‘A Show of People’ celebrates commonality

There is something familiar about the faces in Dale Strattman’s photographs.

Looking at each face, you feel as if you have seen that person before – maybe it is someone you know or have seen out and about. Then you look at the location where the photograph was taken and do a double take: Moscow, New Zealand, Central America, Venice. And you realize that it only reminds you of someone you have seen.

Through the years – and through many travels – Strattman has become a master of capturing the essence and equality of people in his photographs. Whether it is a child with huge, soulful brown eyes from Ecuador or a decadently dressed street performer from New Orleans, Strattman’s 70 black-and-white photographs on display at CityArts capture emotion and the basic humanity in everyone.

Strattman has been taking photographs for more than 40 years and has not wavered from his love for traditional black-and-white photography. With digital photography becoming the norm for so many, Strattman holds his own and still develops his own film and prints in his darkroom with fully archival materials.

He has been a teacher of photography since the 1970s, having taught the first photography art classes in the public school system, which began at Wichita West High School. He also taught at Northeast Magnet, from which he retired, and continues teaching at Wichita State University.

Travel inspires work

Strattman and his wife, Kathy, have traveled extensively, but he explains that it was not his specific intention to photograph people on their trips.

“It was nothing that was ever pre-planned,” he said. “I never went out with my camera with the intention of photographing people. I would just get to visiting with people and would then ask if I could take their picture.”

The couple have taken several group trips affiliated with their church, First United Methodist, to countries including Russia, Ecuador and Panama. They would do volunteer work and repairs for orphanages and schools.

“When we go on our work teams, we love visiting with the children,” Strattman said. “They are so much fun and so responsive. Little children are the same no matter where you are.”

He said he purposely left dates off the photographs in this exhibition as he didn’t want to associate the people in the photos to a specific era. It therefore is nearly impossible to tell children of the 1970s from children of the 2000s. This adds to the suggestion of timelessness and being one in the same.

Strattman explains that when he is traveling he is struck by how similar people are, all over the world.

“My wife and I traveled to Russia in the ’90s shortly after the fall of communism for one of our work trips for our church,” he said. “I wasn’t sure how accepting the country would be of a foreigner taking photographs, but they were wonderful. The people we met invited us for dinner and told stories that sounded like stories we would tell here in the States. They are such a warm, fun-loving people; we even danced in a circle. It was a great experience.”

Connecting through pictures

Strattman is able to connect with those around him and find some commonality and bond, which comes across in his photographs.

“My favorite photographs are the ones in which I had some kind of interaction with the person or people in the photos,” he said.

One time, two men sitting on a bench struck up a conversation with him, he said. He asked if he could take a picture of them. They agreed, and Strattman offered to mail them each a print of the photograph.

“Lo and behold, a couple of weeks after I had sent one of the men a print of his picture, he sent me one of his paintings,” Strattman said. “It was such an incredible surprise. We still have it on our wall.”

Strattman says the underlying message of his show is the commonality in everyone.

“No matter where we come from, we are all so similar. We all have the same joys, the same worries and emotions. It is my hope that my photographs of people become an affirmation or a celebration of our humanity and the equality in all of us.”

This story was originally published February 5, 2012 at 5:00 AM with the headline "‘A Show of People’ celebrates commonality."