“Have faith in what you see; find your own voice,” photographer Mark Citret told a group gathered for De Anza’s photographer lecture series. Citret lectured about what moved him in photography and how it shapes his subject matter.

Citret was born in Buffalo, and was raised in San Francisco. He studied photography at San Francisco State University in the 1970s. Citret once worked as an assistant to Ansel Adams. He has taught at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley Extension. Citret’s work has been showcased at several galleries, including the Ansel Adams Gallery, Weston Gallery and the Monterey Museum of Art.

Citret showed images from the span of his career, starting with his work at San Francisco State from 1970 to 1973. His work at San Francisco State led to the image he took in Halcott Center, a valley in the Catskills of New York. Citret said Andrew Wyeth was one of his influences, with one the images paying homage to him. The Halcott Center work was published in 2004.

Citret cited influences that shaped the images he took and his desired creative vision. He showed a series of images he took around San Francisco in the mid 1970s, which he took with a medium format camera in color. 

The photographer Paul Strand was one his influences for this body of work. Many of the images are of street people in the South of Market district. Citret photographed what caught his eye, seeing something special in everyday subjects.

Citret said he enjoys taking images of architecture. He showed several images he has taken for commercial work. 

Citret showed how in Photoshop one can change the perspective of an image to give it the correct perspective. In commercial work, he said, “You are paid for your view, the craft.”

Citret’s first love is construction projects. One day, when he took his children to the San Francisco Zoo, he noticed a field being cleared. He started taking pictures, which lead to a four-year project photographing the construction of San Francisco’s new waste water treatment plant. 

“In geology nature changes the landscape over thousands of years,” said Citret. “On a construction project it happens in a matter of months.”

For the last decade, Citret has photographed the construction at Mission Bay for the University of San Francisco. It is a “great gig walking around photographing what your eye is drawn to,” he said.

Citret suggested taking images of “what moves you.” You need to find your own voice and work from there. “How you are the subject, not the mechanical aspect,” is what Citret highlighted. “The artist is creating light on a canvas.” 

GROUP DISCUSSION – Citret explains his work, techniques and gives advice to students. (Michael Mannina / La Voz Weekly)