Photograph of Maxwell Bates in front of Kindergarten, c. 1975

After several years of living in Canada, Spreitz renewed his pursuit of artistic training by enrolling in the Brooks School of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. He graduated from the program in 1957 while also attending the Art Centre School of Los Angeles.

With his refined photographic skills, Spreitz started working as a freelance photographer for publications such as Look, Star Weekly, The Globe and Mail, Victoria Daily Times and Victoria Daily Colonist. He was also a staff photographer and layout expert for Beautiful British Columbia magazine from 1965 to 1968 where he almost single-handedly produced their Expo issue. Later, he co-authored photo-based books such as Songs from the Wild (1992), Vancouver Island: In Search of the Dream (1992) and Vancouver: Visions of a City (1993).

Photography influenced Spreitz’s other fine art media. He often worked in black and white and inverted positive and negative sequences in his experimental films such as Don’t (1965). To emphasize the contrast between geometric and abstract forms he used texture and hard edges within a balanced composition.

Continue to: Practices in Art; The Limners Society; Mechanics of the Human Body; Satire and Wit; Experiments in Film