Philip Lange has been making photographs since he was 15 years old, when his mother, a painter, encouraged him to take photography classes at Phoenix Community College in Arizona. Early exposure to the work of photographers including Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, Paul Strand, Edward Weston, and Ansel Adams sparked a lifelong interest in the medium.
After earning a BA in Studio Art from Carleton College in 1978, Lange moved to Rochester, New York, where he studied photography at Visual Studies Workshop under Nathan Lyons and Keith Smith. He earned his MFA in Photography in 1983, concentrating on one-of-a-kind books and video.
Lange’s work has taken him around the world, from South Africa and New Zealand to Zanzibar and the Maasai villages of Tanzania, where he produced video documentaries focused on educational and environmental subjects. His photographs and videos have been exhibited at institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, and Visual Studies Workshop.
Today, Lange’s photographic practice centers on what he calls “Seescapes”—images made from landscapes rather than photographs of landscapes. His reflection images explore the space between reality and abstraction, using time, color, space, and form to create fleeting visual moments.
“I don’t photograph landscapes. I make images from landscapes,” Lange explains. “I wait for the moment when I can connect the outside reflection with the inside space to create the abstraction of the moment.”
A longtime resident of Rochester, Lange recently retired after 30 years teaching art in the Rochester City School District. Outside of his studio practice, he has spent much of his life racing sailboats. He lives in Rochester with his wife and is the father of two grown daughters and grandfather of five.
