Morley Baer, 1916-1995
As I plan and prepare for 1996, I am filled with mixed emotions. Though looking forward with great anticipation to this year's workshops and the possibilities that lie ahead, I am saddened because I will no longer be able to offer my annual workshop with Morley Baer.
Morley passed away at the age of 79 on November 9, 1995. This was a personal loss for me, as well as a loss to the world of photography and photographic education. Frankly, when I first met Morley Baer, in 1973, at an Ansel Adams workshop, I was intimidated by him. When I asked a question, I got my answer in the form of another question. That bothered me! Only after getting to know Morley did I appreciate how thought-provoking his questions were. For decades, Morley questioned and inspired his photography students at workshops around the country and the world. He was not content with just answering the question of "how to." Rather, he wanted students to be asking why.
Morley Baer first came to California in 1939 in search of the photographer Edward Weston. In 1946 he moved to Monterey Peninsula and began making photographs of the California coast. He was known as one of the finest architectural photographers on the west coast, traveling internationally to photograph for major architectural clients. But at the same time, he was following his passion for photographing the land. The rolling coastal hills in and around the Monterey Peninsula are a hallmark of Morley's vision.
He worked for nearly fifty years with an Ansco 8x10S view camera, a device that truly became part of him. Though his exuberance was veiled during his last few years by an aging body, that veil was lifted, paradoxically when he was under the curtain of the dark cloth.
Just six weeks prior to his death, I had the great pleasure of teaching a workshop with Morley at Rancho San Carlos, near Carmel Valley. During that week, overcoming his physical pain and its limitations, Morley exposed no less than thirty-six 8x10-inch negatives. The spirit of photography still burned bright within him.
I will miss him, and many others will miss him. His photographs remain a luminous legacy for us all to learn from and grow with. The world of photography lost a true friend when Morley Baer passed away.
April 5th would have been Morley's 80th birthday and the start of his 50th year as a photographer. His family requests that any gifts be made to the Morley Baer Memorial Photographic Fund at the Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, 559 Pacific Street, Monterey, California 93940, telephone 408-372-7591. I will also be donating a portion of each workshop tuition this year to his memorial fund.
(Substantial portions of the above article first appeared in the March/April issue of PHOTO Techniques magazine and is being reprinted here with the permission of Michael C. Johnston, Editor. For subscription information to the magazine, call 800-877-5410. The photograph of Morley Baer, taken by David Fullagar, appears here for the first time. Apogee Photo Magazine gratefully acknowledges John Sexton's and David Fullagar's contribution.)
"I took this image of Morley Baer on September 27, 1995 during the Rancho San Carlos workshop that he and John Sexton taught. Morley was in good spirits and participated in the workshop every day, taking about forty 8x10's. (Many of these have been printed posthumously by his assistant, and I hear several of them are outstanding.) On this particular day he had met the group at 5:30 a.m. to shoot the sunrise over the Santa Lucia range. Six weeks and one day later Morley Baer passed away. I hope that I'm still out there taking pictures 6 weeks before the end." — David Fullagar, California.