Capture12 is a new gallery on Roosevelt Row with a single focus: photography.
“I really want to concentrate on the medium of photography,” gallery owner Stephen Gittins said. “And I think that’s the main thing about this space, that I’m not pretending to be anything else.”
Gittins, who is originally from Wales, works with both photography and wood sculpting. He studied documentary photography at the University of Wales in Newport, U.K.
“I’d always been interested in photography, but never seriously,” Gittins said. “I never figured it out as being a serious possibility of a career until an opportunity came up to study photography.”
Gittins said he first came to Arizona to do a project on the Navajo reservation for his school in Britain.
“I just kind of fell in love with the place,” he said.
Gittins moved to Arizona in 2008 to pursue a master’s degree in fine arts from the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. Since graduating in 2011, he has taught photography classes for the Maricopa County Community Colleges and led workshops at the monOrchid adaptive reuse space and the Desert Botanical Garden.
“I think I make this space different,” Gittins said.
Being from another country and connecting with people from Arizona brings a new cultural aspect to the gallery, Gittins said. He said he enjoys teaching and the interaction it gives him with customers and students.
“It feels like a form of giving myself to someone else, and helping them to achieve their goals gives me purpose,” Gittins said.
Though the gallery opened in July, Gittins said he waited for the weather to get cooler before holding a grand opening in the hopes of attracting a larger audience.
Capture12 had its grand opening on October’s Third Friday. The gallery’s first exhibition has been open since First Friday and is called “Eclectic” and featured the work of four local photographers.
The group show displayed photographs by Dale Kesel, Mark Lipczynski, Tiera Allen and Noé Badillo. “Eclectic” highlights the artists’ diverse and engaging styles of work, according to a Capture12 press release.
Kesel said he is motivated by the emotional stimulation of the different landscapes found throughout the Southwest, as portrayed in his featured image, “Swirling Rock at Antelope Canyon.”
Sometimes, it’s difficult to get work on display because many galleries don’t recognize photography as a form of fine art, Kesel said.
“Capture12 is a fantastic example of a working artist’s studio,” said Greg Esser, vice president of the Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation board of directors. Esser owns the building in which the gallery is located.
Esser said there are only two other art galleries in the Roosevelt Row area that feature photography: the Bokeh Gallery and the Drive-Thru Gallery. Those galleries have started showing other types of art, but Capture12 continues to focus on documentary photography, Gittins said.
“I think Stephen is a unique model in that regard,” Esser said. “Steve has been in the area for a while, so this is now a larger dedicated space for him and we’re very excited for his success in that venue.”
Gittins uses the space at Capture12 to showcase the work of other photographers, display his own wood sculptures and teach photography classes.
A new session of workshops called the “Winter Series” starts on Oct. 18. The set of five classes leads students through all the different elements of photography, he said.
“By the end of the course, you’ve got a really good understanding of what photography is about,” Gittins said.
Capture12 is located at 417 E. Roosevelt St., and the “Eclectic” exhibition will be on display until Oct. 31.
Contact the reporter at gbosch@asu.edu.
