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      T    H   O   M       H   A   L   L   S

Current Online Exhibitions

         Thom has been a photographer living and working in the great central region of California for over 50 years. His subjects range from the naturalPortrait of me small beauty of the West to the social commentary of man’s imprint on the earth and on each other.
         Working as a photojournalist, photo editor and as Director of Photography for the Fresno Bee his work centers on Central California. Thom is a professor emeritus from  Fresno City College School of Photography where he taught from 2001 until retiring in 2019.  He has also taught internationally in  England and Norway. 
         For information on prints, documentary work, workshops, current shows, etc. contact him at info@thomhalls.com

Photomatix, Paris, France
 Creekwalker.Com
Finding Hope Now

Publications

The Harbor, 2007,
Contributor
Imaging and Perception,
 by Richard Zakia
Chapter 12 - B&W Photography, Fourth Edition


Background

      Thom Halls is a storyteller. He has photographed and written about the Central Coast, Valley and the Sierra for years. His images attempt to capture the diversity of this region’s people as well as its unique geographic qualities.
      His passion is the portrayal of life in common settings where people live seemingly unnoticed. It is in this simplicity that he hopes a more revealing commentary on the importance of each life can be found.
       His images have been published in Newsweek, Time, U. S. News & World Report, American Photographer, Christianity Today, Black & White Magazine, Inside Sports, Best of Photojournalism V & VI and every major newspaper around the world including the New York, London and Tokyo Times.
    Recognition  includes an Honorable Mention from Prix De La Photographie Paris 2007 International Competition, national awards in photography and editing from the National Press Photographers Association, the Society of Newspaper Design, a Penny Missouri Award for health reporting and he was part of a team of reporters and photographers who were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for coverage of the Coalinga  Earthquake.
   
  His images have been selected for juried shows including the Aperture 55 print exhibition.
He has exhibited at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, The Fresno Metropolitan Art Museum, University of California, Gallery F/64 in Maryland, Spectrum Fine Art Gallery, Merced College and the Fresno City College Art Space Gallery. He has also had several one man shows along the Central Coast.
        His work is held in public and private collections throughout the United States. Recently one of his photographs of Ronald Reagan was selected by the Heritage Foundation for a commemorative lithograph of the former president.
     Thom has taught courses and workshops in England and Norway.
     He is a former photographer for the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune, and photographer, photo editor and Director of Photography for The Fresno Bee.  He is now represented by Spectrum Fine Art Gallery in Fresno, Ca.
    Thom teaches Photography  at Fresno City College in Fresno, California, teaching Visual Literacy, Editorial, Digital, Marketing and Video publishing and an online course in basic photography.
    He also holds the “Digital Challenge” workshops series for beginners and intermediate photographers who wish to improve their skills.  To learn more on Classes or Digital Challenge Workshops just click on the links..

 

Previous Exhibitions
Selected prints and/or  books available at Spectrum Fine Art Gallery,
608 E. Olive Avenue, Fresno, Ca.

Spectrum Fine Art Gallery

 

