Upper Valley photographer Jack Rowell is set to release "Jack Rowell: Photographs," a comprehensive collection showcasing decades of his work documenting life in Vermont and the surrounding region. The book, scheduled for publication on November 22, 2024, represents a culmination of Rowell's lifelong dedication to capturing his community through the lens of his camera.
The publication serves as both a personal memoir and a historical record of how Vermont has transformed over the past several decades. Rowell's work spans from his early photography at the Tunbridge Fair in the 1970s through his more recent portrait work, creating a visual timeline of a community and region in transition. "It's pretty much my life that I've photographed since I was a teenager," Rowell explained during a recent interview at Randolph's White River Craft Center, where he spread out proof sheets of his forthcoming book.
Sara Tucker, a Randolph native who is publishing the book through Korongo Books, the small publishing company she runs with her husband Patrick Texier, describes Rowell's approach as deeply personal. "His camera is his way of relating to the world, but it's not superficial. It's a real attachment," Tucker said in a phone interview. "You become his subject, and you become his friend." The book represents not just Rowell's artistic journey, but also serves as a monument to a time when Vermont was a wilder, more rustic place.
Rowell's background as a fifth-generation Vermonter deeply influences his photographic perspective. Born in 1955, he considers himself a Tunbridge native despite living in nearby Randolph for much of his life. His parents divorced when he was five, splitting his childhood between his father's home in Groton and his mother's residence in Randolph. His father, a woodsman who operated Tunbridge Tables selling rustic furniture, and his devout evangelical Christian mother provided contrasting influences that would shape his worldview.
The artistic impulse emerged early in Rowell's life, though not always in approved ways. "I remember the first time I got in big trouble," he recalled. "I was drawing a fish on the wall, under a table. I caught hell for that." Despite being a good student, undiagnosed dyslexia made homework challenging, leading him to find refuge in science and the arts. He eventually transferred from Groton schools to Randolph's then-new junior high school to access better arts programs.
Photography entered Rowell's life through a Kodak Instamatic camera he received as a gift, followed by a more advanced camera loaned by a family friend who had brought it back from Vietnam War service. His eighth-grade science teacher, John Lackard, taught him film development and print-making techniques. This technical foundation provided the artistic revelation Rowell had been seeking, offering him a medium that satisfied him in ways that drawing and painting never had.
Tucker, who was a year ahead of Rowell in school, remembers him as "a bit shy and awkward. But he was interesting, because he carried a camera everywhere. He was the only kid I knew who was serious about work." This early dedication to photography led to work with The Herald of Randolph (now the White River Valley Herald) and eventually to a full-time photography career when he found himself a few credits short of high school graduation.
The annual Tunbridge World's Fair became Rowell's first serious photographic subject and remains one of his most compelling bodies of work. The fair represented the most vibrant scene in Orange County, and Rowell's photographs from the 1970s and 1980s capture a rawer, more unrestrained Vermont culture. One striking series shows a man in the fair's notorious beer hall first brandishing a knife at the camera, then pointing a handgun at the young photographer. The Herald of Randolph published "Tunbridge Fair," a book of Rowell's work from this period, in 1980 when he was in his mid-twenties.
Rowell's career was complicated by what he describes as his "part-time" drinking during the 1970s and 1980s. As writer Raymond Carver once observed, "Booze takes a lot of time and effort if you're going to do a good job with it." This period is honestly represented in the new book, including photographs taken at the Villanova, a long-defunct Randolph bar where Rowell was a regular. One memorable image from July 4, 1983, in Warren shows a young woman wearing a T-shirt reading "Decadence: a way of life," after allowing Rowell to pour beer down the front of it. "I was probably shit-faced when I took it," he admitted.
Chris Jackson, a longtime friend who wrote the book's foreword, notes that being a freelance photographer in Vermont becomes particularly challenging when your driver's license is revoked due to drinking-related issues. Rowell took steps to get sober in 1993, though he maintains he doesn't regret his past experiences. This honest acknowledgment of his struggles adds depth and authenticity to his work and personal narrative.
To make ends meet, Rowell undertook various commercial photography assignments throughout his career. He photographed stoves and other products for Vermont Castings, took family portraits, and shot weddings. He became a regular contributor to Image, the Upper Valley-based magazine, developing a reputation as an exacting photographer with exceptional technical skills, particularly in studio and lighting work. "He really opened my eyes to the technical side of photography," said Myra Hudson, a Royalton-based photographer who has assisted Rowell. "He's pretty snobby about it. He's excruciatingly good at lighting."
