Feature Image: Pigeonholed © Tom Klare
It’s not surprising that you may not be familiar with Tom Klare, even though he is someone who has been a valley resident for the last 18 years. When he is not in Cave Creek, Tom, and his wife Martha (a talented artist in her own right) spend an abundance of time camping and traveling and photographing two of his passions – the natural landscape and the night sky. An ardent supporter of the environment, Klare has used his photographic skills to highlight the remote lands of the American west as well as Canada and Mexico.
Originally from Virginia he studied photography at Virginia Tech and went on to a successful career as an illustrator and commercial photographer in Southern California for 20 years. His clients included The Nature Conservancy, Bank of America, National Geographic, and America West Airlines. He has also done whimsical illustrations for publications such as Dallas Morning News and the San Diego Union-Tribune’s “Why Men Barbecue.”
Why Men Barbecue © Tom Klare
I met Tom in 2006 when he joined the faculty at Mesa Community College. Tom came to MCC just as the photography department was growing its digital presence. He was the lead instructor for Photoshop and digital photography for the art department. He was and remains an invaluable resource for his knowledge of digital technology. While at MCC he worked with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education initiatives that brought together astronomers and artists to photograph the night sky. Another program Tom led was the Summer in the Sierras program that took students into the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains to photograph a pristine high-altitude environment.
Owens Valley Radio Observatory, CA © Tom Klare
Tom retired from teaching in 2021 and has been able to increase his photographic activity since then. For the past five years, he has been a workshop leader for the Arizona Highways PhotoScape program. He conducted field trips to the Four Corners areas, Marble Canyon, the Vermillion Cliffs, and the Navajo and Hopi lands. Tom has also conducted digital workshops in Photoshop and Lightroom including advanced HDR sessions to help photographers get the full capabilities from their digital tools.
A special area of his expertise is photographing in remote areas after dark. One advantage to the remote western locations is that the night skies are relatively free of light pollution. Tom has used this to reveal the subtle nuances of the nightscapes usually invisible to our naked eye. Tom has a mastery of low light, long exposure and motion. He explores all these possibilities in Star Trails, Mojave National Preserve. Time and motion blend with multiple exposures and HDR techniques to reveal what is hidden in the darkness.
Mojave National Preserve, CA © Tom Klare
He uses these skills to create ethereal images like Graffiti Shack, Umbrella in Wind AZ, and Public Tram Padova.
Public Tram, Padova, Italy © Tom Klare
Umbrella In Wind, AZ © Tom Klare
Grafitti Shack © Tom Klare
He has continued this work with Cave Creek Dark Sky, a movement to help Cave Creek AZ become an official Dark Sky community. If you happen to live in or near the valley’s northern edge or just want more information about Dark Sky communities go to their website. As intense as Tom’s passions are for the environment, and the Dark Sky, you can find a continuous line of humor in his work. In Out of this Wooled, the fantastic blends with an eccentric steampunk style to create a playful take on the usually serious subject of space exploration. The image was included by the SpaceX Dragon capsule as part of a projected exhibit from the Inspiration 4 mission. Tom employs a visual sense of humor in his work in photographs like Pigeonholed (feature image above).
Out of This Wooled © Tom Klare
Often the titling disarms any overly serious intentions with whimsical punning references like Progressive Rock.
Progressive Rock, Baja, Mexico © Tom Klare
Tom’s humor and irony is not limited to photographic imagery, he has a kinetic-sculpture repurposing photography’s analog tools on his website as well. Tom actively participates in international photography competitions and won a Gold Medal Award for Time Machine at the Prix de la Photographie in Paris, France.
Time Machine © Tom Klare
The seascape King Tide was awarded an Honorable Mention at the International Photography Awards (IPA) part of the Lucie Foundation.
King Tide © Tom Klare
Most recently Tom and his wife completed an artist’s residency in Sainte Valiere, France, conducting presentations, exploring historic medieval towns and the ancient Cathar ruins as well as regional winemaking and modern wind generators. For a more complete look at the portfolios, you can see Tom’s work at his website or catch him on Instagram.
Robert Galloway
Contributing Writer
Bob Galloway began a serious interest in photography after he saw photographs of an early performance art piece and realized the photographs had a more lasting impact than the event itself.
Originally from Ohio, he received a Bachelor of Fine Art in Art from Ohio State University and then moved to the desert in 1979 to pursue a Master of Fine Art in Photography at Arizona State University. Bob is an emeritus professor from Mesa Community College where he taught photography for 39 years.
In addition to teaching, he was an arts administrator for the Maricopa College District for five years, creating the first district wide literature journals, music competitions and art exhibits.
Bob is very encouraged about the embrace of local arts at a grassroots level and hopes to assist in that growth and development. His photographic experience and interests have been wide ranging. Currently he has been looking at how we are using the desert environment as a performance space.
“It’s really difficult to have a bad day when you wake up in the morning and get to talk about art with people.”
Contact Bob