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return to posts February 2nd, 2017

Under Exposed: Daniel Watts

Photographer Daniel Watts on the lake.

Dan Watts is a husband of 41 years, dad of two great kids and a silly poodle.  He is a transplant from the Niagara Region to Windsor over four decades ago.

After completing his Visual Arts Degree at the University of Windsor he had to make a choice.  As Dan puts it, he was down to one box of Kraft Dinner in his cupboard and nothing in the refrigerator when he received two job offers on the same day – one to be a floor sweeper in a tool and die shop and one to be a layout artist at Sears Canada.  The choice was obvious and this turned into a pivotal moment in his career.

He joined Sears as a Layout Artist, later moving to The Windsor Star as a Designer and Editorial and Product Illustrator.  He returned to Sears Canada as Advertising Manager for the Windsor and Chatham stores and, in addition to his management responsibilities, he continued to illustrate, design, and discovered his passion for photography.  He later signed on as Creative Director for Ross Roy Communications which presented many additional opportunities to develop in each of these disciplines.

The challenges of each phase of his career as designer, illustrator, photographer, writer, and manager prepared him well for the next phase in his professional life.

In 1986 he was tagged to join the faculty of St. Clair College of Applied Arts and Technology and is celebrating 31 years as a Professor of the 3-year Advanced Graphic Design Program.  He has taught Design, Typography, Illustration, Copywriting, Marketing, and of course, Photography.  This has been a hugely rewarding experience, working with so many wonderful, talented and creative students and faculty to create a graduate class that reaches across Canada and around the globe.

Throughout his career he has developed a real passion for photography.  Without question, his greatest interest is in outdoor photography.  He truly enjoys capturing special dramatic moments in nature and simply trying to find beauty in the commonplace.  Dan tries to “see” the things we take for granted in a subtly different way.  He also discovered his interest in abstract work and a selection of this can be seen in this blog.

 

Dan hopes you enjoy these samples from his body of work.

 


Established in 1996, Generator is a complete graphic design and advertising agency. We specialize in design, print, web, social media and email solutions for businesses of all sizes.