Andrew Davidhazy, Professor  Imaging and Photographic Technology  Rochester Institute of Technology  70 Lomb Memorial Drive  Rochester, NY 14623  ph: (585) 475-2592, fx: (585) 475-7750  em: andpph@rit.edu  web: people.rit.edu/andpph

Click on the picture to see a larger version. This was a photograph I made as default when my attempt to photograph the bluebird in flight fizzled. But I am still trying!

To read a related article on my early activities in high speed photography Click here!

Versión en Español

---

see more photographs in "exhibits" page in my website and also text files under "articles".

Anyway, you can get an idea of the kinds of things I do on a daily basis by taking a look at my latest annual self-report or the one from 2004 or 2003 or 2002 or 2001 or 2000 or 1999 or the one from 1998 or, finally, the one that was my ill-fated 1975 report which was to be my last one in my previous life in a now-closed college at RIT.

Or, you might want to take a look at a "historical document" that I really have not taken the trouble to update properly since about the early 1990s and that is what might be called my "resume" and here is a general, narrative-type biography concentrating mostly on education, play and work.

To find out more about the students, faculty and program I work with on a daily basis just select Imaging and Photographic Technology to go to this unique program's Web site. Or, press Photo Tech News for news of departmental activities, visitors, etc. And for "general" information select Admissions to request printed information about the program. On a lark, I also put together an unofficial SPAS faculty/staff Phonebook including e-mail addresses as well.

I've had a long-term association with the Technical Photography Student Association, an organization representing all the students within the IPT program. To find out what I think about the group here is a file that I wrote about TPSA some time ago. I also try to stay in touch with both current students and graduates of the program. Select friend's websites for links to some of their pages.

Why Tech? is a brief note explaining why I think the IPT program attracts and prepares students for careers in the photo/imaging field. If you might like to transfer into the Imaging and Photographic Technology program (something I would obviously recommend!) choose Transfer . On the other hand, if you are a possible employer of these students for coop/intern or full time positions check out the Student's Files webpage with links to some student's resumes.

Or choose HS/TL for an article describing in detail my High Speed/Time Lapse course or select course outlines for detailed descriptions of this and most of my other courses.

A fun project was the making of photographs during the January 2000 total lunar eclipse. To read about this and see a couple of the resulting photographs just choose eclipse!

One of my principal areas of professional activity over the years has been the "field" of photoinstrumentation. Under this umbrella title are included such topics as high speed photography, schlieren and shadowgraph photography, ballistic photography and stroboscopy, and many other applications of photography where one needs to not only operate under hazardous conditions but is often required to produce photographs from which quantitative information will be extracted. In August of 2000 several of these photographs appeared in a book titled Out of Sight and an extensive article appeared in the Italian science magazine Newton. In January 2001, American Photo OnCampus carried a little spread as well. In May 2001 a couple of my stroboscopic photos appeared in Veja magazine in Brazil and in March/April 2002 my photograph appeared on the cover of Fotomundo in Argentina and an article on digital stroboscopy inside. Then, in 2004, a selection of my photographs appeared in Popular Mechanics in Spanish and finally, in October 2005 my work with improvised stroboscopic photography appeared in Popular Photography magazine. Then again in June 2006 but this time the theme was Polarization photography

A recent "sideline" activity involved the organization of an exhibition of photographs whose original purpose was scientific in nature but which would be exhibited in our school as images with a compelling visual and aesthetic content as well. Here is the link to the Images from Science exhibition.

On the left is an image of a supersonic bullet in free flight sporting its "shock wave" and visualized in a schlieren system. Select the thumbnail image to see a larger version or click on bullet animation to see this action in motion as recorded with a Beckman and Whitley Dynafax camera at 10,000 pictures per second. On the right is a 1/10 millisecond photograph of the impact of a drop on a pool of water. Choose splash animation to see it in motion!

My long term interest has been the field of scanning or strip photography. This started in the mid-60's and extends to this day. Applications include panoramic, peripheral, photofinish, and other derivatives of an "ingenious" approach to image-making. In the early '90s I made an uniterrupted photograph of a 1.5 mile stretch of a local historic avenue. The photo below is not of that avenue but was made as a test for making of the one of the avenue! In the late 90's I made the second photo below with an improvised digital "strip" camera. Select improvised digital camera or choose infrared imaging with digital cameras to see a couple of examples of what I am working on at the moment.

