Barbara Hampton

I have been married 36 years and have 4 children. Ages range from 34 to 17. As a family, we like to hunt and fish and participate in equestrian events. I have 8 grandchildren.

As a student in high school, I became interested in photography. I started my first photography job in 1960 at the age of 13. The first studio I worked at was called Car-Val Studio in Austin and was owned by Jack and Irene Carvallous. Irene was a wonderful teacher and mentor. I learned the art of oils on photographs and negative and print retouching from Irene. I worked for them for 5 years until I graduated from school. I also worked for Gilmore Williams in his studio for about 2 years after that. I worked at quite a few jobs after leaving the photography business, but never lost interest in photography. I worked for many years for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept., setting type for all of their hunting and fishing guides, law books, brochures and any thing else they wanted type set. I would do the retouching and oils on the side for many professional photographers in Austin.

In 1978, I decided I really wanted to work for myself, so I enrolled at ACC and started on an Associate Degree in Photography. I started substituting in the retouching department at ACC shortly after that. I was persuaded by Gilmore Williams in 1989 to teach Negative and Print Retouching and Copy Restoration and Oils at ACC as an adjunct faculty member. In 2000, I joined the faculty at ACC as a full time employee.

I have had my own photography studio since 1980 in the Dripping Springs area. I am a versatile photographer, I take weddings, portraits, school events, some architectural. My specialty still lies in the arts. I really enjoy doing the negative and print retouching, copy and original print restorations and oils on photographs.

The art techniques I learned by hand have really helped me in the transitions to digital retouching. I like to use a combination of digital and hand retouching on my work now.