Gary Lynch

In what was shocking news for the city's community of fine-art photographers, Gary Lynch died suddenly on October 24. To all appearances, the tall and robust Lynch was hale and hearty, but he had, in fact, been dealing with several health-related problems over the past few years.

Born in Denver in 1953, Lynch showed an early interest in photography, taking up the camera as a child. He earned a BA in advertising at Metropolitan State College of Denver in 1992 and an MFA in photography at the University of Denver in 1995.

During the last decade, the human figure was Lynch's subject of choice, often in the form of close-ups. In 1999, two of his portraits -- both almost entirely black except for their illuminated profiles -- were displayed in Photography and the Creative Process,an exhibit that was jointly sponsored by the Colorado Photographic Arts Center and the Carol Keller Gallery. The show was held in conjunction with a conference on the Auraria campus organized by the late Ron Wohlauer. Earlier this year, a number of Lynch's most recent character studies, including "Untitled #4," from the "No Dice Nada, No Toca Nada" series, were shown at CPAC. For these photos, Lynch employed a nineteenth-century carbon process with attributes similar to those of platinum. The images earned Lynch a CPAC grant to further his work, the second such prize he received from the organization. His work was also shown in group exhibits at the now-closed Ron Judish Fine Art and at Gallery Sink.

Lynch was also a teacher of photography at a variety of institutions, including the University of Colorado at Denver, the Community College of Denver and Prescott College in Arizona. His real love was teaching, and he was widely known for his dedication to his students.

Photographer and teacher Gary Lynch will be missed by many. Gifts in his memory should be made to CPAC.