Photograph courtesy of Don del Castillo
Along with close-ups, such as this beauty from the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden, digital photographer Don del Castillo also shoots landscapes, animals, churches and other images.
Photographer pursues creative life in retirement
By Shari Kaplan
Photographer Don del Castillo has a different way of looking at things--and not just in terms of peering through the lens of his digital camera.
The San Jose resident also finds symbolism and spirituality in the everyday sights of nature: a blooming flower reminds him of a mandala, for example, while a mountain's rocky edifice provides a mystical sense of the earth's power.
These and many other photos are on display through Aug. 31 at Gallery Saratoga, at 14531 Big Basin Way in Saratoga. Other topics include coastal animals like pelicans and elephant seals, picturesque California landscapes, old churches, still lifes and close-ups of roses from the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden. There's also a handful of exotic pictures of the towns and wild places of Turkey.
A fifth-generation Californian, del Castillo grew up on a farm in the Central Valley. He recalls an idyllic childhood, playing among wild jackrabbits, grapevines, walnut and almond trees; dangling his feet in irrigation canals; catching frogs; and watching birds make nests.
"The memories of those years have remained fresh in my being over my lifetime, so that I have never forgotten the taste and feel of that essence," he says. "I have always been a child and an artist in my heart. Even though I did not earn a living as an artist; creativity and the desire to be creative have defined my life."
Although he holds a bachelor's degree in religion, he says the courses he took in the humanities were just as important, as they gave him eclectic knowledge and interests. His jobs were equally eclectic, including being a YMCA executive, insurance salesman, writer, editor, radio DJ, waiter, cook, welder, handyman, KOA campground owner and computer technical support specialist. In between, he satisfied his creative urges by writing poetry and doing soapstone carvings, metal sculptures and stained glass art.
"I vowed to myself that when I retired, I would devote myself to art," he says, adding that after a year in retirement, he began to feel like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.
Currently, his favorite way to create art is with his four-megapixel camera, which produces very high-resolution images. In keeping with their sharp detail, del Castillo prints them on a professional quality color inkjet printer at 2,880 dpi on photographic paper.
"Some of them take on a painterly quality; I can't explain it. It makes it more of an artistic image, which is what I'm trying to portray anyway," he says of how viewers often say his works look like paintings.
Technical specifications aside, del Castillo says it's the intuitive feeling he gets when he looks at a scene that truly makes for a beautiful picture. When he begins to feel this way, he turns the photographic process over to what he calls his higher self.
"I often find amazing things I never even noticed when I was taking the picture," he says.
Gallery Saratoga is at 14531 Big Basin Way. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call 408.867.0458 or visit www.gallerysaratoga.com on the Internet.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
