The Short Version
STAN MAUPIN
Stan Maupin spent most of his career as an entrepreneur founding and supporting new businesses and organizations in industries as diverse as genetic microbiology and used auto parts. He even published a magazine about new and emerging ventures (see The Long Version). But he didn’t think of himself as creative until he discovered his interest in photography while working from home due to COVID-19.
Today, he still considers himself a beginner, but his photographs have been selected for exhibit by two local galleries and have won several awards including a 3rd Place in the Washington Post's 2022 Travel Photo Contest. He currently is an artist-in-residence at Crossroads Art Center, and his work is available though the Center's Richmond Gallery at 2016 Staples Mill Road in Richmond, VA or on its website.
“I always thought of photography as a way to remember the past or document the future”, he said recently. “But photography is not just about saving moments, it’s also about creating and sharing them.”
Stan focuses on taking photographs of places and things that are all around us, but we seldom, if ever, experience or notice. He hunts for the darkest sky in the middle of the night so that we can experience the Milky Way. He spends hours in the sun in July so we can see the colors created by sunlight streaming through the wings of a hummingbird. And, he also looks for just the right spot to capture a sunset others might see, but only through the windshield while stuck in traffic.
If you ask Stan about a photograph he took, he is more likely to talk about the experience he had in taking it than about the settings of the camera he used. He’ll talk about the weather that day, or the person he met while taking it. Like a fisherman, he will also talk about the “one that got away.”
“I want my photos to make you feel like you’re there. I want to create experiences, not just record them”, he says.