Much of Rowell's commercial work was done in collaboration with his sister, Janet Miller, who purchased equipment from Patch Studio after the Randolph business closed. Their partnership combined Janet's people skills with Jack's technical expertise behind the camera. "He'd run the camera and I'd run the show," Miller explained. For 25 years, they photographed all the Little League ballplayers in Randolph, being particularly active from 1990 through 2010.
While commercial work sustained Rowell financially, many of the book's most compelling images come from his personal projects. When he encounters someone he wants to photograph, he simply asks them, and some subjects have sought him out specifically. "I think he is amazingly talented at capturing the human spirit," Hudson observed. The people who appear before Rowell's lens seem to share a particular energy and authenticity that he captures masterfully.
Two photographs of Bill Duval, a Randolph man with a magnificent beard, demonstrate Rowell's evolving skill and careful approach to portraiture. The first image, taken on the street in 1993, shows Duval looking slightly vulnerable, turned sideways but facing the camera. The second, a 1995 studio photograph, presents him square to the camera wearing a black tuxedo jacket Rowell provided. In this formal portrait, Duval resembles "a character in a 19th century Russian novel, capable of leading a proletarian movement or perpetrating great villainy." Duval died in 2008 at age 56, making these portraits a poignant memorial.
Jon Gilbert Fox, a longtime freelance photographer in the Upper Valley, believes Rowell's work stands apart due to his deep connection to his subject matter. "I think most of us take up photography to show how we see the world," Fox explained. "I think in his case, it's just another level that's more intimate. He captures it so much better than everybody else, because he understands it." This intimate understanding comes from Rowell's lifelong immersion in Vermont culture and his genuine relationships with his subjects.
Tucker, who has worked as an editor at Cosmopolitan and lived around the world, reconnected with Rowell when she asked him to photograph participants in a memoir-writing workshop she was running at the Randolph Senior Center. Those portraits appeared in both a book and an exhibition at AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, and their success led to another project photographing former employees of the H.W. Carter and Sons clothing factory, whose building now houses AVA.
Bente Torjusen, AVA's former longtime director, praised Rowell's ability to connect with his subjects. "I think Jack connected with them in a really extraordinary way, because he's so down to earth," she said. The current book includes a photograph of Torjusen's granddaughter Vivienne, as well as a portrait of Thelma Follensbee, who worked at Carter for 36 years. These images demonstrate Rowell's skill at capturing both intimate family moments and the dignity of working-class subjects.
The book project was financed by Tucker through the sale of her mother's Randolph house, making "Jack Rowell: Photographs" the first art book published by Korongo Press. Tucker hopes the book will break even financially, allowing her to use the proceeds to finance additional art book projects. The publication is unexpurgated, containing portraits that haven't received as much exposure as some of Rowell's magazine and commercial work.
True to Rowell's stated preference for photographing "big fish and good looking women," the book includes some nude portraits alongside his diverse range of subjects. One notable inclusion pays tribute to Fred Tuttle, the Tunbridge dairy farmer who starred in John O'Brien's 1996 film "A Man with a Plan," in which Tuttle essentially played himself as a farmer running for Congress. Rowell assisted with filming and captured memorable off-camera moments, including photographing Tuttle watching adult films in a New York City hotel room after a late-night television appearance. Tuttle died in 2003, but his status as a Vermont folk hero remains unquestioned.
Rowell's own health challenges have added urgency to completing this career retrospective. After a triple bypass in 2004, he was nearly placed on hospice care in 2019 and 2020 following a severe bout of pneumonia. These health scares motivated him to spend recent years organizing his largely uncatalogued archive to assemble photographs for the book. The selection process revealed the remarkable consistency of his vision: only one photograph in the entire volume lacks a human subject, reflecting his belief that community has always been Vermont's defining characteristic.
Despite the book's artistic significance, Rowell doesn't expect it to dramatically change his modest lifestyle. "It's kind of my legacy," he said simply. "And it's kind of Vermont's legacy, too." This dual legacy aspect makes the book valuable both as an artistic achievement and as historical documentation of a changing state and region.
"Jack Rowell: Photographs" will be officially released at a launch party from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, at the White River Craft Center in Randolph. The following day, the Chandler Center for the Arts will host a reception and author talk from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, November 23. The book can be ordered through korongobooks.com, making Rowell's decades of documenting Upper Valley life accessible to a broader audience who may recognize their own communities and experiences in his intimate, honest portrayal of Vermont culture.
