Michael Titus

Michael Timothy Titus (April 27, 1963 - ) is an American photographer and Artist, specializing in High Dynamic Range photographs of the American West, especially in Southern Utah's National Parks.
With early training in computer science, Titus has developed light level manipulation techniques that directly effects the color in his High Dynamic Range photographs. The method enhances his images giving them a surrealistic look and quality. There are other photographers using this method and for the most part they have all developed their own software or application add-ons to do these manipulations. Titus has been a long time proponent of Ansel Adams' Zone System as a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final print. The resulting clarity and depth characterizes his photographs and the work of those he has taught the system. Titus primarily uses 35mm DSLR cameras, predominately a Nikon D-700 or D-3 because of their high shutter trip reliability and the resolution of the Nikkor Lens helps ensure sharpness in his images.
Life
Childhood
Titus was born in St. Louis, Missouri to an unmarried single woman who found the challenges of raising him and his newborn baby sister much more than she could handle, and she quickly gave him and his sister up for adoption. Raised by his adoptive parents John and Priscilla Titus, he and his little sister had an idyllic childhood. He was an extremely bright child and developed a keen and questioning mind at an early age. By the time he was eight he had learned to take photographs from his maternal grandfather who owned an insurance agency in Raytown, Missouri. His Grandfather, Frank Monroe Wilson, used photographs to document claims in his insurance business. By the time Titus was eleven, his Grandfather passed away and left him his camera equipment and all the film negatives from his years of photographs. Titus who desired to see the images on the negatives quickly acquired a book on photography and taught himself to develop black and white contact prints. After a very turbulent and troublesome teenage adolescence, Titus dropped out of High school and got his GED. At 17 he joined the United States Air Force and became a photo recon specialist. After a short stint in the armed forces Titus found himself back in St. Louis looking for work. After little success in the job market and no formal education to speak of, he returned to school to study computer science at the University of Arkansas. While attending the University he volunteered to take pictures for the school paper as well as the Monthly magazine that was put out by the student body. It was during a visit by former president Jimmy Carter as a guest lecturer that Titus took his first pictures of the former president.
His mother’s family came from the Raytown, Missouri area and his maternal grandfather had a successful insurance agency that afford the family some affluence at the time. His maternal grandmother was Marguarette Ballard Wilson, a well know writer and frequent contributor to the Kansas City Star.
Michael Titus grew up in 1960's middle America and was greatly influenced by the turbulence of the time. His parents held deeply religious convictions and instilled much of this ethic into their son Michael. On July 20, 1969, Young Michael saw Niel Armstrong walk on the moon and was greatly impressed by the images that were being shown on the television. It was also this momentous occasion that impressed upon him that pictures could be edited and enhanced which would later greatly influence a portion of his work.
Young Adult
Photography became the main focus of his later youth and early adulthood. Possessing a photographic memory, Titus quickly learned to compose images in a professional fashion mimicking the styles of artist like Pete Turner, Ansel Adams, and Michael Fatali. He also learned to imitate the photo-journalistic style of some of his contemporaries like Matt Mendelsohn.
Titus ability to create just about any style of image that he saw afforded him an adequate living as a freelance photographer during the eighties and nineties, and even into the start of the twenty-first century. However while on assignment in Nigeria, Titus contracted elephantiasis, and just about brought about an end to his career and life. Only recently have works began to reappear from Michael leading the writer to believe that he his back at his work again. Although it is uncertain as to where this artist and photographer is today. It is believed that he is somewhere in Southern Nevada or Utah. Much of his recent work is from Southern Utah and Northern Arizona, and until early 2009 he operated a gallery in Las Vegas which showcased much of his work as well as that of Las Vegas pointillist and friend David Suttle. Studio Nevada suffered the fate of many businesses during the economic upheaval of the later part of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Closing its doors left a gap in the Las Vegas Art District. It is well known in the community of photographers that Titus is working on a book of photographs as well as occasionally doing commercial contracts. It is possible to view Titus works online from a group known as Cedar City Artisans This further supports the belief that Titus has relocated to Southern Utah.
Works
Notable photographs
The information for each photograph is taken from Cedar City Artisans '.
* Monolith at the Gap, Parowan Gap, Utah, 2008.
* Zen, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Utah, 2008.
* Waterlog at Mirror Lake, Duck Creek Village, Utah, 2009.
* Awesome Power, Cedar Breaks National Monument, 2006.
* Moonrise, Highway 14 Zion Overlook, Utah, 2009.
* Sandstone Wave, Zion National Park, 2005.
* Gutter Luge, Las Vegas, Nevada, 2000.
Photographic studies
* Antelope Canyon, 1999 Page, Arizona.
* Grand Canyon Mystery, 1997. Grand Canyon, Arizona
* Parowan Gap, Parowan, Utah, 2009.
* Bryce Canyon Hoodoo Voodoo, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah 2009.
* Africa: Continent of Change, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Corte De Ivore, Sierra Leone, 2000.
* The Colours of Utah: 250 Photographs, Utah, 2010.

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