Malibu’s allure, variety keep university photographer at alma mater

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More than 25 years after he graduated from Pepperdine, Ron Hall is still clicking away as the university’s official photographer. His photo art will be on display May 3-May 5.

By Ward Lauren / Special to The Malibu Times

When Ron Hall graduated from Pepperdine University, he had visions of taking his largely self-taught photographic skills out into the world in the field of journalism. Today, 26 years later, he’s still at Pepperdine as the official university photographer, and his unique work in photo art is the subject of an exhibition at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art on the campus, beginning Wednesday.

Hall’s display consists of 25 “digitally manipulated” color photographs printed on textured paper, which convincingly adds to their look of abstract art or impressionist watercolors. The exhibition, held in conjunction with a showing of paintings by Orange County artist Daniel Weber, opens Wednesday, May 3, and a reception to meet the artists will take place Friday from 8:30 p.m to 10 p.m.

During his years at Pepperdine, Hall has taken literally thousands of photographs ranging from sports events to prominent personalities and in every field from politics to the arts. He has been a recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for his photographic essay on the life of a handicapped boy, one of more than 700 submissions for the award. His work has been shown in exhibitions and galleries in Los Angeles, New York and Paris, France.

The son of missionary parents who lived wherever their calling directed them, Hall was born in France in 1956 and grew up in various cities in Michigan, Kansas and, from 1965-68, Vietnam. He said he feels the contrasting locales of his early years had a dramatic visual influence on him, which possibly resulted in his ultimate choice of career.

Hall came to California and enrolled at Pepperdine in the summer of 1975. While pursuing his studies in communications, he worked on school publications and handled photography for the public relations office, which brought him into contact with the university’s visiting celebrities. Among the scores of notables Hall has photographed are Nancy Reagan, former Los Angeles mayors Kenneth and James Hahn, Supreme Court justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Antonin Scalia, Kenneth Starr, Dennis Prager, Art Linkletter, Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Jimmy Stewart, Muhammad Ali, Andre Agassi, George Foreman and countless others.

Hall was planning to leave the area after graduation in 1979 and briefly enrolled in Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara to pursue further study. But when offered the position of official photographer at Pepperdine, he cancelled his plans and returned to Malibu.

“Let’s face it, after you’ve been here awhile it’s pretty hard to leave Malibu,” he said. “And the work here offered a lot more variety than I could enjoy anywhere else. I had the opportunity to grow with the job. I got to meet interesting people, work with the best facilities and equipment, occasionally shoot pictures at the school’s study-abroad programs in places like Florence, Buenos Aires, Heidelberg, London.”

Through the years, Hall printed thousands of pictures by hand in the university’s darkroom. But this was in the days of film, an era that has pretty much given way to digital photography. Hall still uses film for black-and-white pictures and enjoys making his own prints the old fashioned way in the darkroom. But he has also joined the digital age with enthusiasm.

“It has opened up a new realm of possibilities for the photographer as an artist,” he said. “I started the series that became this exhibition, for example, from some photos I had taken that I was disappointed with. I decided to use some filters to alter them to look like paintings. The overall effect was like no other color photographs I had ever taken before. It was the beginning of a whole new means of expression for me.”

Using a Nikon D2X digital camera to capture his initial images, Hall then employs a PhotoShop program on a PC computer to alter their appearance. Manipulation stretches the pixels and filters exaggerate the colors that are inherent in the photograph, as opposed to adding new ones, he said. The process doesn’t work as well with close-ups of people, distorting the images excessively, so he feels that landscapes produce the most successful results for the effects he is seeking.

During his years at the university, Hall has lived variously at Point Dume, Zuma Beach and in Santa Monica. Although he remains a confirmed Malibuite in spirit, he now lives in Newbury Park with his wife, Sheryl, and their son Chase, 4. A married son, Chad, is with the Marines in San Diego.

Happy with his life and career at Pepperdine, Hall’s plans for the future include, as well as continued experimentation with digital photographic art, other projects still in the planning stage. All, however, continue to center around photography.

“I did some teaching in the ’80s, and still do some guest lecturing,” he said, “but I prefer actually doing the work, taking pictures rather than talking about it.”

He is currently working on a book highlighting people who have had an influence on Malibu, past and present, “… not just Malibu Colony celebrities but people who have lived or worked here for many years and helped make Malibu the unique place it is today.

“It will probably be in black-and-white and include some copy,” he said. “But it won’t be a history of Malibu; more a photographic reflection of the city and its citizenry as I see them. I might call it ‘The Character of Malibu From My Own Perspective.’ That’s what I intend it to show, anyway.”

The work of Ron Hall and painter Daniel Weber will be shown Wednesday, May 3, through Friday, May 5. The exhibition will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. There is no admission charge. Additionally, there will be a reception to meet the artists on Friday, May 5, from 8:30 to 10 p.m. in the Weisman Museum. More information can be obtained by calling 310.506.4851 or 310.506.7257.