Opening reception March 3, 2006, from 5-7pm.

Oak Knoll, Snow Camp, CA. 1995. By Michael Keye Schuler.

Michael Keye Schuler had an epiphany when he was a young boy growing up in 1960s Northern California. “My Dad worked for the railroad, and I remember looking at some 1967 magazine on trains and seeing the work of Richard Steinheimer”, a well-know railroad photographer. “I had an inkling that this is all he does for a living. How cool is that?! I could do this.”

With railroads and childhood days in California behind him, Schuler now lives and works in Ketchikan spending much of his time outdoors admiring our Southeast Alaskan island aiming to make photography his professional focus. On the Waters of Revillagigedo showcases a 2005 body of medium-format, straight color photography taken on the island, highlighting different views, from the intimate to the expansive, from the natural to the cultural.

Finding scenes to photograph is both random and deliberate. Schuler often revisits an area during another time of the year hoping to image something that wasn’t quite there before. “I’m trying to show the other things that are still here [Revillagigedo] and that we take for granted in the loop of tourism…show who we are and what we have.” While many of the photographs in the exhibit involve the aquatic areas of Revilla, there is an even mix of purely nature-focused images and human or cultural views such as sailboat racing and harbor scenes.

Schuler delights in his time outside and continually finds scenes that inspire him.  “For me, it’s keeping that moment in time of what you see- keeping it naturally,” says Schuler about his photographic technique. Schuler uses medium-format film in his photography, which allows for incredible resolution in larger prints. He also is adamant about keeping the photographs as simple and as true as possible, which means no filter, no manipulation- just straight photography from the camera to the print. The results are crisp and honest.

Schuler also owns his own photography business in Arcata, California, aptly titled Keyephotos, which specializes in wedding photography and portraiture as well as commercial and industrial photography. Visit Keyephotos on the web at http://keyephotos.com