The Craft of a Lifetime

Sepia tone San Fransisco sky scrapers by Brett Colvin.

With over 40 years of experience, Brett Colvin is a master of his craft. Image courtesy: Brett Colvin

Art

If you have the privilege of sitting down with Brett Colvin, an SLC-based photographer with nearly 40 years of experience, you’ll encounter the rare opportunity to sit across from a master of his craft. Colvin’s personality is photography; he has lived and breathed it since taking his first photography class in his final year at the University of Utah in 1985. A missing credit in pursuit of his sculpting BFA led Colvin to the U’s darkroom, where he found a new passion for the raw nature of film photography. From the start, Colvin was in love with the contrast, the grain and the authenticity of capturing light on film.

Film guy solarized darkroom by Brett Colvin — As film faded away, Colvin transferred his skills to Nikon cameras. Photo courtesy: Brett Colvin

After studying at the U for two years, his passion for photography led Colvin outside of Utah toward new opportunities in Los Angeles, California. Colvin got his start the only way people with limited connections did pre-internet: with a phone book and some grit. “So I sat there all day like I was some sort of real estate agent, cold calling,” Colvin says. This led Colvin to brush shoulders with many of the great photographers of the time. Los Angeles was Colvin’s start, but it was only the beginning of his career. Fate guided him back north to the Salt Lake Valley, where he really started his own journey.

“I just became enamored with photography.”

Colvin built his own studio with a dedicated darkroom and shot a variety of fine photography throughout the 1990s. He worked with different film stocks and experimented with just how far he could push and pull the exposure with chemicals in the darkroom. “I just became enamored with photography. I started making film, you know, printing it, and I was like, ‘Wow, I really love this,’” Colvin says. As Colvin’s experience grew, so did his opportunities, like capturing a frame of history at the Berlin Wall as it was torn down in 1989 for Kodak Magazine or becoming the first distributor and pioneer of Foma film, a black-and-white stock from the Czech Republic that had never been brought to the States.

While at the peak of his career, Colvin was shocked by changes affecting the entire photography trade: digital cameras began their takeover. They arrived in the late 90s and proved that photography would never be the same. Film was replaced gradually by newer and more sophisticated digital cameras year after year. Clients started to demand it, and photographers were forced to acclimate to survive. Brett felt dejected by the new surge of digital interest. “I was resistant. It was terrible for a long time. It wasn’t good for my psyche, and I felt like that’s not what I signed up for,” Colvin says. As film faded away, Colvin transferred his skills to Nikon cameras, where he caught his stride again and began shooting commercial photography and portraits across Utah.

“I started making film, you know, printing it, and I was like, ‘Wow, I really love this.’”

While Colvin will never be done taking photos himself, he recently refocused his efforts on building a space where all photographers are welcome. Just opened to the public is his new studio and venue, SaltLick Studios, nestled on the corner of 600 S and 600 W in Downtown Salt Lake City. The former metal fabrication building offers a variety of aesthetics and open spaces with backdrops and lighting available for use. The crown jewel of the studio is the wall of west-facing windows overlooking the railroad tracks. This uninterrupted view allows natural light to flood the studio throughout the afternoon. Light casts stunning shadows through the multi-pane window frames as warm sunset hues bathe the entire location. Every photographer should consider SaltLick for its amazing atmosphere and especially for a chance to meet a master of his craft and shake hands with Brett Colvin himself.