Special Collections Division the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries Vol. XIII * No. 1 * Spring '99

Through the Camera of Dennis Arnold
by Gerald Saxon

In 1987 Dennis Arnold had a new four-wheel drive truck and a yearning to make photographs. Arnold, a Grand Prairie resident and a sociologist by training, wanted to take photographs that elicited an emotional response from the viewer. And for the next ten years, Arnold drove his truck and made three thousand photographs in a geographical region--a triangle of sorts turned on its point--bounded by Dallas on the northeast, Fort Worth on the northwest, and Hillsboro to the south. Special Collections acquired Arnold’s photographs in summer of 1998 and filled a gap in its photographic holdings in the process.

Arnold admits that there was no one focus to his work. Rather, he concentrated on subjects and scenes that caught his eye and struck an emotional chord. Many a weekend he set out from his home and drove until something grabbed his attention. Visual contrasts had a special appeal for him--the old and the new, the rich and the poor, light juxtaposed with dark. Also, the impermanence of the built environment and the vagaries and variety of life drew his camera’s focus. As he mentioned not long ago, "I was drawn to things that would not be around much longer. Somehow I had to save part of the past. I also hoped to capture the special character of this area."

Arnold would be the first to admit that he is not a professional photographer. The quality of his photographs and their composition, however, belie his modesty and reveal an artistic eye. The latter he has developed over his lifetime. Arnold was born in Newark, Arkansas, in 1942 and educated in the Grand Prairie public school system. After a stint in the Navy, he studied drafting at Draughon’s Business College and, after receiving his drafting certificate, worked for four years as a draftsman. In 1970 he began attending college full time, graduating from UTA in 1973 with a B.A. in Sociology and in 1976 with an M.A. Arnold spent the next twenty years working as a draftsman for various businesses and teaching sociology at Tarrant County Junior College, UTA, and Dallas County Community College District.

It is not surprising then that Arnold’s work blends the sharp eye of a draftsman with the sensibilities of a social scientist. Some of his images have a gritty quality, others have a documentary feel, and still others appear artful. When asked about the value of his collection, a modest Arnold responded, "It comes from the fact that I was willing to go to the places where the subjects could be found, often dangerous places."

What follows is a series of "representative" photographs from the Dennis G. Arnold Photograph Collection. These scenes from North Central Texas reflect the work of a photographer with a keen eye for the extraordinary revealed in the ordinary. For questions about the Arnold Collection, please contact Shirley Rodnitzky or Donita Maligi of the Special Collections Division. They can be reached at (817) 272-3393 (phone), (817) 272-3360 (fax), or email at rodnitzky@library.uta.edu or maligi@library.uta.edu.

Father and son enjoy "quiet time" before a tent revival in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas.		A ramshackle barn and fence captured by Dennis Arnold using infrared film.
Club Dada was a popular venue for "alternative music" in Dallas, Texas.		The Longhorn Ballroom, a once popular country western dance hall in Dallas, Texas.
A barber and his customer in a barbershop in Arlington, Texas.

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