As photographers we leave behind a legacy of photographs which many times simply end up in an attic somewhere and are eventually thrown in the trash. Some of those photographs are cherished by our children, but often those are snapshots of family members that don’t really stand up to the critical eye of a museum curator. As I contemplate my own collection of prints and digital images, I hope that some day one of my kids will honor me like Grayce Wheeler’s son has done.
In the 1950s and 1960s Grayce Wheeler was a member of two of our local camera clubs, the Northern Virginia Camera Club and the Old Dominion Camera Club. Sadly the Old Dominion Camera Club is now defunct, but the Northern Virginia Camera Club lives on as the Northern Virginia Photographic Society (NVPS), having changed its name in 1975.
Grayce’s son, Dan Wheeler, was inspired by the October 2009 publishing of Vivian Maier’s work and decided he should publish Grayce’s photographs from Germany in the 1950s through the Washington, DC metro area in the 1970s. Grayce’s work paralleled Vivian’s in a number of ways: they were both street photographers; both used a Rolleiflex; and, photography was an avocation and creative outlet for both, who supported themselves and their families through unrelated jobs.
Grayce was a black and white photographer, shooting primarily Tri-X and Plus-X, who enjoyed the control that black and white printing offered. Dan started being Grayce’s photographic assistant at an early age, learning the craft of photography as a byproduct. His first job with Grayce was to hold a blanket over a closet door so that she could load film into the tank. Later, when Dan had moved out of the house, Grayce would take her daughter Emily to meetings of the Old Dominion Camera Club. Emily, as a senior in high school went on to win the Eastman Kodak — Scholastic Magazine photography contest.
Later Grayce would print their work in a wet darkroom and experimented with different techniques, such as printing on Kodalith film. This experimentation has rubbed off on Dan, who now experiments with techniques in the digital darkroom.
Although Grayce once owned a 35mm camera, her true love was the medium format film, having a Mamiya TLR and Pentax 6×7 SLR. Most all of the images that Dan presented in his exhibit of Grayce’s work are medium format prints. Dan reshot the prints in digital to show them on his website.
Bringing us back around to the question, what will happen with your library of prints, negatives and digital images when you are gone?
If you, or someone you know, remembers Grayce, her family would like to hear from you. Please feel free to send Dan an email at .
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