IPHF - Key Persons
Carl Valle has been making photographs since the age of six and published work in the school newspaper. He worked as a materials comptroller at a nuclear plant and an analyst for a major electric company before retiring. He has traveled all over the globe in the last 30 years and photographed all seven continents, over 45 countries, always with at least one camera in tow. He searches for at least one memorable image from each voyage.
His interest in photography has always been on the total system approach, understanding every part of photography from camera to film to process and then to the final print.
Carl still works as a photographer, shooting portraiture and photographing artwork for artist clients. He has exhibited travel photography at Art St. Louis, MySLART, and The Saint Louis Artists Guild and has photographed for the Mercedes Benz Club of America, and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Dick Miles is the former Chairman and President of Valitas Health Services, Board Chair of The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Former Board Chair of IPHF, Board Chair of The Foundation for Barnes Jewish Hospital and current Board Chair of Oasis.
Through four decades, Don McKenna has pursued the "narrative possibilities of a place or thing". He accomplishes this in a number of ways. First, he uses a 4×5 film camera that slows his process down. The large format film makes him more contemplative of what he encounters and makes his compositions more considered. The deliberate action of taking pictures means that his viewing is less tethered to the mechanical aspects of the camera and more harmonized to the process of engaging visually and emotionally with a place. Second, he is sensitive to the theatre of buildings, or to put it another way, the fact that a building is a stage where human actors perform the drama of their lives. He looks for the traces of these lives lived, which in his photographs reverberate a familiar quality that the viewer can always recognize, if not always summarize. Very simply, McKenna's photographs present the stage after the performance has ended in a way that echoes, alludes to or commemorates what has occurred there.
Elizabeth Sanjuan was born in Hollywood, Florida of Cuban immigrant parents. Following a 21-year career with American Airlines, she retired in 2015 to devote herself full-time to her photography and to the support of young artists from around the world. An avid traveler, she has visited nearly 100 countries on 6 continents. She is not stopping anytime soon.
Elizabeth has been photographing for over 30 years, during which time she has exhibited and sold her work at galleries in ten states and two countries and has studied with renowned photographers like Arthur Meyerson, Sam Abell, and JP Caponigro. She was a prominent art gallery owner in Florida for over 5 years and continues to collect and sell art from both emerging and known artists through her company, Gallery 2014 LLC. Elizabeth is a champion fighter for women's rights and environmental issues, and regularly takes on those who would infringe on the integrity and beauty of the natural world.
When Elizabeth is not traveling, she is at home focusing on her long-term projects, such as Self Revealed, a journey of discovery for women to define beauty on their terms. Recuerdos de mi Abuela explores the culture, heritage and influence of her strong matriarchal grandmother, who shaped the woman she is today. Small: Journeys to Places Left Behind is an in-depth look at the rise and fall of small-town America, where global social and economic forces have had widely different impacts on these very small communities. Hokkaido: Land of the Ainu, chronicles her three visits to Japan's northernmost island in search of the secret to the peace, beauty, strength and resilience of one of the harshest winter environments on the planet. She was also co-founder of Girl Noticed, a nationwide mural project to highlight and notice local girls and women that is now successfully continuing under the leadership of artist Lori Pratico.
Elizabeth and her husband created the Sanjuan-Brown Hollywood Arts Foundation in 2013, a charitable corporation, to own and operate Gallery 2014 in Hollywood, Florida. The purpose of the foundation and its non-profit gallery were to foster global understanding through the arts, and to advance opportunities in art for emerging artists, particularly women. Over a period of five years, the gallery and foundation supported dozens of local artists and provided scholarships and funding for local students and arts organizations. In addition, Elizabeth served on advisory boards for several local charities and community arts organizations in south Florida.
For many years, Elizabeth also chaired the annual gala for Hispanic Unity, a 501(c) 3 organization devoted to assisting immigrants assimilate in the United States. Following in her mother's footsteps, Elizabeth was a major funder for Hispanic Unity's childhood care and language education programs. Elizabeth and her husband are also major investors in Immigrant Food, a Washington, DC-based restaurant group that combines a menu inspired by immigrant recipes while also advocating, educating, and celebrating the importance of immigrants to the United States' cultural diversity and economic well-being.
