Jack Rowell’s portrait of Vermont, 5 many years within the making

This story by Isabel Dreher was first published in The Herald on Nov. 6, 2025.

Photographer Jack Rowell is on the verge of releasing his magnum opus — that’s what his writer calls it, anyway, he stated. The venture is a 121-page guide of images, an epic of Rowell’s favourite photos of his profession.

“It gave me an opportunity to archive what I’ve done for the past 55 years, which I never would’ve done,” he stated. “It’s my legacy, and I hope people like it.”

Sara Tucker, who owns a neighborhood guide publishing firm, Korongo Books, is publishing Rowell’s images guide. “He calls himself a cultural documentarian. He says it a bit tongue-in-cheek, but that is really what he is,” she stated. “As a photographer, he has documented and preserved part of Vermont culture.”

Tucker and Rowell went to highschool collectively and their skilled relationship is constructed on many years of friendship. For Tucker, as a lover of tales, having a neighborhood publishing firm is a option to share the vital tales of Vermont. That, she says, is precisely what Rowell does.

“I think its important for individuals to give us their perspective on a given period of time and place,” she stated. “His perspective on the 50 years that he’s been largely a documentary photographer is an important part of our story. So in sharing it, he’s sharing a part of our common heritage, and it’s important to capture that and preserve it.” Rowell speaks with a thoughtfulness gained by many years of observing individuals round him. It’s one thing he’s executed by way of the lens and past, evidenced in his capability to share detailed tales of each face on the pages of his guide.

The espresso table-style guide, which will probably be launched on November 22, has taken Rowell three years to compile. While he provides excessive reward and credit score to his writer and designer, a lot of the start of the method was undertaken alone as he went by way of many years upon many years of archived images, together with the hundreds of rolls of movie that dominated his profession till the early 2000s.

One notable picture, unearthed from the depths, was one he referred to as “Man on the Midway,” a picture that Rowell took on the Tunbridge Fair in 1973. Centered within the body is the determine of a person with one hand stuffed within the pocket of his giant coat. A cigarette hangs lazily out of his mouth, in distinction with the depth of his eyes, bordered by the traces etched in pores and skin from the solar and smiles which are logos of the lifetime of a hard-working Vermonter. A cap is pulled low on his brow.

The picture’s publication potential although, was not all the time assured. It suffered harm in its time as a damaging that Rowell stated he wouldn’t have been in a position to restore earlier than Photoshop got here alongside. “Somehow I knocked that negative onto the floor and stepped on it, and it had these huge gouges. I mean, the emulsion was literally gone. … It was just black,” he stated.

“It’s a very powerful image,” Rowell stated. “It was the last photo on the roll. … We used to hand roll our own film then, and where the film would stick out and you’d attach it to the cassette would get exposed, so it was white. You can almost see a little bit of that white there.” He ran his finger alongside the highest of the picture.

One of the issues that makes that picture, and, in reality, a lot of Rowell’s images, so putting, is the best way he captures his topics’ faces. “Remember,” he stated, “the eyes are the key.”

Life with Fred

In the Nineteen Nineties, Rowell turned an affiliate producer on “Man With a Plan,” John O’Brien’s 1996 movie about Fred Tuttle, the real-life Tunbridge farmer and his fictional run for U.S. Congress. Tuttle occupies his justifiable share of pages in Rowell’s guide.

“This was before the movie came out,” he stated, poring over one of many guide’s closing pages, a picture of Fred Tuttle in entrance of the U.S. Capitol constructing, which in the end turned a film poster for “Man With a Plan.”

“We went to D.C., and we did it just in time too, because they replaced parts of the dome after that, and the Capitol was shrouded. This was all scaffolding,” he pointed to the grand white dome behind Tuttle. “I posed Fred on a knoll in front of the Capitol, and I had some trouble dealing with light, because it was sunny out, but then it got a little overcast.”

After the discharge of the movie, Tuttle did really make a run for U.S. Congress throughout which Rowell proceed to {photograph} him, together with for People Magazine. Tuttle ended up endorsing incumbent Patrick Leahy and dropping the race.

Shifting fashion

Rowell grew up in Groton, shifting to Randolph by the point he began highschool. He was a heavy drinker and smoker, however gave up each vices many years in the past.

Later in his profession, Rowell started to focus extra on studio images. He has a small studio in Randolph, and the latter half of his guide options many images taken there or in different studios close by. Rowell stated his images turned extra centered after he stopped consuming, and lots of of these pictures signify that point.

However, Rowell has all the time caught with a mantra about his favourite photographic topics. “I just came up with this once when this artsy-fartsy type asked me. … My favorite things to photograph, that would have to be big fish and good looking women,” he stated.

When requested if that was actually true or simply one thing he likes to say, Rowell gave a shrug. “Its kinda true,” he answered with fun.

Bringing ‘Jack Rowell Photographs’ to life

The images within the guide span from 1973 to 2025. Some of his first-ever images are featured, like one among a pair of laughing males perched on the again of a rubbish truck, taken in Braintree when Rowell was 18. The most up-to-date picture within the guide was taken in May of this 12 months, and options Mary Frances Leahy enjoying fiddle at on the Chandler Music Hall. The 19-year-old daughter of Celtic fiddler extraordinaire Natalie MacMaster (whom Rowell has photographed many instances and who can also be featured within the guide), Leahy stretches throughout a large body along with her proper arm prolonged away from her fiddle, the bow blurred as she rapidly attracts it removed from the strings. Her physique is angled, virtually as if in a triumphant bow, however her mild smile appears to be like proud as she retains eye contact with the viewers. As Rowell says, the eyes are the important thing.

It was vital to everybody, Tucker stated, to maintain the guide’s manufacturing as native as potential. She was capable of finding a printer in Lewiston, Maine. As of publishing, the books can be found for pre-order and value $85 {dollars} every by way of the top of the 12 months.

“Photography is [Jack’s] thing. It defines him, but he’s also incredibly generous as a person and as a photographer. It’s all one thing, meaning his art, his photography, really does serve the community,” Tucker stated. “The individuals he’s desirous about are people who find themselves doing an excellent job at one thing, or they’re simply very intriguing fascinating individuals who have caught his consideration.

“And so his instinct is to tell the world about what he finds valuable,” she continued, “and to me, that’s a very generous act, and he does a beautiful job.”

The White River Craft Center in Randolph will host a launch celebration on November 22 from 2–5 p.m. Preordered books will probably be accessible then for pickup and could also be signed by Rowell on the celebration.