Michael Z. Taylor began creating photographs at the age of 15. His darkroom was a fabrication of cardboard and masking tape in the basement of a Minnesota farmhouse. His work took a serious turn in the early 70’s and included hand coloring, still life, nudes, and collage images. Eventually, he narrowed his focus to portraits, then ‘found objects’; until his fascination with any “thing” or curious “place” took over. With the purchase of an old motorcycle in the early ‘80s, travel and roadside landscapes helped bring those two concepts together.

Today his focus has shifted to digital Black and White as well as with medium format film, often using infrared for its unique tonal characteristics. This technique best suits his new passion in search of the Beingness of living things, trees in particular. Taylor believes ‘Being’ is the essential nature of existence, which embodies the intentions and experiences that define an individual’s unique presence in the world. With that comes a form of ‘Willfulness’, the motivating agency of existence, which is to act with intention or deliberate purpose in the service of Being. This exhibit, the last of the series, he calls The Willfulness of Being – Finale

Taylor does not, however, see his art as an end product. It is, for him, the by-product of an artist’s continuing journey. Taylor has several times displayed his work at Don Dexter Gallery, PhotoZone/NewZone Gallery, and the University of Oregon Law School Gallery. Also, he has exhibited at the O’Brien’s Photo Gallery, In/Eugene exhibit of works by the Eugene Grid Project, the Lincoln Street Be-Loved Salon, and participated in a PhotoZone exhibit at the Midtown Gallery in Eugene as well as the Emerald Arts Center in Springfield. He has also shown at a multitude of smaller venues in the area. He has twice been featured on KLCC’s “Viz City” program and interviewed with Sandy Brown Jensen. He has been the meeting chair and gallery coordinator for the PhotoZone Gallery, a board member at Photography at Oregon, and a participant in the 2018-2023 Eugene Grid Project. Working in both black and white and color, he has been making photographs since the 1960s.