Leonard Volk
Photographer, Author of Everyday
Air Date, May 20th, 2012

Born in Dallas, Texas, in 1928, Volk graduated from Phillips Academy at Andover in 1945, from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies in 1949, and from MIT with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1959. I served in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps from 1952 to 1955.

Awards:

  • 2010 Merit Award in the single image contest published for B&W magazine, Special Issue, February 2010
  • 2009 Merit Award and publication in the portfolio contest for COLOR magazine, November 2009
  • 2008 Spotlight Award and published as a four-page feature with biographical essay in the portfolio contest for B&W magazine, June 2009
  • 2007-2008 five group photo exhibitions in Texas, San Francisco, and New York, for winners of the Texas Photographic Society’s international competition; Michelle Dunn Marsh, Juror, Aperture West
  • 2005 Solo Exhibition at Brookhaven College School of the Arts, Dallas, Texas; David Newman, Gallery Director
  • 2004 Bosque Conservatory Exhibition in Clifton, Texas; Roy Flukinger, Juror, Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin
  • 2003 Photography Award from Santa Fe Center for Photography; William Clift, Juror
  • Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects, emeritus
  • Numerous community service awards
  • Architectural design awards

Volk traveled in Europe for fourteen months in 1949-50. I became an enthusiastic photographer in Limburg, Germany, on January 3, 1950, when I bought my first good camera – a Leica IIIc. Volk spent two years in Germany serving in the Army. After studying architecture at MIT, and returned to Dallas, where he practiced architecture for thirty years and led a volunteer career working on community goals, neighborhood improvement, and affordable housing. Since retiring from architecture and volunteering in 1995, Volk has focused on personal photography, working on a backlog of images accumulated since 1950 and adding more. I have benefited from a number of photographic workshops, including Fred Picker’s Zone VI in 1984 and a variety of courses at the Santa Fe Workshops.