42 Facts About Morley Baer

Morley Baer, an American photographer and teacher, was born in Toledo, Ohio.

Morley Baer learned basic commercial photography in Chicago and honed his skills as a World War II United States Navy combat photographer.

Morley Baer's parents encouraged him in an active outdoor life growing up in Toledo.

Morley Baer attended the University of Toledo in 1934 and later transferred to the University of Michigan from where he graduated in 1937 with a BA in English.

Morley Baer soon found a dull but well-paying job in the advertising office of the Chicago department store Marshall Field's.

Morley Baer shortly was photographing in the field, and developing and printing photographs.

Morley Baer extended his trip west to California to meet Weston at his studio in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Morley Baer graduated, commissioned as an ensign, and was transferred to Norfolk for a series of stories on the Atlantic Theater of operations.

Morley Baer's duties included public relations, aircraft recon, editorial assignments, teaching, and combat photography from aircraft and carriers.

Morley Baer had no difficulty discovering opportunities aplenty in the booming post-war building trades.

Morley Baer's published architectural photographs from that time testify to his active professional career.

Morley Baer's clients were among the more noted Bay Area architectural firms.

So, through a Weston friend sometime in 1947, Morley Baer learned of an Ansco view camera for sale, a camera he had previously used in Chicago and was very familiar with its capabilities.

Morley Baer again met up with Steichen in 1950 when he and Frances made a trip to New York.

Morley Baer soon was making a name for himself as a leading architectural photographer performing portfolio work for architects and interior designers while freelancing for housing design magazines.

When White left for the East Coast in 1953, Morley Baer became Head of the institute's Photography Department.

Morley Baer rapidly became a sought-after architectural photographer for noted architects, including Craig Edwards, the firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Charles Willard Moore, and William Turnbull Jr.

Morley Baer found time to produce personal work by photographing out-of-the-way locations in Andalucia.

Morley Baer contributed work for the 1965 Sierra Club publication Not Man Apart, which included entries from artists such as Robinson Jeffers, Dorothea Lange, and Beaumont Newhall.

Jeffers exerted a strong influence on Morley Baer's subsequent thinking and artistic sensitivities.

Morley Baer was so impressed by Jeffers that he began forming the idea of combining his photographs of the Sur coastline with Jeffers' somber but expansive poetry.

Unfortunately, Frances never felt comfortable in the Stone House, feeling it cold, damp, and isolated and continued to live in Berkeley while Morley Baer used the Garrapata residence as his combination home and studio.

Morley Baer recounts standing on a sidewalk in downtown Monterey waiting for his equipment to dry after a heavy rainstorm, when he began studying the surrounding classic Monterey buildings.

Morley Baer exhibited his landscape portfolios of classical black-and-white photographs, wrote or contributed to several books of photography, and became an instructor in photography workshops.

Morley Baer published two photography collections in 1973, 'Andalucia' and 'Garrapata Rock'.

Morley Baer was the sole photographer for the exhibition, California Design 1910 in late 1974 at the Pasadena Conference Center; one of his landscape photographs graces the cover.

In 1979 they sold the Garrapata house, and Morley Baer briefly moved to a smaller home in Carmel.

In 1980, Morley Baer was awarded the Rome Prize in Design and a fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, where he mainly photographed the fountains of Rome.

Morley Baer had an exhibition, appropriately titled "The Fountains of Rome", in May 1981 at the Bonnafont Gallery in San Francisco.

Morley Baer's photographs were always finely set up, some would say "tightly".

Morley Baer used the same Ansco 8x10S view camera on an apparently flimsy but really very sturdy wood tripod for virtually all his serious photography.

Morley Baer designed a special metal carrying case, with a sturdy leather-strap handle, constructed for him by a Monterey metal worker.

Morley Baer developed his 8x10 negatives by inspection during the development process.

Morley Baer seldom changed from his favorite film and print developers, modifying them as materials evolved.

Morley Baer's explains his techniques for achieving the vivid colors of the subjects in Painted Ladies in a short article.

Morley Baer decided that 'Eastman's Professional Ektachrome as the most amenable color material.

Morley Baer had it processed by a professional laboratory and achieved the consistent fine results he sought.

Morley Baer continued with Professional Ektachrome film developed in a commercial developer but exposed at values he worked out in extensive testing to achieve the subdued colors he thought best expressed subtleties of the California landscape.

In evaluating a potential photographic subject, Morley Baer thought both in esthetic and organizational terms but in the technical challenges he would face in actually making the photograph.

Morley Baer already was thinking of the technical problems he would have to solve in exposing the negative to get the tones he wanted in the final print.

Morley Baer died on November 9,1995, in Monterey, California.

Morley Baer mailed invitations to selected students, scouted the venues, organized accommodations, and selected his preferred restaurants.