Artist Bio: This exhibition features black-and-white travel photography of David Ourisman, a member of the First Congregational community. Photography has been David’s hobby since he was a teenager when he rolled his own 35mm film and shot images with a totally manual rangefinder camera. There was no such thing as automatic exposure or auto focus in those days. Because he had a darkroom in the basement of his family’s home, developed his own film, and printed his own images, his first experience was with black-and-white photography.
Photography has paired naturally with David’s other avocation, world travel. He has pursued photography all over the world, especially in Europe, Asia, and North America. He often says that “travel is my excuse for making photographs.” The ten photographs in this exhibit feature scenes from London, Paris (2), Budapest, Scotland, Norway, Java, Myanmar, Mo’orea, and the Napa Valley. Seven of the images will be offered for sale as a “silent auction” with all proceeds being donated to the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund at First Congregational UCC. David is a retired United Methodist pastor and a retired faculty member of Pacific School of Religion and Vancouver School of Theology. He currently teaches at the OLLI chapter at UNC Asheville. David began a travel business in 2006. It is going strong with five employees working remotely from various places in the eastern United States. As he puts it, “the business supports my travel habit.” David is trying to work less, and though he is not personally taking on new clients, he always enjoys talking about travel — as well as travel photography, homiletics, and narrative criticism of the synoptic gospels.