Roger Vail | American, 1945-
Vail earned his BFA and MFA degrees from the Art Institute of Chicago. Since 1970 he has taught photography at California State University, Sacramento.
In 1970, Vail began photographing carnivals and their thrill rides with his 8 x 10 inch view camera. His pictures were made in the evening hours with long exposures times, resulting in extended moments which track the momentum of the ride with a sense wonderment that is both tangible and otherworldly.
One such image graced the cover of Life magazine, introducing a picture essay with an accompanying text by Garrison Keilor titled, A Magical Spin on a Summer Night (2006). Vail's carnival rides are described and transformed through the act of photography. He allows the viewer to experience the flux of the ride in a single scene, rendering both the atmosphere of the night and the energy of his subject, against the recognizable background of the state fair.
Vail's photographs are in the collection of numerous institutions, including: Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, NY, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Princeton University Art Museum.