At fourteen, Gregory Talley developed an interest in photography. Because of limited resources, he used a Brownie Hawkeye as his first camera. From there he began to teach himself photography. As a teen, he won several photo competitions motivating him to pursue a career in photography. Upon graduating high school, he was drafted into the Army where he was deployed to Vietnam.
After returning to the states, Talley enrolled in college. After completing his formal education, he briefly opened a commercial photography studio with two other partners. Realizing that this was not something he wanted to do full time, Talley transitioned careers to become a high school photography teacher. While teaching, he continued to produce personal works, take art classes, and complete postgraduate work. After thirty-six years of teaching, he retired from education and continues to create photos from his home studio.
Talley’s work is purposeful so each image is crafted with specific intent. There is one underlying artistic tenet; to have a unique solution to a self imposed visual problem. Extensive planning and logistics are often involved to bring the image to fruition often taking days or weeks to conceptualize and produce.
Large film is used because it forces you to slow down and contemplate the image.
Prints are made with an analogue process and looks different than digital images. The process of making silver gelatin prints from film is the most traditional way of making images, but the pictures themselves are far from convention.