “pure and straightforward,” consisting mostly of contemporary black-and-white images of landscapes and natural settings. His donation to the College of Pharmacy includes eight mounted, matted and framed prints. The photographs were presented Thursday to Dean Clarence Ueda, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Returning to campus
“I was at UNMC last summer for my 50-year class reunion, and I looked around the Pharmacy Building and thought to myself, ‘Man, it would be kind of nice to have a few photographs hanging in here,’ ” Graham said. “And that’s the simple rationale that I used when I contacted Dean Ueda about possibly having some of my work displayed there. I just thought it would look nice on the walls of the College of Pharmacy.”
Dr. Ueda said he learns more about graduates of the College of Pharmacy each year at the Alumni Reunion. Had it not been for last year’s reunion, he said, he would never have known about “the outstanding work of Mr. Graham.”
Displayed with pride
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College of Pharmacy Dean Clarence Ueda, Pharm.D., Ph.D., looks at a framed photo while photographer Dale Graham, a 1952 pharmacy graduate, looks on. |
Graham’s work in gallaries across the country
During the past 25 years, Graham’s work has been exhibited in a number of galleries and shows throughout the United States. In 1979, his photograph “Windmill On The Prairie” was selected for the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln acquired three of his photos in 1982 for its permanent collection, and his photograph “Red Cloud Buttes and Clouds” was added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Nebraska Art at the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 1992.
“When I went to school in Lincoln, the pharmacy building was located at the site where the Sheldon Art Gallery is today,” Graham said. “So, as far as I know, I’m the only person who went to pharmacy school at UNL who now has art exhibited in the Sheldon gallery.”
Longtime hobby for Graham
Graham earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy in 1952, and then owned and operated a drugstore in Fayette, Mo., from 1963 until his retirement as a pharmacist in 1996. His interest in photography began as a teenager, but was more of an avocation until his retirement.
“As I get older, I have found that my enthusiasm for this medium (photography) has increased each year,” Graham said, “and I keep trying to improve my work in an effort to make a better print.
Self-taught
“I am primarily self-taught,” said Graham, who continues to live in Fayette with his wife, Maureen. “I particularly enjoy darkroom work. It is my belief that the darkroom has more to do with a good photograph than the camera, although both are important.”
Graham has attended workshops conducted by the late renowned American photographer Ansel Adams at his Yosemite Workshops Program, and by professor Oliver Schuchard at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Published photographs
Photographs by Graham were used in the book “Missouri Conservation Melodies,” published by the Missouri Department of Conservation. His photographs also were reproduced for murals at the Burr Oaks Conservation Center in Blue Springs, Mo., and for the Visitors Center of the Swan Lake National Refuge in Sumner, Mo. Since 1993, Graham has published an annual calendar featuring his photos of Fayette and Howard counties in Missouri.
“I like what I do and I’m going to continue to do it, but if other people like it, that’s just kind of the frosting on the cake,” he said.