Portfolios - Tony Ward

Early Work: The College Years 1974 – 1980

Like many photographers during the mid-1970’s I embraced the documentary tradition early on in my career. I was influenced by the images I saw in Life, Look and other leading periodicals including TIME. I began to sharpen my photographic skills by photographing people on the streets of Philadelphia, as well as famous people I encountered during my early travels through Canada, highlighted by a sitting I had with the legendary photographer, Yousuf Karsh. I photographed Karsh at the Chateau Laurier Hotel where his studio was located in Ottawa, Canada. Karsh had a major impact on my approach to portraiture. He was one of the most renowned portrait photographers in the world at the time and until his death at the age of 94, in 2002. Karsh sent me a letter of gratitude after receiving a print from the sitting we had on July 12, 1978.

This gallery represents some of my earliest photographs produced during my college years. I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Millersville University, Lancaster, Pennsylvania (1974-1977). After graduating from Millersville I immediately applied and was accepted to Graduate school at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, where I earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography (1978-1979). During my college years I also began to experiment with color photography and alternative silver processes when I learned how to manipulate traditional gelatin silver prints into one of kind works of Art.