Charles R. Rushton

Photographer 

It's not what you photograph so much as how you photograph it that makes a picture interesting.

- Charles Rushton

Charles R. Rushton has studied photography under Zone System photographers Fred Picker and Oliver Gagliani and photographic portraiture under portrait photographers Arnold Newman and Rodney Smith. He has taught photography classes for Eastern New Mexico University, the Firehouse Art Center, the University of Oklahoma, Moore Norman Technology Center, Oklahoma City Community College, and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Oklahoma.

He began taking pictures as a child and set up his first darkroom at age 11. In his teens, he was a freelance photographer for his hometown newspaper, Rochester Post Bulletin. From 1976 to 1978 he served as head of audiovisual services at Eastern New Mexico University. From 1978 to 1983 he was director of district media services for Belen Consolidated Schools in Belen, New Mexico.

Composition - how a photograph looks - is most important to me in the finished work, and what I think about least when I'm making the photograph.

- Charles Rushton

Between 1980 and 2001 he photographed 131 New Mexico artists and photographers. The Albuquerque Museum purchased 84 of these portraits for its permanent collection. The American History Museum and National Portrait Gallery have acquired 38 portraits from this same series. His works also are in the collections of the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art, the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art, and the Oklahoma State Art Collection. His photographs have appeared internationally in numerous solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, periodicals, and monographs.

He started using a digital camera in 1998 and began exhibiting his digital images in 2002. He now photographs exclusively with a digital camera. Rushton holds a Bachelor of Arts from Lawrence University, a Master of Arts in Teaching from St. Thomas University, a Master of Arts in Library Science from the University of Minnesota, and a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the University of Oklahoma. He currently teaches digital photography at Moore Norman Technology Center and offers occasional classes through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Oklahoma.

Form was most important to me in my earlier portrait work. In my street work, I am more concerned with narrative, with capturing the little moments that remind us of what it means to be human.

- Charles Rushton