Former Dispatch photographer shares 50 images in new exhibit
From the time he was inspired as a boy by the pictures in LIFE magazine, Mike Munden knew what he wanted to do with his own life — be a photographer.
His work behind a camera has included several years in Korea with the U.S Army, more than 30 years shooting news and sports for The Columbus Dispatch and throughout, capturing his travels, his family and the landscape around his London, Ohio, farmhouse.
Through Oct. 24, the London Visual Arts Guild is presenting the photographic retrospective “Mike Munden: 50 years w/camera” at the guild’s new headquarters at 121 E. First St. in London.
Fifty photographs are included in the exhibit, beginning with black-andwhite works — a scene from a 1972 Bob Hope USO tour in Korea — and “Horse in Fog,” snapped at the moment a horse decided to lay down and scratch his back, all four legs up in the air.
“Like ‘The Wizard of Oz,’” Munden said, “the photos start out in black and white and then you turn the corner and — boom! — they’re in color.”
One of the loveliest of these captures the Moroccan-style arches and carvings in the 13th-century Iglesia Cathedral in Toledo, Spain.
“Dream Photo” freezes a moment when a child (Munden’s grandson) climbs a skeletal playground jungle gym and his shadowy figure contrasts with a brilliant blue sky.
But some of the most engaging photographs are those Munden shot on the newspaper job, made more enjoyable by the stories behind them that are posted with the works.
Willie Nelson is caught in a beautiful swing while golfing with his band members in the 1980s at Foxfire Golf Club in Lockbourne. Apparently, Nelson was bare-chested before his band mates convinced him to put on a shirt for the photo.
On display beside a 2013 action shot of former Columbus Blue Jacket Nick Foligno stands a hockey puck and the camera lens it shattered while Munden was covering the game.
In other sports photos, dust scatters while a College of Wooster track athlete competes in a long jump, and waves part as a Kenyon College swimmer speeds through the pool.
Munden, 68, retired from The Dispatch
in 2007, but has continued to make photos both professionally and for himself. He’s lived in London for 40 years and is a member of the Visual Arts Guild, now located in a former London school that his four sons attended.
Reflecting on his career, Munden recalled his early inspiration from photojournalists: “I’m just so grateful that my mom had LIFE magazine come into our home.”
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