Collectivewomen and other visions

In women and other visions photographers Judy Dater and Jack Welpott collaborate to shoot women they found fascinating in their own envrionment. 

"Part of the fascination that photography holds is its ability to unlock secrets kept even from ourselves. Like dreams, the photograph can uncork a heady bouquet of recognition which can escape into the cognitive world. Sometimes the aroma is sharp; sometimes dry. This "shock of recognition" can be at times, unsettling it can also be sublime. The expressive portrait can do these things. Portrait photography is an experience between two human beings, an experience shared with the viewer through the resulting photograph. If the moment was charged with feeling the image can be personal and revealing. This is a book of photographs about womanness. Many of the photographs are experiential portraits. This book is also a collaboration: a man and a woman working together as photographers. For several years Judy Dater and I have been photographing people whom we found fascinating and who, in some manner, expressed something about the "feminine mystique." Most were strangers to us. We discovered them in cafes, banks, shops, and on the streets--anywhere we happened to be. We usually spent several hours photographing them in their own environment. In every case, the few hours spent with these people were intense and, at times, progressed to extended friendships. What follows is the evidence of our experience with these interesting people and of our relationship, Judy's and mine, in photography and in life. To help you follow the interplay of our responses we have identified Judy's photographs with the female symbol and my photographs with the male sign. We thank these exceptional people for so willingly letting us enter their worlds to photograph them. They were fabulous, each in their own fashion."

- Excerpt from the book, text written by Jack Welpott