Fritz Goeckner Burlington, Iowa FNorbson@gmail.com
As a leading photographer of the tri-state region, I work and sleep in Burlington, Iowa. Born and educated in the Middle West, I was originally meant to be a scientist. I even straggled through graduate school. But my aims drifted and I began to commit photography more and more seriously. Eventually I quit science and moved back to the Midwest with rather vague plans to photograph here. After many years, and much effort developing a previously unused form of photography, I have gradually discovered that the Middle West and its small towns and their often declining fortunes are and remain my primary subject.
An update — a confession:
Two years ago, when I concocted the words above, I never imagined not being forever a Midwesterner. But age and grandchildren have led me beyond the end of the road to this land of perpetually pleasant weather. I should not be so surprised. We are a continent of immigrants. Rootlessness is a particular American trait. No one in my father’s family or my mother’s family lives where they grew up, and now no one in my family does either. Nor do my children. Perhaps this will be a new topic for me. FG, February 2024
Recently:
I was fortunate to hear Beethoven’s violin concerto at the San Diego Symphony, perhaps my favorite piece of music, though I am mostly a jazz lover. It was a valuable and timely reminder that the human race is also capable of wonderful things. Beyond that, it — and a great deal of other great music — serves no further social purpose that I can discern. To me, this is evidence that, as important as the work of Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine is, there is more to music and art and literature than social activism. I try to not overlook this, and I hope you won’t either.
Fritz Goeckner. San Diego, California. FNorbson@gmail.com