Ross Chapple

CAREER

In 1963 I was working in Washington, DC as a writer when I began hanging out with folk musicians from the Caribbean who introduced me to smoking gangha. Typing little words on a Smith Corona typewriter no longer held their own against seeing the big picture. I bought a Leica, and then another and went out to meet America and somehow make a living.

My first photo job was shooting a used car salesman holding a lariat and waving his 10-gallon hat – “Just call me “Tex,” he said.

Rapidly though, I was able to move on to shooting freelance for the award-winning Washington Star Sunday Magazine. I learned to shoot picture spreads that tell stories, which isn’t the same thing as shooting a couple of good pictures. Soon I was winning awards annually at the Metropolitan Washington Art Director’s Club Show.

Also I gained the National Park Service as a client and shot slide shows portraying the beauty of the parks for visitors who never went beyond the visitor center. One presentation won Best in Show at the Art Director’s Club.

This exposure led to advertising jobs for real estate, a men’s fashion account and Porsche USA, though I was tentative in my relationship towards ad agencies.

Instead of building on these career steps, it was in 1967-68 that I veered towards counter-culture and immersed myself in transcendental landscapes following my LSD experiences at the Monterey Pops Festival in California. I sold my hard-won case of Hasselblads, a Sinar 4 by 5, and left home to meet the wizard.

But by 1969 I had crashed and burned. Recovering as much as I could of my self-esteem, I again faced making a living. I got lucky. The Washington Post hired me to photograph for the Sunday Magazine. I shot conceptual pictures, fashion, home design and major portraits, as well as many covers.

On my own, I made lovely food shots with Anne Willan, notable French cuisine authority and Editor of the Grand Diplome Cooking Course for Grolier Press.

In 1972 I returned to the freelance world, shooting residential interiors for national magazines. This work would carry on for the 30-plus years. I regularly shot for Better Homes & Gardens, Beautiful New Homes, Traditional Home, Renovation Ideas, Home & Design, Kitchen & Bath Ideas and many more titles for Meredith Publishing.

During the ‘70s I also began an association with The Smithsonian Institution, where I made major contributions to coffee table books such as:
The Smithsonian Experience, W. W. Norton & Co., 1977
Treasures of the Smithsonian, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1983
Space Time Infinity, Pantheon Books, 1985
The Smithsonian Book of Flight, Orion Books, 1987
The Smithsonian. Alfred A. Knopf, 1995
Air & Space, Bulfinch Press, 1997

Recently I noticed that my pony tail had evolved into a bald spot. Time is fleeting, and before my clock strikes the final hour I wanted to resolve the pictures of my youth, the ones shot while I wore a Leica against my skin and studied each new contact sheet for the roadmap to my heart.

So here we are, you and I, together.