Why is this site called Peripheral Visions? My goal is to offer photographs and blogs that challenge how I/we see the world. I use the metaphor of physical vision to call attention to what happens at the margins. I organize photographs into thematic exhibits, each of which is typically accompanied by a narrative. For each exhibit, I select a limited number of images from a larger body of work on the same theme. My goal is that each image strengthens and contributes to the overall narrative. Taking inspiration from pioneering photographers Duane Michaels and Robert Frank, I have begun to intentionally create sequenced collections of images combined with text, intended to frame a coherent narrative arc. At any one time, the site features several exhibits, which I periodically archive and replace.
Bio
It’s ironic that I gravitated to photography for creative expression since my vision has never been fully correctable to 20/20 (even with glasses and cataract surgery). Nonetheless, my interest began around my 13th birthday, when I received a “Yashica A”, an adjustable twin lens reflex camera. I set the aperture and shutter speed manually using a handheld light meter. The camera produced 2¼ inch square negatives on each 12 exposure roll of film. I built a black and white darkroom in a basement storage room in my parents’ house, and I recall retreating into its dim chemical-infused confines for hours on end. It was the perfect escape for my introverted adolescent personality. Because my trajectory as a photographer began during the analog era, my early approach to creating photographs was conditioned by that era’s camera and film processing technology, which required a more deliberate approach than does modern digital technology. After grudgingly embracing the latter, I began to exploit its creative potential.
My interest in photography coincided with a growing sense of connection with the natural world. That connection emerged from my communing with a remnant patch of native prairie wedged in my suburban neighborhood between a busy street and commuter rail line. Slipping out of the house with the sun just rising, I dropped into a magical refuge a few blocks away. I crouched low, surrounded by milkweed, bluestem, and goldenrod. I watched swallows dive and heard the music of red-winged blackbirds against the whoosh and clack of morning commuter trains rushing past. I turned my near-sighted vision to the glistening web of a golden orb spider.
The act of photographing, at its best, immerses me into that sensory state of consciousness and constitutes a vehicle for self-discovery. Many of my photographic themes explore our human connection and disconnection with nature.
Selected Exhibits
2024 (forthcoming) Solo exhibit “Mountain Vapors”, Greenbelt Art Center, MD
Group shows, Waverly Art Gallery, Bethesda, MD
2023 Solo exhibit “Drifting Through Deep Time”, Delaplaine Art Center, Frederick, MD
Solo exhibit “Veiled Memories” Glen Echo Parkview Gallery, MD
Group shows, Waverly Art Gallery, Bethesda, MD
2022 Group show “All Checked Out”, Baltimore County Public Library, MD
2021 Solo exhibit, Brookside Gardens Nature Center, Wheaton, MD
Solo Exhibit, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
2019 Solo exhibit, Kefa Cafe, Silver Spring, MD
2018 “Merging Worlds”, Group Show, Community Center, Takoma Park, MD
Solo Exhibit, “The Schwabs,” Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA
2015 Group Show, Christ Congregational Church, Silver Spring, MD
2014 Solo Exhibit, Community Center, Takoma Park, MD
Selected On-Line Photography and Writing
2024 “Nature’s Inner Sanctum”, PLENTY-SPRING-2024-joomag PLENTY Magazine Spring 2024 | Page 26
2023 Blog – keith kozloff – Deeptime Network (dtnetwork.org)
Mountain Vapors | Center for Humans and Nature
“Nocturnal Shenanigans” Greenbelt Art Center
2022 Closeup: Keith Kozloff – Rootstalk (grinnell.edu)
2021 Visitation Privileges | Center for Humans and Nature
2020 An Education: Earth Day 2020. by Keith Kozloff | by Urban Resilience Project | Island Press | Medium
Climate change calls for a change of heart | NationofChange
2018 Keith Kozloff | LensCulture
Related Activities
2023 Joined Waverly Art Gallery, Bethesda, MD
Invited lecture to Frederick Camera Clique
2022 Received individual artist project grant from Maryland State Arts Council
2021 Active member of Creative Momentum Collective
2020 Served on jury for Maryland State Arts Council statewide visual art competition
2019 Organized high school student photography contest. Received grant from Maryland State Arts Council. Established contest rules, organized panel of judges, mentored students, and curated exhibit in collaboration with City of Takoma Park
Ongoing
Active member of Takoma Park Photography Salon, Deep Time Network, Ecoartspace, and nature writing group
Education
Photography classes taught by Barbara Crane, Geoff Winningham, and Joyce Neimanas
Photographic lighting class at Montgomery College, MD
Online class in Adobe Lightroom
Photography and mindfulness workshop, Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY
Online nature writing workshop, Orion Magazine
Ph.D. Environmental economics