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Joseph Jachna studied under Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind at Chicago’s Institute of Design (ID), receiving his master’s degree in 1961 with a thesis comprising photographs of water. That year was a turning point for his career: his images were featured in a special issue of Aperture magazine dedicated to five students at the ID, and Hugh Edwards mounted his first one-man exhibition at the Art Institute. About half of the show focused on pictures of water—reflections, distortions, and landscapes—and Edwards wrote that “Jachna’s prints express deep introspection” and “a poetic sensibility for the significance of small objects.” He later acquired 20 photographs for the collection.