Portrait of an Artist: Gary Reed

Reality meets interpretation in photos of dancers, wildlife, and wild people.

» READ MORE: www.garyreedphotomedia.com

Gary Reed still has the camera his uncle got him when he was about 10 years old. It was a cheap point-and-shoot, but 40 years later, it still works.

"I pulled it out one day and did a series at Fairmount Park," he says. "The problem is finding film for it nowadays."

Reed isn't afraid to hang onto old technology, but he's also not fearful of trying out the new. A Mac computer technician at McMobile in Drexel Hill during the day, he spends an additional 40 to 50 hours a week prowling the city streets, the parks, the creeks, looking for that perfect shot.

And then he changes it all.

Using Adobe Photoshop, Reed will move things over, add new people, or modify color. It's a mix of photography and design, he says.

"It lets you create your own reality," he says. "You can actually sit there and interpret the picture in your own way."

There was no interpretation allowed in Reed's original field - accounting - which he studied at Temple University. It seemed like a stable career, but before he even graduated, he was bored.

He needed something more creative, something that would let him be around people and be part of the world in a more active way.

The same uncle who gave him the camera suggested he go to art school. So Reed studied in the commercial-photography program at the University of Pittsburgh.

"As human beings, we see the world in a continuous stream," he says. "We look at a stream. We see a car go by. We never look at the detail.

"Photography freezes that exact moment, and maybe it's the expression on someone's face or the lighting is perfect at that one moment."

He worked as an independent photographer for several years, shooting images for campaigns or individuals - usually "digital face-lifts," to soften their wrinkles and imperfections. But his idea of what made a photograph didn't always jibe with what customers wanted.

So now he shoots on his own time. During the day, he works for McMobile, hands on the computer, not on the camera. In either case, it's all about being precise. "Macs are a beautiful, exotic machine," he says. "Everything makes sense, but the pieces have to go in exactly - it can't be one millimeter off."

Nights and weekends, he's out and about. Every January, he's at the Mummer's Parade. Sometimes he'll be out for a day and not lift the camera to his eye. Other times he can barely take a step without thinking, "Wow, where did that come from?"

He can't find a woman to keep up with him, he says.

Then, back in his studio - actually a desk in his Germantown apartment surrounded by his work and the photos of others he admires - Reed begins to tinker. Maybe that color photo would look better in black and white. Maybe that red car should be a subtle gray-black.

Maybe that tree should not be there at all.

He sells prints on his Web site and exhibits in shows across the region, the last being the Philadelphia Sketch Club's annual photography show in 2007. He had four images of the Schuylkill on display.

Next up is a fund-raiser for Public Eye, a local group whose motto is "Artists for Animals." Most of his work sells for $5 to $1,500, depending on whether it's an original print.

He freelances here and there, but for the most part, it's Reed and a camera.

"My photography is like my children; I want them to be perfect," he says.