It’s never too late to learn something new, it seems and, even more important, to discover something you love.
Although, technically, photography is hardly a new interest for Oak Brook resident John Hewitt, it only recently became such a passion that he devoted himself to learning its craft and its art — dedication that’s paying off with an exhibit of his work on display through Aug. 25 at the La Grange Art League Gallery. “Chasing the Light” will feature roughly 30 framed landscape photos Hewitt took locally and at numerous national parks between 2003 and 2015.
Hewitt, 77, recalls being interested enough in photography to take shots during a cross-country trip he took with a friend after graduating college, though he only considered it a casual interest for decades.
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“I used to belong to a ski club and I’d go on a trip and take a few photos and then put the camera way. Like most people,” he said.
The camera wouldn’t stay put away, however. Hewitt remembers “flirting” with joining area camera clubs in the ’60s and ’70s and coming to the brink of taking photography seriously 40 years earlier.
“I just didn’t, though, for some reason,” he said. “I think it was because I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t understand shutter speeds and f stops and I thought I had too many other things I wanted to do.”
His attitude started to change, however, when an old ski buddy called in 1997 and invited Hewitt to take part in a group trip to shoot photos in Door County.
“That’s when the hook started to get set,” Hewitt recalled with a laugh. “I went up there and had some success, after investing in some equipment, like a tripod. At the end of the trip, when his friend asked a professional to come in and assess everyone’s work, I had four shots in the top 10 or 20.
“That’s when I started to think, ‘Maybe I do have something here I should try to improve.'”
Around that time, Hewitt started going to camera clubs and joined the Chicago Area Camera Club Association and competing in monthly contests — sometimes doing well, sometimes not. Everything changed for him, though, in 2003, when he took his first trip with pro photographer Mark Rasmussen, to Glacier National Park.
“From that experience, which included learning how to compose landscapes and use polarizers and filters, I basically learned how to run my camera,” he said.
That trip was the start of a long learning process with Rasmussen as a mentor and landscapes identified as the style that seemed to suit him best. Since then, he has taken landscape shots, typically in the low light of sunrise or sunset, at roughly 15 western and Midwestern national parks, local natural settings such as Morton Arboretum or Chicago Botanic Garden, even local architectural highlights such as a panoramic view of the skyline from the Adler Planetarium.
“There are a lot of people in this area who are really good at photography — I mean really good,” Hewitt said. “And I’ve had some of them say, ‘I wish I could shoot landscapes like you can.’ While I’m saying ‘I just wish I could shoot birds the way you can.’
“Some people have a knack for shooting flowers or birds or portraits,” he explained. “Landscapes just seem to be an area I can excel at, almost naturally.”
‘Chasing the Light’ photography exhibit
When: Through Aug. 25
Where: La Grange Art League Gallery, 122 Calendar Court, La Grange
Admission: Free
Contact: 708-352-3101; www.lagrangeartleague.org