Throwback Thursday

Everything old is new again!

I’m thrilled to announce that my image Kids at Play is part of this years Eyes on Main Street outdoor exhibition in Wilson, NC. It’s somewhat convoluted how it all came about but the image was found on my website by one of the exhibit organizers and I was invited to submit it for exhibition. How cool is that!

There I am, second from the left!

The story behind my making the image was covered here in July, 2019. Perhaps I’ll go into more detail on how the image came to be included, but in the meantime if you’d like to see it in person, just come to Wilson, NC and take a look!

I guess I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there are also 99 other images you can view as well!

Close up…

To learn more about Eyes on Main Street, check out their website here.

Throwback Thursday

Feeling nostalgic Pt. 2…

Riverside High School

The above image is of Riverside High School. I am a proud member of the class of 1975. This image was also made as part of my “Driving Home” project.

I do like it even though technically, it’s not very good. The exposure isn’t great, there’s lens flare, the shadows on the right are too deep, and so on. I suppose I could attempt to use current technology and try to fix it, but I doubt it would be worth the effort. I think I’ll just try again the next time I’m in the neighborhood.

Despite the flaws, I think it’s an important image and I’m glad I made it. Like the image of my childhood home, there are dozens and dozens of memories that return every time I view it.

Walking the halls taking pictures; yearbook meetings; school plays; cast parties; Travesty; the lunch ladies; Table 91; falling asleep in Mr. Rothenberg’s American history class; getting kicked out of Mr. Cowie’s math class; friendships I miss; friendships that have only deepened over time. The list goes on…

But mostly what it reminds me is how my experiences during the four years I was there shaped who I am today. Not being clairvoyant, I would never have known or understood, but my life’s path was paved by my experiences from those four years. With the clarity of hindsight, for any important aspect of my life, I can draw a line back to Riverside. It might not be straight, but the connections are there all the same.

So many times I marvel. How so many things can be tucked inside a single image. It might not look big, but it holds a lot…

Throwback Thursday

Feeling nostalgic…

My House

The above photo is of the house I grew up in, on Niagara Street in the Riverside neighborhood in Buffalo, NY. It was made just before the pandemic for my “Driving Home” project. It looks pretty much as it did in my youth, and although I’ve not lived there on over 40 years, memories of those years come flooding back every time I view it.

Standing on the front porch in my Sunday Easter best; pretending to be a fireman, saving the neighborhood with my best friend Johnny who lived 2 doors down (partially seen on the left); playing touch football in the street (partially seen on the right); looking out over the Niagara River and across to Canada from our attic windows (this is another story unto itself..). All these memories as vivid as if they had occurred yesterday.

Such is the power of photography.

While books and entire college courses have been created to explore that power, as I contemplate this image today, I think about the importance of not just creating the work, but of preserving it. It makes little sense to me to create work without some thought as to how one plans to keep it. Or. put another way: I’ve created this image, “now what?”

For me, the artifact has always been the thing. The print, the negative, if you can’t hold it, it ain’t real. 0’s and 1”s are just abstract concepts. You can’t see them, touch them, or feel them. They are only representations of something. Hence the only way to view a digital file is on a screen. And when the screen goes dark, the image is gone.

This is not an attempt to bash digital photography. I use digital capture devices practically every day. I love them. I bought a brand new iphone 13 not because I needed a better phone but because I wanted a better camera.

No, what I’m saying is, it’s not just enough to make the image capture. That’s only the first step. The most important step is to preserve it. After all, when we’re gone, that’s the only tangible part of our collective memory that will remain…

Throwback Thursday

Well. not too far back. In celebration of Polaroid Week I present some old and some new…

A very sad day...

It’s with great sadness that I note the passing of photographer Jerry Uelsmann.

Jerry delivering his keynote lecture during the 2016 Click! Photography Festival

It's not often you get to meet one of your childhood heros, much less find that they are more open, thoughtful and generous than you could have imagined. It will be one of the highlights of my career drinking mimosas and talking photography with Jerry Uelsmann...