A friend has encouraged me to become more active on Facebook. One of the pages I discovered recently was the Fellowship of Quaker Artists. On it I found the photos of Blair Seitz.
Blair Seitz is a photographer of wide-ranging subjects: war, nature, poverty. He has been a photojournalist, working for the United Nations and Camera Press and traveling world-wide, especially in Asia and Africa. His photos have been included in 21 books (Pennsylvania’s Tapestry: Scenes from the Air; Pennsylvania’s Natural Beauty; Amish Ways; etc., and the series Pennsylvania’s Natural and Cultural Heritage). The volumes were published in part by RB Books, a company established by Seitz and his wife. As well, many magazines have featured his photos (Time, Newsweek, National Geographic Traveler, The Guardian, etc.) His stock file contains over 60,000 photographs. He was awarded a fellowship grant from the Pennsylvania Council of Arts and a silver medal in New York’s International Film and Television Festival. His photos have also been exhibited at the World Exhibition of Photography and New York’s Museum of Natural History.
Seitz is a member of Reading (PA) Meeting. He was raised a Mennonite, with a concern for simplicity and service. During his overseas travels he encountered Quakers, and back in the United States he began attending Friends Meeting in Harrisburg. His Friendly activities center around inequality, climate change and mass incarceration. Meditation also remains a focus. He has conducted workshops and been a resident student at Pendle Hill.
Seitz’s photographs are gorgeous, many appearing as if they had been painted in primary colors. They reflect his concern for the beauty of the human spirit and of nature, even in his pictures of war and slums. They also mirror his commitment to simplicity, his photos rarely being digitally manipulated. A richly gifted artist.
June 2016