Photographs stop the clock for an instant. We look at them and recall times past, the evolution of a space, or a loved one's smile. Photographer Joe Vondersaar, uses black and white photography to capture a farm before it becomes a subdivision, the canal as it winds through the city, or an ash tree before it is buried under concrete.

Slim and soft spoken, Joe was raised on a farm just west of Eagle Creek. He remembers wide open country, playing outside all day and only four television stations. Photography has been his element since age 11, when he had a darkroom in the basement. Watching the first images appear in the darkroom tray was magic to the grade school student, and he remains bewitched by photography. When asked why he became an artist, Joe said, "I don't think you become an artist, you just are. It's a matter of following the opportunities, influences, maybe a little predestination, environment and examples that are around you as a youth."

Vondersaar holds a BFA in Visual Communications from Ball State University. After college Joe found a position as a commercial photographer for WM Photographic Services, where he enjoyed the challenges of working with businesses. After 21 years a tidal wave of change in the commercial industry has sent him in another direction, but his work in fine art photography continues.

Black and white is his preference because it allows him to control the light, mood and feeling. He also works in color, but considers it a more literal expression. He is currently working on the digital translation of his images, and sees the technological change as a tool.

Joe finds his subjects by traveling around to gain inspiration. He thinks that "Every place has uniqueness to it. There is a moment when everything comes together, light and composition of elements, and creates more than a record of what's there." He often does homework about the place he has chosen to shoot. When showing his pictures, he will tell you the history of the Krannert Farm, the Horace Reeve home built in 1859, or a spot along the canal. He strives to capture "beauty in fleeting moments" with perhaps a sense of the sublime, and he chooses subjects that result in a body of work. Following the canal though the city and capturing its images produced in a series called The Canal Project; by walking Fall Creek he captured bridges and unique landscapes. White River becomes mystical through his lens. Photographs of Maine draw you into the moment. In 2003 his work was part of the Nature Conservancy's, Preserving Places: Reflections of Indiana exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. He is especially proud of receiving the Indianapolis Arts Council Creative Renewal Fellowship Award in 2001 and an exhibition in the Alan Clowes Gallery.

Joe will teach Basic Landscape Photography in the fall at the Indianapolis Art Center. In the meantime, look for him snapping photos at the Broad Ripple Art Fair or shooting around the area to find examples for his students. You can't miss him - he carries a camera and has an unruly handlebar mustache.