Don Chase

Don Chase (born July 4, 1953), is an American photographer and writer, who was born in Warsaw, Poland, but naturalized as a US citizen in 1973.

His work has been characterized as Documentary photography and Street photography in its nature. His work shows everyday people doing everyday simple things in the street who were 'caught' on film (or a digital camera, now) in sequences that in life lasted only a few seconds or a short period of time while he was observing. These 'encounters' reveal how sociological patterns and ways underground people and ordinary people carry on in various situations. He tells his "brief stories" of the event through a device used in film called Storyboarding. He is also known for his abstract studies of wall textures and water. Published as early as the age of seventeen in numerous weekly newspapers in the New York area as well as the book "Sane Living in a Mad World" by Robert Rodale. His work had been overlooked by institutions primarily due to a sabbatical he had taken between 1984 and 1990 to pursue business activities. His work has been exhibited in such places as Community Art Center, Fort Worth Texas, and in the Fulton County, NY Gallery.

He took up photography after he was given a plastic Kodak Brownie camera. It was cracked during a fall, while unloading the film in the dark so that it could be processed in his dark room. As a quick fix he used bubble gum and sealed the light leak. The streets of New York provided his first arena to practice Street photography. He is self-taught, who knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life at the age of 18, when he wrote in his highschool's yearbook as his life's direction to be: "Photography as an art form," May of 1971. Photography at the time was not yet accepted as an art form, but shortly thereafter it did gain widespread acceptance as it enjoys today.

Publications

 * The Jewish Week
 * Newsday
 * Book illustrations: [] "Sane Living in a Mad World," by Robert Rodale, Published by the Rodale Press, 1971.
 * Monograph: My New York - STRIPS 1 [] "50 Photographic observations by a teenager," Bayglow Books, June 2010

Select Exhibitions

 * Fort Worth Community Art Center, Fort Worth, Texas, 2010
 * Fulton County Gallery, Gloversville, New York, 2009

Online sources

 * "My New York" portfolio [].
 * Motion-eMotion - A voyeur's approach to Street photography - []
 * Poetic Introspection - A collection of images to remove stress in life - []
 * Omega Arts - Black and white nature work by Don Chase - []
 * Omega Arts - publishers of the artist's color work (963 nature images) - []

References and Outside Sources

 * Front page article in the Gloversville, NY daily, Leader Herald, November 9, 2009, in reference to the opening of the photographer's exhibit [].
 * The Last Forty Years - "Retrospective exhibit of the photographer's Work" [] Exhibit held at the Fort Worth Community Art Center, December 2010
 * - The photographer's external link