  • Fresno Art Museum, “California Nature’, Group Show Hanna S. Barsam Invitational  1/18 - 7/18
  • San Joaquin River Park Conservancy, “Second Look”, One Man Show, September/October.2015
  • Transformations: A Visual Narrative - Spectrum Art Gallery Fresno, One Man Show December 2014
  • Merced College Art Center - “Perspectives”  Group Show - Fresno City College Faculty - Sept. 2014
  • Hope Now for Youth Annual Banquet “Transformations” (one man show) Radisson Hotel, Downtown Fresno, Ca. 2/27/2014
  • Sanger Art Hop - Two Sisters Boutique, Sanger, Ca 11/24/2012
  • Spectrum Art Gallery, Fresno, “Faces Along the Way & 9 of 10 with Michael Phillips - 10/4 through 11/2, 2012
  • Sanger Art Hop - Two Sisters Boutique, Sanger, Ca 9/28/2012
  • Spectrum  Art Gallery, Fresno, Annual Auction show, (group show) October 2012’
  • Spectrum  Arts Gallery, Annual members show (group show) March 2012
  • Morro  Bay, Ca. Public Library, The Catch: Stories of Local Fishermen (one man show) October through    November 2011
  • Spectrum Fine Arts Gallery, Annual Auction Show (group show) September 2011
  • · Spectrum Fine Arts Gallery, Rotating Members Space - various prints per month through March 2012
    · Visalia Arts - Womanfully - (group show) March, 2011
  • · San Luis Obispo County Historical Museum: The Catch: Stories of Local Fishermen, (one man show)   December 2010 through Setpember 2011
  • · Emerald Gallery, Eugene, Oregon, (group show) December through January 2011
  • · “Best of Spectrum Show”, California State University Fresno, Madden Library, (group show) Nov. 2010
  • · Superior Court of California, B.F. Sisk Courthouse, Fresno, Calif. Permanent Collection, 2010 - (group     collection)
  • · Spectrum Gallery Print Auction show, (group show) Fresno, Ca. Oct. 2010
  • · Voice Shop Gallery, Fresno Calif., Portraits, one man show (6/2010)
  • · Iron Bird Cafe Gallery, Fresno Calif. group show (6/2010)
  • · Stellar Gallery, Oakhurst Ca. Group Show (5/10)
  • · Merced College Arts Gallery, Theatre Arts Building, Merced, Ca. - (two man show with Greg Hubbard), Mechanicals & Botanicals. 1/11 - 2/19/2010
  • · Spectrum Fine Art Gallery, Fresno, Ca. Water, (group show) 8/09
  • · Sanger Community Church Gallery - Mechanicals & Botanicals (one man show 3/09 to 7/09)
  • · General Grant Gallery, Sanger, Ca., 2/09 - 6/09 (group show)
  • · Existing Light - Spectrum Fine Art Gallery, Fresno, Ca. (with Greg Hubbard) 12/08
  • · 347: Collective - Art Space Gallery, Fresno City College, 10/08 (faculty show)
  • · Members Show - Spectrum Fine Art Gallery, Fresno, Ca. 7/07 (group show)
  • · The 50 Print Collection – University of California, Fresno, Ca. 9/07-11/07 (one man show)
  • · The Harbor – Spectrum Fine Art Gallery, Fresno Ca 7/07 - (one man show)
  • · California 5th District Court of Appeal, permanent collection, Fresno, Ca. – 6/07 (group collection)
  • · One man show – Gallery f64, Ellicott City Maryland 6/07 - 8/07 (one man show)
  • · Blue Moon Gallery – Group show, Fresno Ca. 3/07-5/07
  • · University of Calif. - Group show, Fresno – 3/07 – 4/07
  • · Members Show – Spectrum Fine Art Gallery – 8/06
  •    Timepiece – Fresno City Hall Gallery (one man show)– 6/06 - 7/06
  • · Selected Works - Sanger Community Church Gallery (one man show) 4/05 & 5/07
  • · Fresno City College Faculty Show – Group show - Art Space Gallery – 4/06
  • · Nine Variations – Group Show, Fresno Metropolitan Museum Fresno, Ca. – 1984
  • · Aperture 55 Print Collection – Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, Ca. 1978
  • · Faces Along the Way – Traveling exhibition, San Luis Obispo County, Ca. 1977

Artist Statement

       Photography for me has been a journey of discovery. On any given day it transforms the landscape and it’s people into a sort of laboratory where I can gather further knowledge. My goal, in whatever I shoot, is to convey a feeling of urgency to understand. Sometimes that “understanding” lies beneath the surface of an image and you can’t see it until you return from the field, process the images and start the print process. Suddenly the discovery process begins all over again as you look at your work in a different context; The finality of the print.
     Once asked to describe my perfect day, I’d have to say, it is one where I take off searching just over that next hill or through the upcoming valley to see what I can find. It’s a visual treasure hunt.
      As a photojournalist I‘ve traveled to various parts of the world but I find my most fulfilling work comes from my self-inflicted insertion into a region of Central California. Here the visual opportunities abound and the diversity of its residents unlimited. As my “home” changes I find myself a reluctant recorder of what was, what is and pondering what “my home” will become.
     Born on the farm, I quickly developed a non-appreciation for farm life and plotted a way out. At the same time my father, an amateur photographer, introduced me to a camera at the age of four. By my teens I was hooked. There was something about seeing an image as I had visualized it. What was even more remarkable to me was that the more I looked at the drugstore print, the more I found.
Though I plotted my escape of the farm lifestyle, I now find my photography betrays me because many of my images are centered on the simplicity of the rural life and themes of the country. Artistically I find myself most comfortable there.
     Upon graduation from college I worked at various newspaper jobs, enjoying the incredible variety of situations in which journalists find themselves. Eventually I moved to Fresno, California where I worked at The Fresno Bee, first as a photographer, then an editor and finally the Director of Photography.
     At one time or another I have done just about every type of photography from portraiture, still life, photojournalism and commercial. In 2000 I left editing and started teaching Photojournalism, Picture Editing and Marketing at Fresno City College where today I continue my love of black and white and fine art photography.
    All my work today is digital, although I have an extensive catalogue of negatives from which many of my vintage prints are made.