Debating Modern Photography – Triumph of Group f/64

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In the 1930s, a small group of California photographers challenged the painterly, soft-focus Pictorialist style of the day. They argued that photography could only advance as an art if its practitioners exploited characteristics inherent to the camera’s mechanical nature. This small association of innovators created Group f/64, named after the camera aperture which produces great depth of field and sharp focus. The exhibition revisits this debate and includes images by photographers in Group f/64 such as Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Sonya Noskowiak, and Willard Van Dyke, as well as images by such Pictorialists such as Anne Brigman, William Dassonville, Johan Hagemeyer, William Mortensen, and Karl Struss. With 90 works by 16 artists, Debating Modern Photography offers a feast for the eyes while illustrating both sides of a high-stakes debate. Outstanding examples of the clean edges and bold forms of Group f/64 stand in sharp contrast to the romantic, hand-crafted Pictorialist work that includes ­elegant portraits, tonalist landscapes, and allegorical studies.
The exhibit is open (Mon-Fri 9-7) through Dec 5.
Learn more at Maine’s Portland Museum of Art.

Exhibit – Harry Sandler and Barbara Ventura

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ALLUSIONS OF REALITY
“Allusions of Reality’ is clearly a seminal moment in my personal process. I have always been attracted to craft and a multitude of technical abilities, and, at the same time have always felt that I had the sensibility of an innocent. These were difficult to balance with my painting and photography and I struggled, like most do.  ‘Allusions’ for me is the meeting of form and substance, and, for the first time, I am able to express myself both as a photographer and a painter, with no line of demarcation in between.
UNFOLDMENT
To those who have come to realize that life’s journey is really about the discovery of who we are, as well as the exquisite expression of our true nature, I have the pleasure of sharing, through these images an inexpressible sense of unfolding oneness and wholeness represented through nature’s wisdom and beauty in the orchid.??As the observer engages (connects with) the photograph, through a seeing eye and a sensitive heart, a sense of inward reflection allows an opening to the depths of self as is well exemplified in the gentle exposure of a tender flower in a free exhibition of itself.??Unfolding from within and displayed in their magnificent array, the images warmly entreat a careful consideration of the flowering of human consciousness and invite an understanding of the magnificent dance of life between Creator and Creation.
Learn more about the Exhibit here.
Learn more about Barbara Ventura here.
Learn more about Harry Sandler here.

Jim Graham – Island, an Exploration of Nantucket & Iceland

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2009_08_10 iceland 3 - 0256
Jim Graham’s newest exhibition explores the islands of Nantucket and Iceland.
Island is on display from February 5 – 27 at the Hardcastle Gallery
Find out about Hardcastle Gallery
Find out about Jim Graham
From Jim Graham …
There are times in our lives that we make choices without knowing why or what the result of that choice will be. In July of 2001 I stood in a driveway and was admonished to, “Go to Maine, do a show, and don’t loose too much weight.”  All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
I was, at least with the first two suggestions successful.  That trip to Maine brought me to my first workshop with John Paul Caponigro.  And with his help and support I managed to find a number of images that were worthy of being in a show.  That December, six months later, I opened my first solo show, “Along the Waterline.”  This coming February, 9 years later, I’ll open yet another show, my ninth since first meeting John, “Island.”
This show holds a collection of images from two islands, Nantucket and Iceland.   Each a location is a singularity.  Each has its own story.   Each offers infinite opportunities.  It is part of the photographer’s job to see more intensely than most people do. He must have and keep in him something of the receptiveness of the child who looks at the world for the first time or of the traveler who enters a strange country.  I’d like to think I still have that childlike wonder.  But I’d also like to believe that over the years that John has helped to open my eyes and share some of his insight and vision.  I do know that he has offered me many visual possibilities.  And given me the gift of a vision that I might not have had had I not made that initial trek to Maine.

