Lying in the sun in his boyhood days, squinting without his glasses and with only a sliver of his eyes opened, the world looked fancifully different.
David Kadlec, now 66 but still with a childlike creativity as a veteran photographer, wanted to literally blur the lines of shooting to duplicate that somewhat bug-eyed perspective on the world.
Others can share in the experience with the free exhibit “Compound Vision: Seeing Like a Bug” running through the end of the month at Gallery 506 downtown on the second level of the Columbus Area Visitors Center. The display features 16 images, all smaller than an 8-by-10.
“The small size will invite people to lean in close,” Kadlec said.
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Yet, he also offered a chuckling disclaimer.
“Certainly, I might apologize to any entomologist who might be there (at the exhibit),” he said.
“Who really knows what a compound-eyed critter actually would be seeing?”
For several years, his photos, including painting-style, digitally composite shots, have been known to nudge people to lean in a bit. Ideally, the Ogilville resident would like to see his latest work nudge people to lean in to their outdoor surroundings a little more.
“If people can simply take more notice of the beauty in the world around them, that would be lovely,” Kadlec said.
He began shooting these abstract scenes, including several local architectural icons such as the First Christian Church tower, last year, using various multiple aperture pinhole attachments on his Nikon to give resulting shots a literal bug-eyed and soft-focus, impressionistic feel.
“This kind of approach keeps things lively,” Kadlec said. “For me, it’s fun to be curious about the camera — and to invite it to dance by experimenting.”
Jan Banister, who curates the Gallery 506 space, has long been familiar with Kadlec’s work that has been displayed regionally and nationally.
“I think he’s got a fresh, unique approach to photography,” Banister said. “He sees things in a complete different way. And his photography is not all the same, but it has a common theme with a point of view that is completely unique.”
Banister emphasized Kadlec’s special gifting regularly sets his photos apart.
“Everybody with an iPhone can be a photographer, especially with all of the filters and tools available to people, you can instantaneously create all kinds of effects,” she said. “But there’s something about a consistent artistic statement such as his, and in someone who is making a unique collection.”
As Kadlec spoke about his work, a rooster on his rural, 20-acre property interrupted the chat and began crowing. But the humble, Minneapolis native never has been one to crow much about his talent and success. In this case, he spoke mostly of practical musings en route to his finished photos.
“I thought, ‘What can the camera see that I can’t?’” he asked “And what can the camera show me? It normally is a purely realistic recording device. You point it at something, and it optically renders it.”
Yet, Kadlec, who has been a photographer for 50-plus years and first became a professional in the Army in 1972, prefers a more unconventional approach. It makes sense that he once operated the Jacksson Contemporary Art gallery downtown that highlighted a broad range of art with a wide-ranging interpretation.
“I think we all have an innate curiosity,” he said. “And the camera, if we let it do something other than make a literal, visual record, can be quite an expressive instrument.”
Apart from photography, the son of a mechanical engineer soon will teach a welding class at Ghost Ranch education and retreat center in northern New Mexico. He makes maple syrup (“for me, that can be as much like artwork as any photograph”). He uses a windmill to power his home in an area known as Keeping Hill. And he is nearly jokingly obsessed with fine-roasted coffee.
Fitting, it seems, for one whose mind constantly percolates with new approaches.
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What: Photographer David Kadlec’s latest exhibit “Compound Vision: Seeing Like a Bug,” highlighting his shots that offer what Kadlec guesses is somewhat of a bug-eyed view of a variety of scenes, including local architectural icons.
When: Through May 31.
Where: Gallery 506 on the second floor of the Columbus Area Visitors Center, 506 Fifth St.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Admission: Free
Information: 812-378-2622
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