From time to time I get requests for my photographs for reproductionm in books, magazines, webpages, etc. Sometimes I am offered a fee but most often not. I started to keep a record of these requests and this link takes you to Photo Requests

Choose Free Traveling Exhibitionto learn about a small collection of peripheral portraits I have on worldwide tour. This low-cost, low-tech (high novelty!) exhibition has now been shown in places like Little Angels Gallery in California, the ITSON school and the University of Mexico at Obregon in Mexico, at Clemson University, in Sao Paulo, Panama, Chicago, etc. Here it is at the Wallace Memorial Library at RIT in February, 2004. The latest exhibition of these photogrpahs was at the NIP 23 Conference of the Society for Imaging Science and Technology held in Anchorage, Alaska in early Sept. 2007 and lastely at the University of the Pacific in Lima, Peru from Nov. 27-Dec. 15, 2007.

While the little faces collection continues to be available I also have another "traveling" set of peripheral portraits available to anyone interested in displaying them. These are framed, behing plexiglass and 8x14 and 16x20 inches in size. You can see them at: just Portraits and at: Framed Little Faces. Additionally I've framed a set of early or vintage linear strip and panoramic photographs from the 1970's and these are also available for exhibition.

Now, in addition, I have compiled a small collection of my high-speed and "technical" photographs and they are available for exhibition (free to schools, museums and galleries). Contact me for details and see the images in this TechWebGallery.

In September 2005 I decided to have some of my peripheral photographs printed as postcards. I then realized that I'd have a lot left over so decided to give them away for the asking to anyone intersted in them. Find out how HERE.

During the last few of years I have devoted much effort and many hours to setting up and overseeing the smooth running of a photo/imaging mail list known as the PhotoForum, whose membership numbers about 650 addresses worldwide. I am also the listowner of a Spanish language photography mail list called Fotored, the listowner of the Photohist-L photographic history mail list and the coordinator of SPIE's High Speed Photography forum. I also help out The Photographic Historical Society in Rochester as board member and Internet "liaison"!.

I am very fortunate to have been associated, both as a student and a colleague, with some of the best photography instructors around. They are true "giants" and you will find some of their names listed as authors of important books connected with photography and photographic education. On June 30, 2000 I went to the monthly lunch meeting of the "locals" and made some cool snapshots. In the early 1980s Dr. Les Stroebel made some faculty portraits and at the time I was interested in 3D photography.

In July 2007 I was given a document written by William Soule Shoemaker about the history of the school from 1931 until 1981, the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its establishment. It also contained a brief biography of C.B. Neblette and William Brehm, as well as a listing of past faculty members at the school. I am making it available for your information here. Read SPAS history here!. Also, sometime in 2004 I decided to visit classess taught by several of my current colleagues and make an informal visual record of them in "action".

I have a few small Exhibits of Photographs available. Here you will find examples of high speed, panoramic, peripheral and schlieren photography and other specialized techniques. The Phoenix Process is highlighted in a couple of exhibits. You can read more about this novel process and many other unusual applications (such as high speed flash photography and "conical peripheral photography" as shown in the small images at the top of this page) by checking the Articles file that also includes writings by friends and several present and past teaching colleagues.

A few years ago I had an exhibition of my Peripheral Portraits, some modified with the Phoenix Process, on exhibit at the Club Fotografico de Mexico, located in Mexico City. While the real exhibit has closed, choosing Exhibit will allow you to see some of the work that was on display. More recently I was invited to show past and current strip photography work at the Rose Lehrman Gallery of Harrisburg Area Community College in early 2004. This was the announcement and this was the exhibition.

On the "techy" side I put a small exhibit of my high speed and schlieren photographs together as a result of being invited to show them at the Discovery Center located in Bethlehem, PA. For an abbreviated, online, version of the exhibit click here! and to read a story about the exhibit that appeared in a local newspaper choose article. In 2005 the collection was exhibitted at the 50th Annual Conference of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) in San Diego, CA. It looked like this. Then the collection was put on display from September through end of December 2005 at the Danville Science Center in Virginia. For 6 months during 2006 the collection was on display at the Miami Museum of Science. Following this exhibit I decided to make a catalogue of the collection and this resulted in a small book that includes more than just the images in the collection. It is available through a print-on-demand outfit. Learn more about this and other booklets available from an "on-demand" printer HERE!

More recently a dozen of these "technical and scientific" visualization photographs have been on exhibit as part of the Hickory Museum of Art (located in North Carolina) exhibition entitled Harold Edgerton's Work and those he inspired (from April through August 2008) and another dozen were on exhibit from April 22 - May 10, 2008 in a hallway display at the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences.

A couple of publishing opportunities came about in 2003 and you can see examples of my contributions to a STRETCH by Nick Meers, a panoramic photography book and to Adventures with Pinhole and Home-made cameras by John Evans, a book true to its title!. Then, in late 2003 a book on Images in Science edited by Lennert Mueller and published in Sweden included a large number of my high speed and schlieren photographs along with explanatory text.

