Student Union

Student Union - Don Holtz

Jay McCabe | Apr 1, 2000

Don Holtz
Lansing Community College
Lansing, Michigan

Open To Interpretation

Currently
A third-year student at Lansing, Don is also an assistant to a commercial photographer at Mid Coast Studios in Detroit.

Education
"When I started at Lansing it was a very technical school, they teach the basics, the fundamentals, getting your exposures right on, correct filtration for color. Then, with the addition of a couple of instructors who tended to lean toward fine art, it achieved a nice balance."

The Assistant Route "I'm assisting because I really want to learn the business side of photography. I want to know all the different job positions and what they do, the Art Director, the stylist, the coordinator. I don't know any of that, and I want to learn how the machine works."

Photos © Don Holtz, 2000

Influences
"Joyce Tenneson, not for style but for the feeling and emotion she gets in photographs of people. I've never been comfortable photographing people, so I recently started to do that just to get over the hesitation. And Ansel Adams, I'm still learning the Zone System. Also Howard Schatz, who inspired me with his creativity and feeling; and Ray Atkeson, the landscape photographer, for his style."

Equipment
"My camera of choice is the studio's 4x5 Sinar. I also use the school's Hasselblad. My personal camera is a Kowa 6x6--it's always at my side."

Goals
"To be able to support myself as a fine art photographer. I know it's a rough road, but that's my true love. I think commercial photography is the direction I'll head, but I'd love to be able to find a niche in commercial photography where fine art is the primary style. Actually, my goals are always changing, and the more I find out about the business, the more they change."

The Work
"I want people to have an emotional response to my pictures, but not necessarily the response I have. The pictures are open to interpretation. I just want the images to stop people for a moment and make them think about what they're seeing."

Don Holtz was recommended to us by Lansing Community College faculty member Glenn Rand.

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