Alan Sockloff: Photographer

Alan Sockloff: Photographer
Brief Bio

My first exposure to photography was in my childhood, provided by my father, who was an amateur photographer. From these early experiences in the 1940's, I recall the portrait sessions, the blankets over the basement windows, and the chemical smells from the print processing. My first camera that I can recall was a Kodak Pony 35, which I used during family trips and from which photos of questionable quality were made.

Many years later, I completed a doctorate in Quantitative Psychology, and toward the end of my graduate education, I was able to scrape up enough money to purchase my first serious camera, a 35 mm. Nikon F. This camera followed me around for the next 25 years, capturing color images from my travels and of my developing family. In the early 1990's, frustrated with my inability to produce sharp prints, I moved into medium format, and then fairly quickly into large format using a 4 x 5 view camera.

My "formal" education in photography, besides a basic black & white course, included Large Format courses with Bruce Katsiff at the Bucks County Community College, a Master Printing workshop with George Tice at The Maine Photographic Workshops, and, most recently, an Advanced Large Format workshop with John Sexton at Anderson Ranch Arts Center.

Since 1969, my "day" job has been on the Psychology faculty at Temple University. With my retirement from this work in the summer of 2003, I plan to devote more time to my photographic passion.