And, if you've read this far and want to know a bit more about me, you may be interested in reading an interview with an online magazine called Cyberholic and now that I think of it there was also an earlier one at: Pomegranate

On a really lazy day in 1994 I founded the PPIC, a worldwide net of expert investigators whose specialty is the debunking of claims of psychic events, paranormal activities, ghosts, force fields, unexplainable phenomena or imminent invasion by extraterrestrials based on photographic evidence. On the other hand, I have also dealt with more serious forensic photo authentication matters in cases such as the President Kennedy assassination and the OJ Simpson case as seen here.

For a bit of background maybe you want to check out my life history and see my resume, such as it sort of is (I stopped revising it in the mid 1990s). For a "pictorial review" you can see me in about 1943, or 1946, or with my mother and brother in 1948, or by myself in 1949, or on my horse, Blanquito, in 1952, in 1954 or by myself in 1956 or in Necochea with my buddies or on the beach with my parents in 1957. Believe it or not, smoking in 1962! Alone in 1963 and 1975. Or, see me in 3-D! (parallel view) in 1994, and to bring you up to date these are from 1996 and from 1998 and 2002. Finally, see me with "Doc" Edgerton, a favorite teacher (although I never had him for a class) or, to catch a glimpse of one of my favorite cities, check out a panoramic photograph I made in Buenos Aires around 1978!. Make sure to scroll it to the right since it is rather long.

You may be interested in a short story of my trip to Argentina during August in 1996. Or, a report about a July 1998 2 week visit to Tanzania's Serengeti and Ngorongoro National Parks.

On the right is (to the best of our information at this time) the Davidhazy "clan" crest. In case you are wondering, their origins are Hungarian. Selecting the thumbnail will take you to a small website where you can find those members of this group who are most closely related to me. Here is a photograph of my father, Capt. Andras Davidhazy and my mother, Gabriella (Petracsek) and my brother John and sister Minka on her wedding. And this is a painting by the Komaromi Kacz of my mother on her wedding in about 1939. And this is an award-wining(!) photo of my sister Minka and poodle taken in 1960.

And on another personal note, here's a picture of two of my "kids". These asterisks (* and *) are pictures of my older son from a few years ago and this is a link to Andrew's website.

Jennifer married Memet in 1999. Here is the happy couple and here is Jennifer with Andy. While at Jennifer's wedding, my sister and brother and I and our spouses got to spend some time together. Oh, and this was the arrival of the first of 20 grandchildren and this the second. After this one I lost count! (However, here is Peri in 2003).

Here's Sue with one of her favorite horses (and this is her website). Sometimes I get to round up the herd! This was Sue on the Oak Orchard with our son Cameron when he was 3 and here he is at 17 .

While in Argentina my father owned a shipyard and made a small fleet of 13 foot Quequen-class sailboats he designed and I helped build. Here is a drawing of the little sloop. Later, in Seattle, he designed (and seen here with him at the helm) what I think is a classic, the 20 foot Heritage. A few dozen of these were made. Here is my sister Minka with our father in Budapest on his 90th birthday in photo one and photo two. This is the text of an article about him that appeared in a Hungarian magazine. "Capt. Andy" passed away in Budapest in 2003 and this is a brief obituary prepared by my brother John.

After arriving to the US in the mid-50's from Argentina I went to school at Boston Latin School and just before coming to RIT in 1961 I was a counselor at Job's Pond Camp in Vermont. At RIT I enrolled in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences and for a while was a studious Photographic Science student and from Dr. Zakia learned all about DlogE Curves and Tone Reproduction. Here I am with a few of my instructor colleagues in the late 1980's.

Again, remembering earlier times when our family was all together and living in Seattle, here are photos from the early 1980's of my mother Gabriella, close-up and full-length, and one of my little sis and father. I also have a photograph of one of my grandfathers Petracsek Josef and here a grouping treasured by my mom showing her with her mother and an insert of her father and these are my father's parents Ilona and Janos both painted by my great uncle, Komaromi Kacz. Here are photographs of Davidhazy Janos and Kacz Ilona on or about their wedding day on May 11, 1895.

In the mid-1970's 3 friends of mine and I got together and made fiberglass versions of the Quequen class sloops. To this date I put mine on a trailer (in 2004 Sue and I replaced the deck) and go sailing on Ontario. Sue often comes along, here on Conesus lake and here on Lake Ontario in 2002. She actually likes fishing more and catching the really BIG ones! And here is Sue and me in Dec. 2000 and at home at breakfast, followed by an indoor panorama and here is a winter 2001 view out the back and the front of our home in Honeoye Falls.

Finally, here is my list of Web sites for Photo/Imaging Technologists with many thanks to all who contributed to it.

---

To send me mail select my Express Mail Delivery service but remove the IPT_ first!.

This page has been visited many times times since 1992

---

Choose Imaging and Photographic Technology to learn more about the Department and students I work with or click HERE! to request more information about it. Finally, this is a link to the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences at RIT.

---