Award-winning, Park City-based fine art photographer Bret Webster, who opened the Bret Webster Images gallery in 2012 on Main Street, is expanding his audience.
The retired chemical engineer, who worked in the aerospace industry before shifting his focus on the camera, has opened two new galleries — one on the Las Vegas Strip and one near La Jolla Cove in La Jolla, California — within the past 9 months.
“We opened Las Vegas first,” Webster said “We’re at Planet Hollywood, right there on the strip, and it’s in a lovely shopping area that has a large casino and hotel. It’s like a mall, and … you kind of live within that environment.”
The roulette ball started rolling on the Vegas location in January, after Webster had taken a few years to scope out additional gallery locations after opening his manufacturing facility in the Salt Lake Valley.
The facility is used to reproduce, package and ship Webster’s prints to his clients.
“It’s very advanced with a 100-foot clean room, robotics and cutters, that help us maintain exquisite quality and keep our (art) prices down,” he said. “We have excess capacity there, so I felt it was time to do more in a new location because we could handle it.”
Webster would visit spaces he felt fit his work, which includes nature, ancient and modern structures, high-speed water splashes and microscopic snowflakes.
“I would occasionally find wonderful spots full of walls that had a lot of foot traffic,” he said. “So I would leave my card, and say if they vacated the spot, we would make it easy and move in.”
Las Vegas landlords called in mid January, and then two weeks later Webster got a call from La Jolla.
“I would never choose to do these two galleries, one on top of each other, but it happened,” he said with a laugh. “But when beautiful locations become available you go and do it then, or it won’t ever happen.”
Both new galleries, at approximately 2,400 square feet, are three times bigger than the Park City space, Webster said.
“I can put in a lot more of my pieces and display them larger,” he said. “Here, we show them small, but every square inch of this little thing is put together nicely. Every single picture is put in its proper place. It’s cozy. It’s entertaining. And I’m extremely proud of how it is.”
Webster started working on the Las Vegas space as soon as he could and leaned back on the things he learned when he opened his Park City showroom.
“I knew which pieces went where, which pictures to put on display, which pictures would draw people in and which pictures would be large,” he said. “I also learned how to do the lighting. So La Jolla became the benefactor with all of the things we did here and in Las Vegas.”
While all three spaces are different, the goal is the same, Webster said.
“Our formula is simple,” he said. “We just try to present the beautifulness of our world in the best possible and affordable way. We work hard and don’t play games.”
Webster also tapped into his engineering background while designing the spaces, as well as when he takes photographs.
“Science permeates my work, from the colorful bismuth works to the high-speed water droplets to the snowflakes, along with the more typical parts of creativity,” he said.
Webster and his photography came full circle when he opened the La Jolla gallery.
“Long ago, 17 years ago, when I first started doing art shows as a creative outlet from my normal aerospace work, the La Jolla Art & Wine fest was my first juried art show, ever,” he said. “It was the first time I had a trailer with all my pictures, and it was a really good experience. I brought my family, and we all went together.”
At that time, Webster didn’t know too much about the city.
“I knew about Torrey Pines and the U.S. Open was held there,” he said. “I also knew it was a beautiful area.”
The art festival kicked off Webster’s creative journey, which included paying his dues by participating in three or four juried art shows a year.
“It was mountains of work,” he said. “You’re in a trailer. You’re parked inches from each other, and you’re unloading and loading in 102-degree temperatures. It’s not easy, but it was still fun. I learned the ropes of what I wanted to present and how we could do things better.”
Those early shows inspired Webster to look for a gallery space in Park City.
“I grew up skiing here, so I’ve always loved it,” said Webster, whose work now hangs in U.S. Embassies in Kuwait, Malta and Brussels.
Webster opened his Park City gallery a couple of years after the Great Recession.
“Art is hard to sell during recessions, but you almost need it more,” he said.
Although Webster’s La Jolla gallery is in a different part of town from where the arts festival is held, he is enamored with the area.
“We can see the ocean from our desk, and we can see sea lions right on Prospect Street,” he said. “There’s La Jolla cove, and the animals and humans are there within 10 feet of each other living and playing.”
After living, working, dining, sleeping and meeting neighbors in La Jolla, Webster noticed some similarities the town shared with Park City.
“There is an undercurrent of younger people who work and hold the retail together, like the younger people who do that here,” he said. “Instead of skiing, they, including my staff, surf or ride body boards and wear snorkels, fins and wetsuits. Another difference is there are seagulls that crap on your car, and you don’t have ice on the sidewalks.”
Webster found how much he appreciated Park City after returning to Park City last week.
“When you go to other places like Las Vegas or La Jolla, it feels good to come back home,” he said. “I love this community deeper and deeper as years go by. I love the ups and downs and how everyone here strives to do the right thing for varied interests. And I’ve learned to value this place even more.”
Webster’s credo is to “present value,” and he considers it a privilege to make a living by showcasing the beautiful things of life.
He also has made some great friends along the way.
“When I’m at each gallery, I’m meeting a lot of people who tell me that they have some of my pieces from Park City, and vice versa,” he said. “They’ve become like family.”
For information about Bret Webster and the Bret Webster Images galleries, visit bretwebsterimages.com.