Join us on Wednesday, May 20, 2009, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm at the Rockland Memorial Library in Rockland, Massachusetts. I will be hosting a reception for my "From Lightbox to Library" exhibit, part of the Rockland Library's "Art in the Rotunda" series.
For more than a hundred years, many great photographers have had close associations with libraries. Even now, in the era of the internet, libraries provide services and information to contemporary photographers. Fine art photographers, photojournalists and portrait photographers find many services at their local libraries that they couldn’t find or afford elsewhere.
The web’s low-resolution imaging fails to convey the full artistic beauty and technical expertise of original landscapes and portraits. Many photographic collections have been documented in limited, hard to find, and nearly impossible to afford editions. Several of these books include specially printed reproduction plates that are useful to students of photography.
In this exhibit I try to honor the invaluable services that libraries and librarians continue to provide photographers.
As there are many different types of photography, there are also many types of research needs. Not surprisingly, photojournalists and documentarians use library resources to better understand their subjects. Yet, the same is true for many landscape, portrait and other specialized photographers. We may need to learn the background of a person, the sunset hours of a special location, tidal charts, or local customs and taboos in foreign countries. Research enhances our images; our image making inspires us to research more.
Libraries not only provide resources for photographers to learn about our subjects, libraries also offer learning opportunities out of the personal reach of most individuals. The costs of reproduction editions of many of the photography classics are prohibitive for individual students. However, viewing Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Yousuf Karsh, Dorothea Lange or Eugene Smith quality reproductions becomes possible through local libraries with inter-library loan privileges. The works of these old masters become our teachers.
Older works alone cannot educate a contemporary photographer. Ever-changing technical expertise is critical to the proficient digital photographer. Library resources and librarians have greatly enhanced my technical and artistic knowledge. It is to those who administer, support, manage, volunteer and fund our libraries that I dedicate this exhibit.
For even more information please follow this link: <http://tinyurl.com/plkp49>
Connie, I just got back from the library and what a wonderful selection of photos! I was very impressed. Beautifully shot and presented.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit of an aspiring photographer myself. Learned I love to shoot just last year as I decided to take on a photo-a-day project and have been posting a new photo to my blog every day since last February.
I am working up a collection that I would be happy to approach the library with in hopes of them showing it (some days I feel really good about what I have shot over the last 15 months, other days I still feel like a total hack).
I am still a novice, but I am getting there.
Thanks for sharing your work.
Oh, and as a Rockland resident you can be sure of my YES on all overrides on May 30!
Thanks, PG! I appreciate your comments and taking the time to find this blog.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your newest Boston.com RAW entry and win. That site is drawing a pretty big crowd. I like the image a lot. Saw an earlier RAW (the site) image of yours of a crayon. Nicely done.
Will contact you separately about some local shooting opportunities. Love that you're doing a photo a day. Your Mother's Day shot is hard to do, and you did it so well. Beautiful. Congratulations.
Yikes, your election day is tomorrow! Good luck. Rockland, Hull and Holbrook all risk closing their libraries this year.
Thanks again for stopping by here and the Rockland library. I really hope it stays open. Times are tough and people are voting with the wallets. Let's hope they realize that they're getting a bargain when then fund the library.
Thanks again.
It's a tough time to increase your taxes, but it's a tough time in which to close the library and the cost efficient sharing of resources.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the people who voted. Democracy won. Oh, and the library gets to stay open.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/rockland/town_info/government/x2133271861/Town-Meeting-approves-2-7-million-override