BROOKINGS – From a Brownie box camera to the digital age, Jeff West has come a long way in the world of photography. 

On Jan. 25 the Brookings resident and Vietnam veteran took first place in the veterans category at Sioux Falls VA Health Care Veterans & Employees Art Show.

His awarding-winning photo, “Dinghy Beach,” was shot a year ago on Harbor Island in San Diego. In noting the vivid colors and contrast of the photo, some viewers see it as looking more like a painting than a photo. 

“I tend to go out around dawn with my camera and walk the beach whenever we’re down there,” he said. “And this just appealed to me and I shot it.”

Smiling and laughing a bit, he said, “Actually, this is not the one I expected to win. I entered two pieces and everybody in the VA liked the other one, but the jurists from around Sioux Falls picked this one.”

However, that second piece, “Reflections,” did OK; it took first place at the Brookings Arts Council’s recent Open Photography Competition and Exhibit.

Meanwhile, “Dinghy Beach” is being submitted for judging in the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival in Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 28-Nov. 5. 

Brownie box, bears, trash cans

West, 70, was born in the San Francisco Bay area, where his father and grandfather, both professional photographers, had a studio.

“My dad always had a 35 mm camera,” West said. “And he used to have me use his light meter and have me help him when he was shooting.”

His first camera, a Brownie box, was a bit less sophisticated than what his father shot with. Laughing, West replayed an episode as an 8-year-old on a camping trip with his parents in Yellowstone. He was “following two huge brown bears, taking pictures as they went from trash can to trash can. I survived that and have been taking pictures ever since.”

West later moved to San Diego, where he grew up, met and married Gayle, his wife of 37 years. She had moved there from Hawaii.

They later lived for five years in Santa Fe, New Mexico, before moving to Kansas near the Missouri border for 18 years before moving to Brookings about four years ago.

“Originally we had family here,” West said. “We used to come up a lot. We had season tickets for the Jackrabbits football. We would leave Kansas on Friday night and drive up here and go to the game on Saturday and drive home on Sunday.”

They liked the area and bought a lot near Camelot school about three years before they retired. While family members moved away, Jeff and   Gayle stayed.

His last 10 years before he retired were spent in “the stone industry.”

“We imported marble and granite and other stone from around the world and distributed it in about 20 states, mostly in the Midwest,” he said. “It was used both in homes and commercially.”

West gained his veteran’s status via a tour of duty in Army infantry. He served as a drill sergeant at Fort Ord, Monterrey, California. He volunteered for Vietnam and served a year-long combat tour – December 1968 to December 1969 – with the 23rd Infantry Division, aka the Americal Division, near Chu Lai, about 50 miles south of Da Nang.

Semi-pro photographer

West admits to having sold some of his photos, but he doesn’t consider himself a professional photographer. If he were an athlete, he’d likely be considered a semi-pro.

When he retired, he “bought new camera gear and intended to be a landscape and wildlife photographer. That was my goal.”

However, since he and Gayle show dogs, he decided to take his camera and shoot pictures at dog shows. It turned into a lucrative sideline as people bought pictures of the dogs he photographed and used them in ad campaigns promoting their dogs. His pictures have been shown in a variety of national dog-show publications.

Beyond that and some “pet portrait photography,” he has not benefited commercially from his work. Ironically, however, shooting pictures of animals – albeit not pets – proved to be expensive. But it did make him a more serious photographer. 

In 1998, as a 50th-birthday present, Gayle sent him to Africa on a two-week photo-safari. Shooting 35 mm film, he captured about 800 images. Laughing again, he added that it “cost a fortune in those days.”

West made the change to digital photography about six years ago. 

“I stayed with Canon, because I was shooting with Canon film bodies for years,” he explained. “I know where all the buttons are. It’s pretty much the same layout.”

A little help from Gayle

Gayle and Jeff are world travelers. And his camera goes with them. A sampling of their itinerary includes London, Scotland, Paris, and Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.

West credits his wife for helping him acquire his photographic skills and style, “teaching (him) to look beyond the conspicuous, obvious and look for some detail that is appealing and interesting.”

 “She’s taught me to stop and say, ‘What in that scene is interesting to me?,’” he added. “She’s my photo mentor. She has an excellent eye, and she’s taught me to see things the way she does. She’s improved my photography substantially.”      

West admits that he does his photography for himself. 

“I shoot for me. I like what I do and I do it for me.

“If other people like it, that makes me happy. If they don’t like it, I’m still happy, because I’m doing it for me.”

His do-it-for-me approach to photography ties in to his PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Gayle sees his photography as therapeutic: “I think that calms him and it helps him. He loves seeing beautiful things. Now he’s relaxed and can get on with his photography.” 

Being able to relax became a challenge when West retired.

“Working I had stuff to do every day that kept me occupied,” he explained. “When I retired that was gone. I didn’t have anything to do.

“That’s when the PTSD issue surfaced, and I found out that that’s common. It’s sitting in the back and it’s suppressed, because you’re focused on other things.

“They (VA health care providers) pointed out in my therapy that I was making decisions based on things that happened 45 years ago. It’s been a cathartic experience here the last few years and photography has just been a big, big part of it.”

Additionally, West has a certified therapy dog that he takes to visit area assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Recently the dog has been accepted for use in the Veterans Affairs program in Sioux Falls.

The Brookings Arts Council is showing some of West’s work in a solo exhibition opening April 4 and continuing throughout the month.

Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.