The Local, by Jack Wickes

Capitol at Sunset

For the month of June the City Gallery is featuring a show of place-based photography titled The Local, by Jack Wickes.

Jack Wickes and his wife Julia lived in Indianapolis in the early years of their marriage, leaving for a few years for Washington DC. Jack, a Vietnam veteran, attended Indiana University and its law school on the GI Bill.  After four years working on Capitol Hill as Counsel for the US Senate Veteran’s  Affairs and the Labor and Human Resources Committees, Julia and Jack returned to Indiana in 1979 and he started a private practice.

Super Moon over Indianapolis

"A few months after our oldest child was born, many years ago, my wife and I purchased a high quality camera, which we really could not afford. We had the camera for many years and used it to take wonderful photos as our daughters grew up. As I captured their growing up on film, I became more interested and attentive to lighting and composition. And when photographing people, I became more attuned to and interested in making them look good, the way I saw them. Contrast, color and composition-generally, each of my photos will have a strength in one of these if not all three."

The Wickes

Julia is an artist with a studio at the Stutz Building.  She  is a graduate of Herron School of Art and Design and is a painter of people in every-day situations. Julia and Jack have 3 daughters——all of whom grew up in Indianapolis ——and 6 grandchildren. During his 35 years of law practice, Jack was named a Sagamore of the Wabash and Trial Lawyer of the Year among other honors.  He began photography in earnest before his oldest child was born.  Over the years, he became more  “obsessed” with subject matter, composition, color and contrast. See his breathtaking images of Indianapolis in the City Gallery through June 30.