The Skunk River Review - DMACC

large sink and the various trays for the film classes while he gets quiz copies ready for his
Introduction to Digital Photography class. His hair is still wet from showering after his morning
regimen of light weight-training and stretching over at Building 5. His gold, wire-rimmed
glasses obscure his piercing blue eyes. He has a long, bushy horizontal mustache and an equally
bushy funnel-shaped goatee that make him a dead ringer for either a rogue Harley rider or a
late-life, sixties-era, Grateful Dead band member. His left-hand pinkie finger is decorated with
a silver ring with a stamped design. A silver watch with a black-faced dial that has a black,
wide-strapped, leather band wrapped around his wrist accompanies it. A red and black plaid
flannel shirt adorns his matching black pants and t-shirt. His motif is completed with his
fashionable Borne-brand replica leather shoes and low-cut, white ankle socks. He seems so very
distant as he moves about the room, traveling into the studio adjoining the classroom and then
back across the hall to the film developing wet lab. His looks and his demeanor give one reason to
pause. But for those who dare to delve deeper, who ignore the obvious, there is much to learn and
spiritual treasure to be unearthed.
Film speed refers to the sensitivity of the sensor (or film) to light (Stahr, Digital
Photography).
Curt’s contribution to the world is measured by the “light” he shines on the
passions in his life. Cornered out in the main hallway that he calls his office, Curt shares his
approach to the physical aspect of being one who seeks to define the essence of life. Speaking in
his nasally pitched, earthen tone he explains, “I get up at 3:30 every morning. I’ve got a big dog
that weighs 140 pounds, and we run. I get back at 4:30 – quarter to five, clean up, spend some
time with that dog, then go to the gym for forty-five minutes, just to stretch and do weights.” He
pauses for a moment; then his voice takes on a firmer, more serious tone. “I have to do it; when we
go on all these physical field trips, I don’t want to just ‘go.’ When we go in to the jungle or the
boundary waters or wherever we go, I don’t want to be the third one out of the portage, I want to be
the first one. These kids that are 18, 19, 20, 25 or 29 years old still have control of what’s
physically going on, you know. Eventually, you get to a certain point that if you don’t keep your
muscle tone up along with everything else, you can’t keep up with those young kids anymore.”
His passion to physically keep up with his apprentices is mirrored by his desire to help
them grow. Getting them started off on the right foot means starting at the beginning. “I like to
teach the basics of everything, basics of film, basics of digital, basics of studio. I actually adjunct
the other classes out a little bit, because I still think that if you don’t know the basics of what you’re
going into, you’ll never be able to grasp the advanced aspects of it. So, if you don’t get the
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