The Photographs of Eugene Gray

Eugene Gray, whose photographs will grace the Wright Office, first turned his attention to the camera in a serious way when he was in his forties and found a mentor in Mexico who showed him the possibilities of photos as art. he preferred black-and-white film and concentrated mostly on landscape , especially two favored spots , the Salton Sea in southern California and Death Valley. “But the darkroom was really his magic place,” writes his widow , Sara Jean Gray. “Making the chemicals, winding the films on the rolls, watching the images appear . In his later 80’s he began to have trouble with his hands and couldn’t get film on the darkroom rolls anymore. We got him some digital equipment and he took a few gorgeous pictures but it wasn’t for him. So from then on he just curated photographs he had created and we remembered the magic. “