Herman Krieger

Detroit native Herman Krieger got stated in photography by way of a class taught by his high-school biology teacher. "I took pictures for the school paper with a 4x5 Speed Graphic," he recalls. "I worked in a photo shop after school." After graduation at age 16, Krieger found work in the photo lab at the Packard Motor Car Company. At 18, he joined the Army Air Corps and was sent to photo-tech school. "At the end of the course they made me the instructor," he says. After the war, he studied chemistry and took a job in California. He earned a degree in math at UC Berkeley, worked in computer programming, and lived in Holland for nearly 30 years. In 1990, he retired and relocated to Eugene "for the climate and the scenery." Here he rediscovered photography and returned to school for a BFA from the UO in '94. Krieger's photo-essay "Hamlets of Lane County" is currently on view at the Opus 6ix Gallery in Eugene through October 12. Many other photo-essays on life in Eugene and nearby towns can be seen at efn.org/~hkrieger.

happening people photograph and story by Paul Neevel Eugene Weekly / 2 November 2006