Robert Eckhardt – Next Step Alumni Group Exhibit

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For over 10 years I’ve been mentoring a select group of individuals. Their progress has been thrilling to watch. It’s been a true privilege to be a part of their growth. July 7 their first Group Exhibit will be unveiled at the Maine Media Workshops. (link)
Robert Eckhardt has been a member for 1 year. Here are his insights.
Alumni Insight
(NSS) It seemed innocent enough at the time. I was attending my first
workshop with John Paul, who repeatedly urged everyone to reconsider
(i.e., break) entrenched habits, thinking, and ways of seeing. At one
point, expanding upon the list “rules” we might choose to violate,
John Paul suggested that we take our cameras off our tripods and
intentionally move them as we pressed the shutter. I found this idea
rather provocative, tried a few shots, and, after reviewing my handful
of failures, quickly abandoned the effort. But when I got home I
couldn’t get the idea out of my head. For some reason, I took this
particular idea as a personal challenge, a puzzle to be solved.
Eventually, after weeks of trial and error, I solved the puzzle, and
the resulting photographs became the series I now call “motion |
pictures”. That series has become the primary focus of my current
photographic work.
About a year later, while discussing some “motion | picture” images, I
confessed that I found photographing trees almost irresistible and
felt that I should make a greater effort to broaden my horizons. John
Paul challenged me to find ways to photograph subjects that I thought
were impossible with this technique. And I have (stay tuned). Then he
said, “But don’t stop photographing trees.” And I haven’t.
See more of Robert’s work here.
See the Next Step Exhibit at the Maine Media Workshops July 7 – 30.
Find out more about my workshops here.
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Paul Tornaquindici – Next Step Alumni Group Exhibit

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For over 10 years I’ve been mentoring a select group of individuals. Their progress has been thrilling to watch. It’s been a true privilege to be a part of their growth. July 7 their first Group Exhibit will be unveiled at the Maine Media Workshops. (link)
Paul Tornaquindici has been a member for the past 4 years. Here are a few important things he learned from other members and his work.
Alumni Insights
John Paul Caponigro was the first photographer I showed- on a Russian science vessel in Antarctica- my landscape work to for review. It was at his studio in Maine- during a workshop- that I first summoned the courage to show my work to members of the Next Step group. And it has been together with the Next Step family that I have learned what truly matters to me in my photography. The lessons are important ones-
A. Know who you are and what you like to photograph. Stay on the path! Not trying to be like, or imitate others work or ways- but to have a genuine understanding of what you are passionate about and photograph that.
B. It is okay not to photograph! It is okay to cancel the contract with yourself that you have to take photographs. As I only photograph a few times a year there is an obligation to always be photographing and to strive to get a great photograph- to not take pictures somewhere is almost unthinkable. But part of being a photographer, I learned, was knowing when to put the camera away.
Next Step has given me a place of privilege to learn, grow and share the remarkable experiences of photography.
Artists’s Statement
I love going to an unfamiliar place, seeing it for the first time, looking and listening intently and photographing what and how I feel in that place.
In an workshop John Paul Caponigro said, “This is the most important thing I will say all week- don’t miss it. Notice when the energy is in the photographs being shown it gets quiet in the room. When there is little energy in the photographs we have to create it.“
I want to quiet the room. Take your breath away and leave you still- and listening- where the only sound you hear are the notes from a song of praise. Those are the photographs I am waiting, listening and looking for. I trust what has so moved my heart will resonate in yours.
Paul Tornaquindici – Notes of Praise
Notes of Praise is a much anticipated collection of Paul Tornaquindici’s serene, meditative landscape photographs. From the majestic glaciers of Antarctica to the mountain dunes of Namibia he explores the grand vistas with sensitivity. Seen through Tornaquindici’s eye they are transformed into scenes of wonder and worship. The images selected in Notes of Praise are a testimony to his love of creation and his appreciation for its beauty.
Find the book Notes of Praise here.
See more of Paul’s work here.
See the Next Step Exhibit at the Maine Media Workshops July 7 – 30.
Find out more about my workshops here.
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Justin A. Hartford – Next Step Alumni Group Exhibit

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For over 10 years I’ve been mentoring a select group of individuals. Their progress has been thrilling to watch. It’s been a true privilege to be a part of their growth. July 7 their first Group Exhibit will be unveiled at the Maine Media Workshops. (link)
Justin Hartford has been a member for the past 2 years. Here are a few important things he learned from other members and his work.
Alumni Insights
1)    Kathy Beal taught me to respect, ask permission, and thank the land that I am photographing. Keeping this practice helps to bring a sensitivity to my work that otherwise would not be there.
2)    At the first Next Step summit I attended in Utah, many of the attendees suggested I work with self-portraiture. This suggestion has helped guide me down a path that I otherwise might have been scared to go.
3)    Shooting along side many different Next Steppers has shown me different ways to approach photography and to see my subject.
Artist’s Statement
Proserpina is a Greek Goddess whose name means “to emerge”. She is synonymous with springtime when she emerged from her six months of residing in hell. This series is about how we as humans so often stay in our own caves not letting the real us be seen so that we can be accepted by society. It can be comforting to stay hidden away and not be judged. It can also create an inner hell to keep who we really are deeply hidden away for fear of judgment.
See more of Justin’s work here.
See the Next Step Exhibit at the Maine Media Workshops July 7 – 30.
Find out more about my workshops here.
Read More

