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Fran Achen
Fran Achen (1917 - 2004), was known, among other things, as Whitewater's photographic historian. He spent most of his life taking pictures of the people and places around his house in Whitewater. He was well-known in the area and his photos were displayed on the UW-Whitewater campus and the Irvin L. Young Public Library.
You can see some of his photos by going to the Fran Achen Gallery.
Achen's career began in 1936 when he graduated from high school in Kenosha and moved on to find what jobs were available. He started driving cars from the Nash automobile plant in Kenosha to Salt Lake City, Utah. At this time, Achen purchased his first camera, one of the first 35mm-typer cameras, and began capturing daily life and picturesque scenes in Whitewater, across the country, and throughout the world.
He met his wife Lydia while both were attending Whitewater State Teacher's College. They married in 1941.
In 1946, after developing his photographic skills, Achen purchased a Whitewater photo studio where he learned some of the finer points of studio photography.
"When I had the studio, I liked taking children's pictures the most," Achen said. One of his favorites was take between the formal shots of a family portrait. The youngest girl was in an uncooperative mood and stood on the bench crying. Achen tripped the shutter anyway and captured a common, but often unphotographed, moment.
Achen always enjoyed taking photographs of farming and picturesque landscapes. He said some of his most memorable shots were of local farms and farmers, including one of a group of farmers who came to the aid of a sick farmer to plow his field.
"Another shot I have is of a man who lived outside of Whitewater plowing his field with three horses." Achen said, "He told me farming wouldn't be any fun if he couldn't use horses."
He found most of his farm and nature scenes by taking the back roads. "I take the back roads," he said. "I try to stay on those as much as I can. You can't just stop along the side of the road and take a picture like you used to because there is so much traffic."
"I like being out and taking photos - looking for the pictures," he said. "I take pictures that maybe alot of people would never look at twice."
As a small-town photographer, Achen was called on to photograph just about everything from pictures of a dead child in a casket - which was terrible to do - to doing aerial shots of Whitewater and family photos. "I did everything, and that's what made it fun."
Although his photo-taking slowed down in later years, Achen said he was never afraid to flip the shutter on what he believed could be a lasting memory or just a special photo.
The Irvin L. Young Public Library has a large collection of Fran Achen photos, which he generously donated to the library for all to share and enjoy.
You can see some of his photos by going to the Fran Achen Gallery.
Achen's career began in 1936 when he graduated from high school in Kenosha and moved on to find what jobs were available. He started driving cars from the Nash automobile plant in Kenosha to Salt Lake City, Utah. At this time, Achen purchased his first camera, one of the first 35mm-typer cameras, and began capturing daily life and picturesque scenes in Whitewater, across the country, and throughout the world.
He met his wife Lydia while both were attending Whitewater State Teacher's College. They married in 1941.
In 1946, after developing his photographic skills, Achen purchased a Whitewater photo studio where he learned some of the finer points of studio photography.
"When I had the studio, I liked taking children's pictures the most," Achen said. One of his favorites was take between the formal shots of a family portrait. The youngest girl was in an uncooperative mood and stood on the bench crying. Achen tripped the shutter anyway and captured a common, but often unphotographed, moment.
Achen always enjoyed taking photographs of farming and picturesque landscapes. He said some of his most memorable shots were of local farms and farmers, including one of a group of farmers who came to the aid of a sick farmer to plow his field.
"Another shot I have is of a man who lived outside of Whitewater plowing his field with three horses." Achen said, "He told me farming wouldn't be any fun if he couldn't use horses."
He found most of his farm and nature scenes by taking the back roads. "I take the back roads," he said. "I try to stay on those as much as I can. You can't just stop along the side of the road and take a picture like you used to because there is so much traffic."
"I like being out and taking photos - looking for the pictures," he said. "I take pictures that maybe alot of people would never look at twice."
As a small-town photographer, Achen was called on to photograph just about everything from pictures of a dead child in a casket - which was terrible to do - to doing aerial shots of Whitewater and family photos. "I did everything, and that's what made it fun."
Although his photo-taking slowed down in later years, Achen said he was never afraid to flip the shutter on what he believed could be a lasting memory or just a special photo.
The Irvin L. Young Public Library has a large collection of Fran Achen photos, which he generously donated to the library for all to share and enjoy.
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whitewateradmin |
Latest page update: made by whitewateradmin
, Jun 24 2007, 3:04 PM EDT
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| dennisknopp | Fran Achen | 0 | Jul 2 2007, 10:01 PM EDT by dennisknopp | ||
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Thread started: Jul 2 2007, 10:01 PM EDT
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What else can you say about Fran? He was my geography teacher in high school. Yea, he taught us about the world and it's people. But he also showed us how to shove a straw through a potato and how to drink a coke while standing on your head. Geography was boring, I actually learned by mistake. I showed up to class to watch him. Did anyone else?
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