About

William Kraiger

I was born in Seattle, Washington. I graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma with a degree in Art Education. I earned my Masters of Education from InterAmerican University in San German, Puerto Rico. After graduation I worked for the U.S. Dept. of Defense Dependents Schools as an art teacher. I taught military dependents on overseas bases in Puerto Rico, Japan, Germany and Spain. I am married with four grown children.

I studied under the Japanese woodblock artist Hodaka Yoshida for several years. I exhibited with the Japan Print Association and had a one man show of my woodblock prints at the Franel Gallery in Tokyo. I also had a one man show of my photographs at the Contax Salon in Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan.

Arizona

Upon retirement I settled in Arizona and began working on my photography portfolio, turning my hobby into something more. As a serious hiker my first photographs were of the Superstition Wilderness and then I gradually expanded to cover the southwest, then the west coast, and it continues to expand. I consider photography just another branch of the visual arts and judge my photographs much as I would any of the visual arts. I still draw and paint.

The phrase "f/8 and be there" is a sort of inside joke among photojournalists. Weegee was one of the early photojournalists from the '30's and '40's. When asked how he was able to get such good consistent results he replied, "set you camera at f/8 and be there." Still pretty good advice for any photographer. f/8 is the aperture setting of the lens which supposedly is the lens' sharpest focus. It also gives the photograph an acceptable depth-of-field so that when capturing action it isn't necessary to carefully focus each time and possibly lose a shot. More important than the aperture setting is the second part of the advice: be there. Not always so easy.