I really would like to have met Morley Baer. I had come to know a number of photographers that knew him from taking workshops with John Sexton and Henry Gilpin in the mid Eighties. I also made a number of trips to San Francisco and Silicon Valley during that time and into the Nineties for my government and consulting work. I would squeeze in a bit of time to drive down to Monterey and Carmel, but I never heard about Baer until sometime after he had passed away in 1985.  Can’t remember how, but then I made sure to see his incredibly clean and precisely seen large format images that were often exhibited in the Monterey area.

For over fifty years Baer used his beloved Ansco 8X10 view camera in a most effective way to capture California’s farmlands, coastline, forests, deserts and buildings. There was an astounding quality and drama about his work that to me remains unique to this day.

Baer made a living as a highly sought after architectural photographer; in 1966 the American Institute of Architects honored him with their Architectural Photography Award. One of his most famous books, Painted Ladies, focuses on San Francisco’s Victorian houses.  What really attracted me to his work though were his wonderful images of California’s beauty.

I’ll cut to the chase … I simply love Baer’s work and own a number of his books that I can highly recommend without reservation, including The Wilder Shore, Stones of the Sur, The Wilder Shore, Light Years, and California Plain: Remembering Barns.

 Throughout his life Baer made both color and black and white photographs. The Wilder Shore, which is one of my favorite monographs, includes both. His method of using tungsten balanced Ektachrome slide film intended for indoor work, that could then be corrected for outdoor application by using a #85B filter to enable a warmer outdoor image than standard Ektachrome was brilliant. Baer then created a softer contrast by overexposing the film one stop and having the color lab develop it for less than normal development time.  The result … beautifully delicate, yet powerful images that are the complete opposite of the usual over saturated and postcard looking color we are so used to seeing! I think his color work is spectacular – right up there with Eliot Porter’s.

Maybe you haven’t heard of Morley Baer, just like I hadn’t. He’s not as well known as Edward and Brett Weston, and Ansel Adams who he knew well and who’s careers his intersected with. I never tire of looking at his work, be it black and white or color and I think in particular that the Wilder Shore is a sublime and under appreciated gem that can often be found for under $50.

Listen … just do yourself a favor … find this book and buy it!  Then track down his other great books! I pretty sure you will be glad you did.

Stay safe,

Michael