Dan Burkholder was one of the first photographic artists to embrace digital technology in the early 1990’s. True to his love of the traditional photograph, Dan uses digital technology to build images that still look and feel like real photographs, not like something from a graphic designer’s portfolio. Melding his unique vision with mastery of both the wet and digital darkrooms, his platinum prints are now included in many museum and private collections.

Originating the digital-negative process in 1992, Burkholder has helped open doors for all black and white photographers interested in moving into the new electronic technologies. His award-winning book, Making Digital Negatives for Contact Printing, is regarded as the most authoritative work in the field.

Dan has taught classes and workshops at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the lnternational Center of Photography in New York, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, and others. Active with the Texas Photographic Society for many years, he is currently serving on the Advisory Board for this organization.

In the 1980's Dan was privileged to print for the renowned photographer, Horace Bristol. Years before digital retouching, Horace gave him permission to retouch his original negatives, in addition to the hand-retouching he performed on the final archival silver gelatin prints. Bristol's "Rose of Sharon" (photo below) is from his Grapes of Wrath series (see our Horace Bristol feature here).

Burkholder was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, an agri-industrial community in the Appalachian Mountains. He attended Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, where he received his BA and Masters Degrees in Photography. He lives in Upstate New York in the Catskills with his wife, Jill Skupin Burkholder, and their six cats. Jill is also a photographer, whose work is also featured in this issue.

Photography Editor's note: Dan is world renowned as an amazing teacher. I was fortunate to attend both a one-day and a week-long workshop in Los Angeles, and I'm still "unpacking" all the processes, tips, tricks, and techniques. Dan's knowledge and unique methods are astounding. AND, his classes are major fun — he'll keep you spinning and laughing. If you have a chance, sign up for one of his workshops — and take your brain food before going. He's now teaching (as is Jill) in their beautiful new NY home and studio. Check his site for schedule info. In the meantime, get some of his Tiny Tutorials which are "byte-sized" gems of information synthesized into 4- to 10-minute downloadable movies.

Dan's website • Back

Photo by O. Rufus Lovett