Yours is a name that seems to have come on the Catskills' art scene very quickly and very noticeably. Where have you been all this time?
Photography has been a big part of my life since I was a teenager…and nobody who has hiked with me in the Catskills over the past 26 years has ever seen me without a camera. Up until a few years ago I never showed my photographs to anybody except my wife, Amelia. I worked as an Art Director in Manhattan for most of my professional life and photography was my escape from the stress and intensity that comes with working in the city. Two years ago I made a photo book for my parents who live without a computer in Florida to show them what I was shooting recently. Amelia flipped and showed the book to anybody and everybody and that is what really started the ball rolling.

While your landscape photography is highly skilled and creative, it's your photographs of Catskills' wildlife that seems to have captured the viewer's imagination. In fact, you're one of the few local photographers concentrating on the region's native fauna. Do you prefer photographing wildlife or landscapes or doesn't it matter to you?
In truth, it really does not matter. For over 20 years I was strictly a landscape photographer. I have photographed landscapes in many, many different regions of the United States and Canada and the one thing I noticed that they all have in common is the further off the beaten path you go, the more wildlife you find…or in some cases, that find you. Wildlife photography is all about optics. I mainly use a 24mm-105mm zoom lens and a wide-angle lens for landscapes but they just cannot cut it for wildlife. I hated having to point out to Amelia where the deer was in the photograph. I finally purchased a 70mm to 300mm zoom and really started getting some interesting results. I then went to a 200mm to 500mm and it got even better. I think at that point my wife wished I had stayed with landscapes but I was hooked.

I have found photographing wild animals to be one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I have ever had. You need patience, knowledge of your prey and a little bit of luck…and as Amelia tells me, constantly, a good Sherpa. It is humbling to be out “there” and actually seeing these things, much less having the opportunity to photograph it. The “Environment” really takes on a new meaning when you leave your own and enter another. I have become intensely more aware of how “civilization” encroaches on the natural world. I could go on and on about this.

To sum it up, I will photograph anything I find interesting. Landscape photography is the more creative process. It is painting with light and composing form and structure. Wildlife photography is more visceral and creates a more personal experience. It presents all of the challenges of hunting but without the killing. Wild animals do not pose. In the wild it is always flight or fight. Most run. And, if you are not very mindful of what is really going on out there, some of the bigger ones will eat you.

How do you get those great shots of wildlife? For instance, how do you go about photographing a wolf, bear or owl?
Truth be told, you need a big lens. There is no way around it. You do not sneak up on animals in the wild…and in the case of bears, especially grizzly bears, I would not even consider trying. You need a long reach and plenty of patience…and respect.

How long have you lived in the Catskills? Where did you live before that? And what's the difference in lifestyles?
My wife and I moved up here 26 years ago this past Thanksgiving. I’ve spent a lot of that time with an apartment in the city commuting up here on weekends but Amelia has been here the entire time. We moved up here 9 months after we were married. She was originally from Manhattan and the Bronx and I came from Queens via Suffolk County on Long Island. It was like moving to another country. We were immigrants. If you have ever seen Diane Keaton’s movie “Baby Boom”, that nails it. I’m still amazed we survived. Such ignorance!

I've heard that you were a successful graphic designer. Do you still do that sort of work? Do you think your training as a designer informs your work as a photographer? If so, how?
I still do design work but it is getting incredibly difficult with the internet opening the marketplace up to design firms in places like India who pay their artists $3-$5 an hour, if that much. American companies do not support American graphic designers. They do not care where it comes from. Everything is about money. I think the graphic design business will soon be going the way of the garment industry in the United States. Extinct.

To my mind, composition is king when it comes to both graphic design and photography. When I first started out in both disciplines it took time to develop a sensibility and style. Time, experience, taste and confidence matures and finds a natural grace. You have to be comfortable with your design decisions. When you get there, it is obvious in both graphics and photography.

Who are some of your photographic influences?
Ansel Adams, Thomas D. Mangelsen and Galen and Barbara Rowell, just to name a few. I have a very long list of influences and they extend way beyond photography.

Do you think there is such a thing as a Catskills' sensibility in art?
I‘m not sure, but in my mind the Hudson River School has never really disappeared. The art world in the Catskills today is just another iteration of it. The creativity here is so enormous and diverse it is hard to put a label on it. The range, scope, number and depth of disciplines and seemingly limitless supply of intensely talented people here make me think there just has to be something in the water. What I am sure of is that this area is vastly underrated. The rest of the world does not have a clue what is going on here.

What's next for you as a photographer?
I have no idea. I have had a lot happen in the last year that was completely unexpected. The reaction to my photography has been overwhelming. I think the best thing I can do is to focus on the photography.

For more information, or to see more of Larry's photographs, visit his Web site at www.larrygambon.com