Elizabeth Sanjuan's passion is to celebrate the vast mosaic of people, lands, and cultures that the world offers; and to record, as faithfully as she can, the incredible panorama of color, pattern, and energy that bombards the receptive eye. Photographing people gives her the opportunity to observe, but she believes that the lens intensifies her ability to truly understand. Elizabeth wants to explore the world's incredible variety of women of all ages, races and sexual orientation; believing that we are much the same regardless of the physical characteristics that seem to make us unique. She is constantly reminded that even though people live worlds apart, we are truly all the same. Our hopes, dreams, loves and losses are all captured in our faces. The camera provides objective proof of our commonality.
Greg Barth is a St. Louis based photographic artist. He earned a bachelor's degree with a photography major from University of Central Missouri in 1989 and has been working in the industry since. He started his art career with film and large format cameras which help create his approach to his work when he transitioned to digital tools. Much of his work has a quiet, structural feel with careful attention to the quality of light. His subjects include but not limited to architecture and landscapes.
Mark Braun's interest in photography began as a teenager, when his parents gave him his first single-lens reflex camera. He honed his technical and artistic skills on yearbooks, college projects, freelance newspaper work, and product photography. He then put his cameras away for 20 years to pursue a business career, until a trip to Yellowstone National Park in 2000 reawakened his passion for photography.
Mark's interests include nature photography, producing detailed images of flowers, trees, and mushrooms. He's also drawn to landscape photography, particularly of the Rocky Mountains, waterscapes, and architecture.
A transplant to St. Louis from his hometown of Cleveland, Mark served on the task force that brought the International Photography Hall of Fame to St. Louis and is currently on the organization's induction committee. He is also a member of the Kirkwood Arts Commission, the Kirkwood Arts Foundation, the fundraising arm for arts. He has also held multiple leadership roles for the St. Louis Camera Club.
His own photographs have been displayed in such St. Louis venues as the Foundry Art Centre, the St. Louis Artists' Guild, the 20:08 Gallery, Remington's, the Sheldon, and One Metropolitan Square. His stock photos are available from Getty Images, 500PX, and others. He has earned recognition in several international competitions and attended the Maine Photography Workshops. His photographs, cards, and other works can be seen at www.braunsOriginals.com.
Mark was a sales executive and regional manager with Otis Elevator Company for 30 years. He recently retired from VDA, a consulting firm specializing in elevators. Mark holds an undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies concentrating in international business from Miami University in Ohio and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.
Michael Daft's serious interest in photography began in college as a photographer for The Maneater, the University of Missouri student newspaper. During his college years and after he has photographed wherever and whenever possible.
In 2008 his first solo exhibition, titled "Three Historic Parks" was sponsored by his employer, Barnes-Jewish Hospital through their Arts + Healthcare Program. His work was included in the BJC annual calendar, and is included in their corporate collection. Since 2008 his work has appeared in more than 50 juried and non-juried exhibitions, including at St. Louis Artists' Guild, Art St. Louis, The Foundry, Framations Art Gallery, The Scenic Regional Gallery at Hermann MO, Meramec Community College, and The Sheldon Art Galleries. In 2021 he had a solo show "Color and Light" at the St. Louis Artists' Guild.
He worked as a photographer for B-Raines Construction and Roofing, Campbell House Museum, Hayward Baker Geotechnical Construction, and Magic Chef Mansion LLC.
He was privileged to do production theater photography for Strut and Fret Productions, Citilites Theatre, New Line Theatre, Hydeware Theatre, Metro Theater Company, and West End Players Guild.
He has given back to his neighborhood by being the photographer for more than a dozen Grand South Grand and Compton Heights house tours, and provided photo restoration for the Compton Hill Water Tower Foundation.
He is a top contributor to the online photo group "The Monochromist".
