David began the serious pursuit of photography as art upon graduation from the Masters of Arts/Creative Writing Program at San Francisco State University.  He has published two books, one poetry and one photography.  His photographs have been published and exhibited in numerous locations; he received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1985 for his photography book, Situations.  David Arnold has been teaching photography for 9 years, 8 at Nevada Union High school, Grass Valley, Ca, a National Blue Ribbon School.  Recently, ArtsEdge and the National School Boards’ Association selected Nevada Union’s Photography Program as an exemplary arts program utilizing new technology.  David Arnold’s photography includes work in black and white and color, as well as continuing experiments with digital media.

I live in Rough and Ready, California, a historic Gold Rush era settlement located at the 2000 feet elevation of the Sierra Nevada Range. The area is visually rich and diverse, and for several years I have photographed this region with small toy plastic cameras. These simple machines present special photographic challenges: a tight square format, uncertain metering, uncertain lens effects, limited shutter controls, difficulty in handing the cameras and the ever-present hazards of light contamination. Nevertheless, these cameras afford a direct, unpretentious, uninhibited approach, and I am very much drawn to the inexact image that I can create with them. The simplicity of these cameras allows me to approach my subjects with fresh perspectives and with an open heart.

The subjects of my photographs fall into several broad groupings: historic graveyards, woodlands, fences, paths, architectural details, historic gold mining buildings of the Sierra Nevada Gold Country. This region contains some of the oldest inland settlements in California; the geography of this hill and mountain country has helped preserve the small communities and historic architecture. Yet the blight that has infected so much of the coastal and valley regions of California is making its way through mountains.

I don’t want these images to stand as nostalgia, but as personal stories, traces, memories, connections to a fading past, journeys through the region where I live. Change is apparent, and ever upon us. These images speak this story too.

David Arnold