VIRTUALLY ALL-of Wandrr*' photo* are In color: the full impact of his work thus lessened without the ability to behold the chromatic nuances.

His Weapon a Camera

His Fight is Quiet

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by SHIRLIANNE GUNTHER NORTH WILDWOOD - The lone figure stretched out in the marshland as the gale force winds flattened his face, and the fog moved in to cover the waters. Chuck Wandres reached inside his freezer-bag cover, tipped his wide brimmed nat over the precious camera and moved in for the take. ‘T’m a shore rat," Wandres said, "I've always been and always will be. I love fogs and storms. Blue sky photography is nice, I do some of it too, but it’s all that other crazy stuff out there that really zonks me. Next time there's a howling gale out there or a murky fog and you’re all snug, safe and cozy indoors, I'll be out there taking pictures. The pictures, the result of that two-day encounter with the elements, are masterpieces of perfection. Wandres moved his fingers slowly through the colored prints — tall, brown grass spiting off the marshlands ... fog enshrouded stilts which seem to reach out of the back waters and pull you into their mysterious setting ... boats pulling for shore, startUng in their defiance of the fog.. .wind whistles of pilings ... and always the fog — covering, yat uncovering a beauty known oohr to the seekers. Wandres understands that feeling. He’d been a seeker all his life. Some might call him antiestablishment, others say his paintings give insight to truth and beauty m nature — a nature he loves and wants desperately to preserve. Photography was a new dimension to him and it was giving his creative soul a chance to express Shlrlione Gunther is a freelance writer living in Cape May Court House.

bictures than stirring up a ' ” Wandres said. “Pic-

itself without jigging into facts about the DBF (Dept, of Environmental Protection) or the Wetlands Acts, political rhetoric, lawyers and all the other things necessary in the fight to protect the environment. This is a quiet fight, this making of pictures — and to his way of thinking a better, more effective fight ' XJl/ar more interested now in mMUH UflB tures nave i tant impact. Suppose I went around with a portfolio of angry letters —-who’s going to read them?" He continued: “No, I'm not mellowing. I felt frustrated when I wrote my bitching letters about abuses of conservation precepts. I never had the satisfaction of knowing if I was on sound legal ground or if I was doing little more than simply stirring up a few pots of stew here and there. In making pictures I’m absolutely sure of myself, and this makes me more frenzied than ever to excel

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’in making the£, and make as. many as I can before my natural

habitat is wiped out.”

He emphasizes: "If you come out with beautiful pictures of the salt marshes people will squawk when the high rise buildings start

maving in on them.”

Photography entered Wandres’ life about two years ago. “I don’t know what happened, I just stopped painting in the midst of a major work. 1 packed away my art and I thought ... what is it? ... have I made my statement? "I was looking for a new synthesis. between the old anfi tried and the new and dynamic^ With photography you can’t arrange things ... it’s utterly different from painting, but the theme is the same. With watercolors I wasn't saying enough. Photography is an expansion." Wandres clf%is to have no philosophy regarding his art. "It's just compulsive,” he said. 'Tve been making pictures since I was four years old. I don’t know why, I just do it... I have to. Actually, it's agonizing, hard work. I have to

CHUCK WANDRES, here in hit element, heUevet the Jersey Cape It still one of the beat placet to live.

get it just right. I don’t have any fun making them, but I do enjoy having done it. That's very essential. I think all great artists are addicts, compulsives — they have to do it. If they can sell them so much the better, but there doesn’t have to be reasons. Everybody has something inside them, whether art or the stock market, it’s in their blood. There’s nothing special about being an artist. I saw a steam shovel operator work through his lunch hour because he had good digging — no boulders.” When one looks at Wandres’ pictures and paintings and hears him talk endlessly and enthusiastically about the beauty of nature and the need to preserve it, it’s obvious that it's difficult (if not impossible) to separate the man

from his art.

Over the years, his involvement

in the preservation of natural resources, his interest in developing aquaculture and his commitment in other issues that inspired countless letters and questioning of officials is certainly evidence of his concern. In spite of his no-philosophy-to-art stance, his compulsion to paint and take pictures seems bound by his love and con-

cern for the environment. “This is my contribution to help

keep the land surveyed,” he said. "With destruction of the environment it’s always money. Try putting up a condominium behind the developer’s and builder’s private hunting lodge. They’d be like a bunch of pigs squeaking. They don’t mind ruining another’s environment to make a buck because with all their money they know they can well afford to insulate themselves — and they

do!”

‘Tve given up on aquaculture. It’s impossible. You have to satisfy so many different bureaus,

‘ ^ con-

isfy £

and the wetlands are fart

IQ/JUNt 10, I9tl