ALUMNI IN ACTION
Charles Cramer鈥檚 Tale of Two Mentors
By Julia Halprin Jackson Photography by Robert C. Bain
For pianist and photographer Charles Cramer, 鈥�73 Music, practicing a Sergei Rachmaninoff concerto and composing the perfect landscape photograph tap into a similar set of skills: focus, attention to detail, patience and the relentless willingness to keep playing.
鈥淭he big deal about playing the piano is your interpretation,鈥� Cramer says. 鈥淎lmost anybody can play all the notes; that鈥檚 not the hard part. The hard part is imbuing it with emotion. That鈥檚 why Ms. Onishi was so wonderful.鈥�
Trained as a classical pianist by Professor Emerita Aiko Onishi at San Jos茅 State, Cramer remembers preparing for piano recitals in Onishi鈥檚 91传媒厂 office, where she fit two pianos. She taught him to interpret music in terms of the images he could create with it, once telling him to play a Beethoven sonata while picturing the sound of 鈥渕onks walking down the hall, chanting.鈥�
This somewhat synesthetic approach helped Cramer envision the impact that he wanted each strike of keys to make on his audience 鈥� and later informed the way he composed photographs.
By demonstrating how to play a piece of music with feeling, Onishi showed Cramer how to present a work of art in compelling ways. As a pianist at 91传媒厂, he couldn鈥檛 have imagined that decades later, he鈥檇 be quoting the great photographer Ansel Adams at a 鈥� 鈥淭he negative is comparable to the composer鈥檚 score, and the print to its performance鈥� 鈥� a lesson he鈥檇 learned by none other than the master himself.
Charles Cramer (left) with the late Ansel Adams in Yosemite, 1977. Photo courtesy of Charles Cramer.
Framing a new perspective
Cramer鈥檚 attention shifted to photography while he was pursuing a graduate degree at the Eastman School of Music in New York, where he first discovered Adams鈥� body of work, whose iconic black-and-white images of Yosemite National Park have inspired generations of like-minded photographers. Cramer and Adams shared a belief in the synchronicity between music and photography; Adams was a pianist as well.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e at music school, you鈥檙e in these fluorescently lit practice rooms, and all you do is stay inside and play the piano,鈥� he says. 鈥淎fter a while, I realized that if I did photography, I could be out in the world in a place like Yosemite.鈥�
When Cramer enrolled in Adams鈥� photography workshop in Yosemite in 1977, he learned to use an 8-by-10 piece of matte cardstock to frame a photograph, a technique that Cramer uses to this day.
鈥淟andscapes are three-dimensional, but photographs are two-dimensional,鈥� he says. 鈥淭o try to imagine what the viewer of the photograph will see, you have to ask if the scene communicates what you鈥檙e feeling.鈥� A strong photo elicits a visceral response, such as raising one鈥檚 blood pressure or causing one to gasp in surprise or delight. The framing card helps him declutter the outside world and zero in on the details of a particular scene.
Armed with his large format 4-by-5 camera, several film folders and his framing card, Cramer learned to view the natural environment in terms of light and darkness, water and clouds, fog and drizzle.
Professor Emerita of Piano Performance Aiko Onishi (left) with Charles Cramer at his Mason & Hamlin piano.
A framed postcard from Ansel Adams addressed to Charles Cramer.
Charles Cramer performs ""Beside a Stream," from "Years of Pilgrimage," by Franz Liszt. The photographs accompanying the music are by Charles Cramer.
Capturing magic
Cramer built up an impressive portfolio over the years as he learned to make prints and dye transfers. In 1982, the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite took a few of his prints on consignment, and in 1987, he began teaching classes on dye transfer printing at the Ansel Adams Gallery Photography Workshop program. The National Park Service named him artist-in-residence at Yosemite in 1987 and again in 2009.
In the early 2000s, the Yosemite Fund, a nonprofit operated by the park, invited Cramer, alongside four other notable photographers, to travel the Yosemite wilderness, covering more than 1,000 square miles, and document the unforgettable vistas of the national park. Each summer for five years, Cramer joined Karl Kroeber, Scot Miller, Mike Osborne and Keith S. Walklet for 10-day camping trips, accompanied by mules who carried their cameras, tents and camping supplies. The result? Thousands of stunning photographs that later became 鈥淔irst Light: Five Photographers Explore Yosemite鈥檚 Wilderness.鈥�
Cramer describes the camping trips as wonderful studies of light and darkness, color and weather, friendship and camaraderie. He favored overcast days when the forest was backlit and could spend hours capturing the spray of a rushing creek as it cascaded down the rocks.
鈥淏acklit water, as it drops, kind of looks like fireworks,鈥� he says.
Cramer stayed connected to his mentors for years 鈥� the legendary photographer invited Cramer to his Big Sur home when visiting pianists were in town, including Adams鈥� 82nd birthday party, the night before the photographer鈥檚 sudden death in 1984. As for Onishi, Cramer is one of many mentees who meet up with her on occasion for lunch and to talk music.
鈥淧rofessor Onishi was and is incredible,鈥� he says. 鈥淪he changed my life.鈥�
See Charles' art in motion
Top photo of Charles Cramer in his home studio.
