Gordon Vanus

Military Service

Branch: Navy
Dates: From to

My name is Gordon Vanus. My art is photography. My parents handed down an old camera when I was 10 years old. That started an adventure of learning and practicing photography that continues today. My first formal training was a semester of Photography as a sophomore in high school. At the end of the term several of us were asked if we would like to join a graphic arts program for our junior and senior years. We all readily excepted because we would have unlimited use of the schools darkroom.

I’m US Navy veteran. I joined the Navy out of high school before I was 18 and served for 3 plus years. After tech school I was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Ranger CV61. During my service the Ranger was deployed to the 7th fleet operating in the South China Sea for most of 1966 during the Viet Nam War.

After my discharge I went to work for General Dynamics in Southern California. This was the beginning of a 33 year career working in the defense industry. Between strikes, layoffs, plant closures, transfers and promotions I managed to get an AS degree and a certificate in Business Management.

In 1972 I bought my first single lens reflex 35mm camera. With the purchase they included a 6 week photography class. At the end of that class I entered a local Kodak contest and won first place in the animal portrait category. After that my camera has seldom far for my hand. In 1989 I accepted a transfer to the General Dynamics plant in Fort Defiance AZ. A wealth of new photography subjects became available to me. Then in a couple of years digital photography changed everything. Every year you could buy a new digital camera with better file capture and new processing capabilities. We were living in Gallup NM and instead of building a darkroom I bought a new desk top computer with Adobe Photoshop on it.

I took early retirement and we moved to Edgewood NM in October 2004. I’m a member of the East Mountain Artist group. Together the group did many weekend art shows. I was actively submitting photographs to the two East Mountain news papers the Independent and the East Mountain Telegraph. The Independent has used several of my pictures on the front page and I was asked to photograph several local events by the paper’s editor. The Telegraph published an article about my photography using several of my pictures. I have been the featured artist at a gallery in Albuquerque and a gallery in Cedar Crest. I currently have my photographs hanging with The Perspectives Art Group in the Rio Rancho at the Rust Hospital and a Kidney Dr’s office in Albuquerque. I’m a member of the NMVA group and hang in their shows. I have many photographic interests: nature, wildlife, rodeo, car shows hot air balloons, special events etc. If you see a pictures of mine that you would like to purchase remember it’s photography so it can be reproduced in different sizes, framed and unframed, canvas and acrylic so feel free to contact me.