Jack Wegener

   
Jack Wegener was born in Savannah, Georgia in the early 1950s
where he attended both parochial and public schools.  In college while earning his B.A. degree in English he began teaching himself hotography and darkroom processes. With the encouragement and assistance of his then girlfriend he gradually began to concentrate on photographing the female nude.  At that time in the Deep South fine art nude photography was virtually non-existent.  There were no mentors or road maps to guide the path Mr.Wegener had begun to forge. 

    After about four years of self-instruction in photography and having completed college with a degree in an unrelated field, Mr. Wegener turned professional as a photographer.  While providing the familiar services such as wedding coverage and portraiture, he became a pioneer with the introduction of nude photography to the region.  Although there was little support for his work locally, he began to acquire some national recognition by having his photographs of female nudes published in major photography publications.  Indeed, to the present, there has only ever been slight recognition locally for Mr. Wegener’s continuing work with the black-and-white and handcolored nude.

     In an age of digital photography, Jack Wegener remains committed to the use of film and traditional wet process darkroom techniques.  He still by hand individually makes each black-and-white photograph using both fiber-based and resin-coated papers. His artistic theme since the early 1970s has remained the nude.  Mr. Wegener’s photographs have appeared in national magazines, and his signed, original photographs have been exhibited locally, nationally, and internationally in art galleries.  His photographs are in private collections around the world.  His work with the nude includes both photography of his models for public exhibition and of clients for private commissions.

      Jack Wegener has always stayed true to his vision as an artist.  Despite numerous detractors and obstacles over the decades, Mr. Wegener has never lost sight of his purpose to produce a body of work reflective of his personal views while being created in the unlikely milieu of Savannah, Georgia. Today his film archives are expansive and mostly unseen.  Almost a decade ago, he began to become more reclusive to practice meditation and to work on gradually bringing forth photographic prints from the negatives that comprise the archives spanning decades.  He was one of the first photographers in the region to create and launch a website in 1998.  The age of the internet has been a salvation for al lserious artists, especially those who work with subjects that are frequently maligned or Misunderstood by the general public.  Mr. Wegener still resides in Savannah and maintains a studio at the same location he has had since 1980.