Standing in front of a crowd that included the admiring eyes of some of his former students, Jerry Uelsmann said he does not have an agenda behind his photography.
"I let the viewer find the storyline they can make up," he said.
The 77-year-old former UF graduate art professor discussed his career and his photographs at a lecture Sunday afternoon at the Harn Museum of Art.
About 350 people attended the event, where Uelsmann discussed his early experimentation with photography and revealed some of his unseen work.
He also revealed work by Maggie Taylor, his wife and a digital image artist who scans and manipulates images on a computer.
Uelsmann contrasted his composite printing technique to Taylor's use of digital techniques in her images.
"People tend to want me to be anti-digital, but you can't even buy film anymore," Uelsmann said.
Former director of Appleton Museum Leonard Weinbaum was one of Uelsmann's former students attending the lecture.
"He was a big influence on me, and I was very privileged to be a student at that time," Weinbaum said.
Uelsmann received $2,000 for his lecture from funds set aside for Creative B, a summer program that combines many creative programs offered at UF.
Uelsmann's work is on display at the museum, with 89 images in an exhibit that will run until Sept. 11 and then continue on to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.
The museum will celebrate Uelsmann's exhibit Thursday with art activities and dances inspired by his photography.
