Kathy's Photo Notes

Wow, we had a great meeting on Thursday, Nov. 15 at the Delaware Art Museum!! Had 13 people there, discussed some things, and saw lots of great work. The kind of meeting we’ve all been wanting! A good time was had by all.

Two new people (well, sorta new) joined us: Ken Francis, a friend of Danny and DeVere. Actually, he’d come once before, and we didn’t scare him off, so he came back. And Bill Lindsey, who had also been with us before, over a year ago, if I remember correctly. Somehow, we lost or didn’t have his e-mail address. But they are both on our list now.

Lots of people brought photos to look at!! Woo-hoo, an embarrassment of riches!

Bill Lindsey showed us a sort-of-panoramic photo of trees in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. He took 7 or 8 shots and then stitchedthem together in Photoshop. It looks like all one photo, with a wonderful flow of space, as if you were actually walking through those trees.

Beth Trepper showed some small, beautiful B&W photos of a family she had photographed years and years ago at a friend’s wedding. She had been following the little girl around, taking pictures of her because she was so beautiful, and ended up photographing the whole family. She told us great story about someone who knew the family seeing her photos on her website and contacting her about getting some copies.

DeVere Patton brought some B&W photos, all very fine, but the one that had us all talking was of a drop of water suspended in mid-air, as it was falling into a glass of water. He said he shot it with only a flash and slow shutter speed—very impressive.

Mickey Freed bought one of the LensBabies he saw at the Photo Expo. It’s a large filter that you screw on over your lens, which blurs some areas of the photo, and leaves the rest sharp. He was having some fun with it. He also showed us some of the photos he took on his recent trip to England: beautiful, soaring cathedrals, sheep in the fields, and the Mickey version of Stonehenge: the large stone masses, hanging suspended in a cloud-filled sky, and flipped to form a totem of sorts. And he photographed the requisite shot of the steps at Wells Cathedral, made famous by Frederick Evans. (See top of page.) He has been playing with the stitching of separate shots to create one whole photograph, same as Bill Lindsey had done.

Carson Zullinger has a new BIG printer, I think it’s 44” across! He had a dynamic photo of one image printed in small tiles, and then repeated all over the paper, to form a pattern of lights and darks. Very cool. He also showed some of his BIG prints, experimenting with different kinds of paper: a few from his recent trip to Sedona, and one from his new figurative series, of photographing the body between two large sheets of foam core, to form walls on either side of the body. He uses lights behind the model, sometimes it falls on her face, sometimes on a curve of her arm, sometimes it’s just an outline of light around a dark body, and it also reflects the skin tone onto the white foam core, something Carson didn’t expect. What he has shown us so far is very exciting and luscious.

Lisa Tyson Ennis has been doing a lot of traveling and shooting, so she brought a lot of work prints to get some feedback. It was good to see some of what she has been doing. We had a good discussion about film and digital, and not really being able to do the kind of photography she does (long, long exposures in almost no visible light) in digital format. And we had some good discussion about the different photos she showed, with all different opinions about each of them—of course!

Danny Schweers showed us several color shots from Maine and Arden and the beach. He had a really funky shot of the farmhouse at the Hanby Trust, which almost looked like a Maxfield Parrish painting, with its deep, rich colors,almost on the garish side, but not. And an interesting photo, at first glance very funny, and then on a second look, a deeper insight on relationships and public spaces that is part of what we would consider reality: men sitting at opposite ends of benches, under a street lamp that gives off a rather weird color, and with just a hint of the beach behind them. Quite interesting.

Beth Harpham had a beautiful little portfolio of things she has been photographing around Unionville, PA: fields, fences, trees, animals, all rural scenes. She printed them small, maybe 3x4, on an 8x10 sheet of paper. Very quiet, precious (but not in a bad way precious, precious like small gems you can hold in your hands). A wonderful collection—we want to see more!

We discussed having a “home show.” It’s basically having an art sale in someone’s home, and inviting everyone we can think of, usually held over a weekend. The idea is to have enough small, affordable work for people to buy for the holidays. And have a bit of a party at the same time. And maybe make some money, and/or line up some work or commissions. Jim Graham and I talked about it some weeks ago, and he said we could use his house. Initially we thought we'd do it this year but, on reflection, decided to do it next year instead, with much earlier planning.

Group show at Colourworks, February, 2008: We voted on it at the meeting, and the theme is “Elements.” We will come up with a more interesting title later, but wanted to let you all know for now. So start thinking of a different title and bring ideas to the next meeting. Danny has put together a call for entries. Click here to see it.

Carson Zullinger has been talking to Jerry Belton, who runs the 919 Gallery downtown, about the group having an exhibit there. It’s in the lobby of a high-rise on Market street, with huge windows facing the street. It’s a space where the Delaware Art Museum used to exhibit. It’s not happening immediately, but some time in the future.

Photo collective members’ shows coming up: Click here to see our Calendar page.

Mickey Freed told us all about the seminars he took at PhotoPlus Expo, including one led by Mary Virginia Swanson. Click here to read his comments. We have been talking about having Ms. Swanson come down here (she lives in NYC) and doing a lecture, and portfolio reviews for members of the group, probably over a weekend. Maybe the Art Museum or DCCA would be able to host a public lecture. We don’t know what that would all cost, or how we would pay for it. But it is something that many people in the group would be interested in doing.

And if we start doing that kind of stuff, we REALLY need to have that 501c3 done for the group. For those of you who sent a check to Carson for group dues, he is still holding onto them. He has the tax ID number that we need, but apparently we cannot just open an account until we have the 501c3 application. But we do need the tax ID number for the non-profit application.

Wow, that was a good meeting! And 8 of the 13 people who were there showed work—great!

Next meeting: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 7-9 PM, at the Delaware Art Museum. We thought we should have a December meeting because of the up-coming show in February. And it might be nice to have a little bit of a holiday party with everyone.

Kathy's Notes:

2008: January | March - the latest!