Barbara M. Ventura – Next Step Alumni Group Exhibit

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John Paul Caponigro’s Next Step Alumni Group

For over 10 years I’ve been mentoring a select group of individuals. Their progress has been thrilling to watch. It’s been a true privilege to be a part of their growth. July 7 their first Group Exhibit will be unveiled at the Maine Media Workshops. (link)
Barbara has been a member for 4 years. Here’s one important thing she learned and her work.
Alumni Insights
The most important thing I learned from my participation in John Paul Caponigro’s Next Step Alumni Group, other than the privilege we have to be able to partake of John’s artistic career as well as his insight and directive in our creative expression, is that we can become a part of a living organism rather than a Group organization.
Participation in the apparent difficulties that we ourselves go through as well as the success stories and journeys of others can become a personal experience to each one of us. We can see the fact that we belong to a group as a whole (one) rather than individually. We can get involved seeing the Group as a living organism rather than an organization with the assurance that what takes place when we meet, is far beyond those undeniable reasons to attend a workshop.
Artist’s Statement
My work is an anthology of what could be called “eternal moments”; images captured as an expression of my identification with Life in the form of Nature as an integral part of my Essence and Being.  I could also define it as occasions when I am at One with nature and the conscious distinctions between the self and the observed fade away. I believe one must move beyond the dualistic concept of “an artist and his work” in order to create and experience art in its essential timeless expression.
This expression is the resultant flow from an interminable encounter with Life.  Through this interaction, my life as a seeker has given way to the profound inner confirmation that art and artist are One. Therefore it has become an indescribable joy to experience the world as an observer while being inspired to transcribe spiritual truth into visual imagery.
See more of Barbara’s work here.
See the Next Step Exhibit at the Maine Media Workshops July 7 – 30.
Find Barbara’s Next Step Blurb book here.
Find out more about my workshops here.
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The Printed Picture at MOMA

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Photographer Richard Benson is the man behind the highly informative new exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC – The Printed Picture (on exhibit through June, 2009). Anyone who goes will expand their understanding photographic printmaking and it’s short but rich history. I did. In it you’ll see exceptional examples of a wide variety of printmaking methods from offset to gravure, platinum to silver gelatin, and inkjet. I highly recommend the exhibit and the accompanying book.
“The Printed Picture traces the changing technology of picture-making from the Renaissance to the present, focusing on the vital role of images in multiple copies. The book surveys printing techniques before the invention of photography; the photographic processes that began to appear in the early 19th century; the marriage of printing and photography; and the rapidly evolving digital inventions of our time. From woodblocks to chromolithographs, from engravings to bar codes, from daguerreotypes to modern color photographs, the book succinctly examines the full range of pictorial processes. Exploring how pictures look by describing how they are made, author Richard Benson reaches fascinating and original conclusions about what pictures can mean. Includes 326 illustrations.”
Also visit the exhibit of Benson’s personal work – Found Views, Chosen Colors – at the Pace Macgill Gallery in New York through November 29.
Seen it? Comment here!
Find out more about The Printed Picture here.
Get the book here.
Visit Found Views, Chosen Colors online here.
Read my conversation with Richard Benson here.

Paul Caponigro – HMCP

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“The Hallmark Museum of Contemporary Photography is privileged to exhibit a special group of Paul Caponigro’s photographs chosen by HMCP’s Director, Paul Turnbull, from Mr. Caponigro’s voluminous archives. Entitled, “Select Photographs: 1956 thru 2005″, the seventy-five silver gelatin prints can be seen in the museum’s Gallery 52 and Gallery 56 facilities, on the corner of 2nd Street and Avenue A, downtown Turners Falls, Massachusetts. The exhibition will hang from September 25 through December 14, 2008. The opening reception is on Saturday, October 11, 2008, from 1-5 pm with lecture at 7 pm.” Read More