Vision of Photography Series, The Museum Collection,
William Meriwether
People’s Press, 52 pages $14.95
ISBN #0981781071
Reviewed by Mike Rosso
William Meriwether is not a well-known name in photo circles but the recently deceased Colorado-based photographer left behind a body of work that may someday bring his works the stature they deserve.
Meriwether, who spent part of his youth in the San Luis Valley, self-published a limited edition book of his work and essays in 2005 and it was formally published in 2010 by Peoples Press in Woody Creek, Colorado.
Vision of Photography Series, The Museum Collection, William Meriwether, is a compact, yet comprehensive look at Meriwether’s work as well as essays, discussion, quotes from other photographers and definitions of fine-art terms. Photographs chosen to represent his work range from the 1960s through the ‘90s, many of which were taken in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. All the images are reproduced as sepia-toned black and white and many include descriptions of why and how the photo was taken, including discussions of compositional techniques employed. Meriwether liked to shoot the vanishing Hispano culture and often utilized a red filter, popular with adherents of the f/64 photographs such as Ansel Adams, which rendered blues skies as nearly black, creating dramatic contrast. His photographs demonstrate a mastery of compositional technique.
It is very apparent that Meriwether spent time as a teacher, as this is an excellent book for students of photography. His language is straightforward and it is obvious that he had a passion for the history of photography as well as its lesser-known processes such as the platinum process. In fact, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their own photographic skills. His essays are thoughtful but not boastful, such as his encounter with Imogene Cunningham at her home in San Francisco in 1968. His knowledge of photo history, technique, the camera and the medium itself can be found in the pages of this small, yet sublime book.
Meriwether earned a Master’s degree in Fine Art from Adams State College in Alamosa in 1988, eventually relocating to Glenwood Springs, where he worked as an adjunct professor for CMC from 1992 until 2004. Soon after, he was diagnosed with bone cancer in his spine. This condition curtailed his photo trekking but not his enthusiasm for the medium, as he often would take drives with his wife Bobbie and photograph from his car. He also dabbled in digital photography as it started to become more mainstream. An opening reception for a retrospective of his work was held at the Colorado Mountain College Gallery in Glenwood Springs on June 4, 2010, but Meriwether was not able to attend. He had died three days before at age 65, a victim of the cancer he’d been fighting for seven years.
