Garth Grimmer

"Windy Day at Cisco Beach" by Garth Grimmer Garth Grimmer is a worldly man who has made Nantucket his home, and finds plenty of beauty and interesting subjects here to please his photographer's eye.

Born in India to British parents, he experimented as a child with a little box camera. Some time after he came to the U.S., he bought a single lens reflex camera, but only used it for snapshots he made into Christmas cards.

In the interim, Grimmer completed his education in England, graduating from college with a master's degree in aeronautical engineering. In 1965 he was recruited by General Electric to move to America and work on its jets in Lynn, Mass. That was his holiday card period, which did not go unrecognized.

"It was just fun for the fun of it, but then some friends told me they were collecting my Christmas cards. That was good for my ego, I guess," he said, sitting at the dining table in his home where he now does all his own photo processing.

When Grimmer retired from his last G.E. position in Schenectady, N.Y., he settled on the island in late 1998. At that point, his wife Jean and their children began urging Grimmer to take advantage of his free time to expand his photographic talent. He joined the Artists Association and found that the images he exhibited were well received and started to sell.

PHOTO BY ROB BENCHLEY Garth Grimmer Grimmer is an avid sailor, so many of his photos are of seascapes, though he also likes capturing stunning landscapes and taking somewhat abstract shots he calls "second looks." Grimmer is also a traveler who has found fascinating scenes and people in journeys to India, China and other faraway countries. He recently returned from China where, after climbing a mountainside for hours in search of a dramatic view he met with the same thick fog he sees all the time on Nantucket. He still managed to have "lucky" days that produced images of China he will exhibit at Around the Horn next summer.

"I tend not to do formal portraits of people. I like more casual shots," he explained, discussing a picture of a man sleeping against a wall after a session in an Indian opium den. "I keep trying different things. I keep learning."

"Port Tact" by Garth Grimmer Grimmer switched to digital photography about five years ago, and his favorite Nikon is never far from his side. He prefers the digital mode because he can be in charge of the entire photo process.

"If you buy a print of mine you've got me from start to finish. I also like digital because I can experiment more and digital doesn't cost you a fortune. If you don't like it you just throw it away."

All artists have elements that inspire them. For Grimmer, it is fog, because it provides at- mosphere, and certain types of light that can transform the ordinary into the exquisite.

"It's a cliché, but the light is very important," he said.

Rather than abide by a schedule, Grimmer goes out to take photos whenever the mood strikes him, particularly in the winter when he has more time and because he is attracted to snow scenes.

"It's a gut reaction. I walk somewhere and I see something that has emotional appeal to me, or it's very beautiful or it's just beautiful colors and I want to capture that. I never have preconceived ideas of what I'm going to photograph."

In the future, Grimmer may try printing larger pieces, and wants to continue his travel photography as well as include more people in his portfolio. His work has been published in Nantucket Living, Nantucket Magazine and the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce guidebook. He has sold his photos across the country and in Europe through the Internet. He is the current president of the Photographer's Alliance of Nantucket, exhibits at the Artists Association, Around the Horn, Made on Nantucket and in occasional installations at the airport terminal. In December, he will co-host a Brown Bag Lunch forum on photography at the Whaling Museum with Lauri Robertson. I