An eclectic photographer, his mantra is that he photographs "anything that moves … or anything that doesn't". Michael has volunteered as an associate curator at IPHF since it came to St. Louis in 2013.
Photographer Richard Sprengeler is best known for his dramatic color images of the Arch and downtown St. Louis, which have been distributed by the National Park Service, published in The Story of the Gateway Arch and in St. Louis: For the Record, and selected by interior designers and business leaders throughout St. Louis for their corporate lobbies, conference centers and executive suites.
A native Midwesterner and graduate of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Sprengeler has worked as a professional commercial photographer since 1984 and as an architectural photographer since 2001. Over the years, he has also developed an extensive fine art portfolio, demonstrating a prodigious talent for exposing the dignity in ordinary scenes and objects. His range in extensive - from rusting antique cars and soaring stone formations to children at play and colors dancing on the Arch - and his portfolio is predictably diverse, with images of mountains, canyons, deserts and dunes in the Northwest and Southwest; urban warehouses, parking garages and dark, dank alleys; Midwestern covered bridges, churches, and landscapes; and more.
After more than 30 exhibitions and competitions throughout the St Louis region, Sprengeler is currently working on a large format black and white study of St. Louis.
Rob Grimm is a commercial photographer, lecturer, designer and educational instructor. He works exclusively in food and beverage photography with a specialty in glass and liquids. His bold and graphic style has been employed by a client list of international brands as long as your left arm including Jack Daniel's, Bacardi, Woodford Reserve, Brown Forman, Kraft and Panera to name just a few.
With experience running full-service studios in both Chicago and St. Louis Rob has a unique perspective on the business of commercial photography. In 2014 he co-founded the company PRO EDU, an educational company that produces tutorials for every photography genre. At PRO EDU, Rob delivered training on an international level through online videos and led a community of elite photographers as they shared their trade secrets to future generations of visual artists.
At the start of 2021, Rob returned to being behind the camera full time to tell brand stories, shooting commercially with an unbridled new enthusiasm and love for his lifelong craft. Rob embraces new technologies, including AI, to create unique and brand specific still and motion content for his clients. While AI has become an important part of the process, it is only a portion of his content creation with everything, including AI, being captured "in camera."
Rob's life has centered upon the arts growing up at the side of his artist father learning pottery, stained glass making, painting and photography. Rob's love of old homes and historic buildings led him to renovate several structures in the Midtown Alley District one of which houses his St. Louis studio. From that endeavor, Rob created custom furniture for his studio leading to the formation of Mirato Design building bespoke furnishings for clients.
Rob served on the board of the Salvation Army Harbor Light for several years helping to reshape homeless services in St. Louis City. As a member of the board he was instrumental in changing homeless sheltering to provide single room housing and eliminate overcrowding while providing more individualized care and services for those in need.
When Rob's not shooting in his studio he can usually be found sculling on the lake or building furniture in his workshop, cooking for family and friends, working in the yard, or running about town with his wife and two daughters.
Robert George is among the most sought-after portrait & event photographers working in the U.S. today. He got his first camera at age 10. He earned a master's degree in business at Washington University, worked in IT for several years and studied photography with Jay Maisel and Victor Skrebneski. His images are documentary and cinematic in style and have been heralded as "brilliant, luminous and simply stunning." They express the instinctive joy and curiosity of seeing and the belief that the eye is the most magical of cameras. Robert serves as chair of the Futures Committee for IPHF.
Robert Wagner was born in St. Louis; Drawn to photography from an early age through school publications, working as a grip and lab-tech at Maritz, he attended the University of Missouri, as a 22-year-old photojournalism student, he wanted to open a rental darkroom and ended up with a camera. Selling major brands, Nikon, Hasselblad, Norman and other pro-lines, after 6 years in business he and his wife sold the store and moved to Oklahoma City, where he was employed by Candid Color Systems & Glamor Shots, during 3 years as Equipment Coordinator he worked in buying, selling and training (split-70mm long-roll) cameras, lighting, and proofing systems for the opening of over 240 of the Glamour Shots studios.