John Sexton

It's very important to John Sexton that his photographs convey a quality of light that is soft, delicate and natural. And in his new book, "Quiet Light," a 15-year retrospective of his work, he does just that. Sexton, a former an assistant to Ansel Adams, also shows a dedication and creativity toward photographing nature. Even though his photographs are in the tradition of Adams, Sexton considers his landscape photographs to be more quiet and intimate than Ansel's spectacular style.

Since the Luddites started smashing machinery and William Blake wrung his romantic hands over the "dark Satanic mills," Western culture's ambivalence about technology has not fully resolved itself. Our relationship to the mechanics of modern life is characterized by a kind of willed ignorance, a romantic sense of the nobility of nature that exists alongside our galloping consumptive impulses, so obviously destructive of the natural world.

One February morning in 1983, Roger Coleman was reading through his three-newspaper quota when a thought hit him that would drastically change S. E. Rykoff & Co., the regional food-service company that Coleman had headed since 1967. Coleman read that Beatrice Cos. wanted to divest itself of 50 businesses, and he wondered if Beatrice was selling its John Sexton & Co. institutional food service division.

It's very important to John Sexton that his photographs convey a quality of light that is soft, delicate and natural. And in his new book, "Quiet Light," a 15-year retrospective of his work, he does just that. Sexton, a former an assistant to Ansel Adams, also shows a dedication and creativity toward photographing nature. Even though his photographs are in the tradition of Adams, Sexton considers his landscape photographs to be more quiet and intimate than Ansel's spectacular style.

Since the Luddites started smashing machinery and William Blake wrung his romantic hands over the "dark Satanic mills," Western culture's ambivalence about technology has not fully resolved itself. Our relationship to the mechanics of modern life is characterized by a kind of willed ignorance, a romantic sense of the nobility of nature that exists alongside our galloping consumptive impulses, so obviously destructive of the natural world.

Rykoff-Sexton Inc., Los Angeles, said Chris G. Adams has been named president and chief operating officer of its S. E. Rykoff & Co. division. At the same time, Harold E. Feather was named president and chief operating officer of the John Sexton & Co. division. They assume the jobs from Roger W. Coleman, who continues as president and chief executive of the parent company.

Rykoff-Sexton said Tuesday that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire privately held Interstate Restaurant Supply, a Los Angeles-based food service and manufacturing company. Terms were not disclosed. Interstate Restaurant Supply, founded in 1929, has annual sales of more than $100 million. Its current management, headed by President Stephen Horowitz, will continue to oversee the company, which will become part of S. E. Rykoff & Co., a division of Los Angeles-based Rykoff-Sexton.

SERIES Who Do You Think You Are? Intrigued by a rumor that his paternal grandmother had white ancestry, Emmitt Smith explores his family roots in this new episode (8 p.m. NBC). Supernanny: In the two-part season finale, a single mother of two, who is a student and works full time at a bank, needs Jo's help in regaining her household from her little ones (8 p.m. ABC); then at 9, the series celebrates its 100th episode revisiting some of the show's more memorable families, to see how they are doing since Nanny Frost's original visit.

One February morning in 1983, Roger Coleman was reading through his three-newspaper quota when a thought hit him that would drastically change S. E. Rykoff & Co., the regional food-service company that Coleman had headed since 1967. Coleman read that Beatrice Cos. wanted to divest itself of 50 businesses, and he wondered if Beatrice was selling its John Sexton & Co. institutional food service division.

In his younger days, John Sexton's world was that of engines and grease, speed and danger. While attending high school, Sexton usually spent his spare time working on the pit crew of a professional drag racer. The idea of making a living by recording that world through a photographic lens hadn't occurred to him. And few would have guessed that Sexton would one day evolve into one of the best-known art photographers in America.

A photography seminar can be worthwhile and educational, providing you choose the right one. And while that decision may seem difficult to make when faced with a plethora of choices, there are only three factors to consider--the instructor, the location and, yes, the price. Many well-known photographers teach. They're willing to offer their services because teaching can be a great way for them to promote themselves, make a few bucks and travel to a different city.