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An Artist, An Influence

Dan Eggert (the first) pays a friendly visit to his neighbor’s horses and goats. Photo by Dan Eggert (the second).

Dan Eggert (the first) pays a friendly visit to his neighbor’s horses and goats. Photo by Dan Eggert (the second).

As a photographer, there are the usual suspects that I admire – like Ansel Adams, Bryce Pearson, and Gallen Rowell – but my self-taught style comes from my father, Dan Eggert. (That’s right, I am Dan Eggert II.)

An electronics engineer by trade, my father owns his own business, Eggert Electronics and Engineering. In this technological career, he designs and fixes circuit boards and is always looking for new ways to invent or improve existing technologies, just one facet of his creative abilities.

When I was young, I remember him continually tinkering around the house. I was three years old when he built our first console TV on our dining room table, and at the age of five, he built and programmed our first computer from scratch. Shortly after that, he built a robotic arm. (I am 37 now, if this provides a frame of reference.)

My father made the most of his creative and artistic abilities while stationed with the Air Force in Thailand during the Vietnam War. He purchased a Nikon FG 35mm film camera and took countless photos and slides while there. I remember admiring the beauty of these photos and being captured by the intrigue of a far away place. This got me curious as to what was out there in the world beyond my doorstep.

This curiosity was further piqued with our family vacations. Each year, we would all load up in the car and go on a long road trip somewhere in the United States – camera in tow. My dad was always taking photos and would often let me use the camera and snap away. It was on these trips that my dad taught me how to use the camera that he would later give to me.

It was my father who took me on those creative journeys as a child, whether in the living room or on the road, and it was my father who got me started on this journey of photography.