F E AT U R E
Stilling the Waters VSU photography professor canoes the Suwannee and captures his journey on film
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by DEAN POLING photos by DOMINICK GHEESLING
ominick Gheesling has been attracted to water since childhood, from paddling as a boy with his father along the St. Marys and St. Johns rivers to spending four years in the Navy to his father Patrick purchasing him a canoe as a college graduation gift. Same for photography. Gheesling took photographs as a youngster. He studied photography at Florida State University. He teaches photography at Valdosta State University. “Photography and water have always been constants,” Gheesling says.
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ValdostaScene | SEPTEMBER 2013
Before graduating with his master’s in fine arts in 2002, he learned a lesson about approaching learning, teaching and life with a holistic method. He recalls a professor, George Blakely, who would take students on canoeing expeditions where they would work with the community to acquire canoes, clean trash from the river during their trips, discover art while introducing many students to the outdoors. Loving this philosophy, and living for canoeing and photography, it seems only natural that Gheesling would combine the two for an adventure photographing the numerous springs along
the Suwannee River this summer. His goal: Visit as many springs as possible along the route from Fargo to the Gulf of Mexico and photograph them in black and white and color, with film and digitally, above and below the water’s surface. Using a new faculty grant and an SWGA grant, Gheesling funded the trip which covered many of his materials and equipment. He loaded his canoe with film cameras, film holders, a Pentax 6x7, dozens of rolls of films, a Canon digital camera, an Aqualite underwater camera, SCUBA gear and two oxygen tanks, a traditional tent, rain