Contact Printers Guild Newsletter
March 2006
This month the “In Focus” article is by Gerhard Bock. His insights about his approach to photography illustrate the evolution of his vision to what it is today. They remind me of Edward Weston’s words: “I learned the only way I could – by working. No one can teach another to see. If composition could be taught, anyone might become an artist. Composition is a way of seeing according to the individual.”
Each member of the Guild offers a unique way of seeing. What might appear at first to be similar will, upon further inspection, present a very different approach. What binds these differences together is the commitment to contact printing as the path to expression. Using big cameras to produce large negatives, which are then placed in contact with a sensitized paper and carefully processed to produce a print, each of us explores our feelings about what is in front of the camera.
With workshops, discussion groups, and exhibitions, the Guild members are all actively involved in photography. Whether traveling, in the studio, or exploring close to home, each artist frequently places new work in the on-line store. Please check it out and see what our members have been up to lately.
Please take a moment to check out the Contact Printers Guild's online store, where you will find over 400 fine prints for sale. The store is a secure site that allows you to purchase using your credit card or PayPal account. This makes it easy to start or add to your collection via the Internet.
Be sure to bookmark our store, as we are adding new work each week and there will always be something new to see.
Click here to visit our store.
Joe Freeman and George Provost
Paul Paletti will be showing the work of Joe Freeman and George Provost in his gallery from the beginning of March to the beginning of June. The address of the Paul Paletti Gallery is 713 East Market Street, Louisville, KY.
Susan Huber
Susan Huber’s images are part of a prestigious exhibition of platinum prints being shown until April 16 in Banff, Alberta at the Peter Whyte Gallery. Alan King and three other photogravure practitioners are also featured. Go to www.whyte.org for more information.
George Provost
George Provost’s photograph “Stone Stairs” is part of the “Alaska Positive 2006” exhibition at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau, Alaska. The image won a Special Honorable Mention in the juried photography exhibit. The show runs March 3 through March 25 in Juneau, then begins a one-year tour of other museums in Alaska. George also has two photographs in an Alaska State Museum traveling exhibit entitled “The Best of Alaska Positive: 35 Years of Award-winning Photographs.” A catalogue of the exhibit includes reproductions of “Marsh Grass” and “Neil O’Leary,” which were purchased by the Museum for their permanent collection.
Gerhard Bock
Gerhard Bock’s collage Desert Road Fantasy is touring with the Texas Photographic Society's 21st Annual Members Only Show. The show is part of Houston’s FotoFest 2006. In Houston, the Beautique Day Spa & Salon will display the image from March 10 to April 23.
Another of Gerhard’s images has been selected for the 2006 Krappy Kamera exhibition at Soho Photo Gallery in New York City from March 7 through April 1. Entitled “Dune Walkers,” the image was taken with a Holga, a medium-format plastic camera, in the Mesquite Flat dunes of Death Valley National Park. To view a platinum/palladium print of this image, made from an enlarged negative, please go to our store.
John Wimberley
John Wimberley is having an on-line show opening mid-March and running for two months at Soulcatcherstudio.com.
Patrick Kolb
Portland’s Camerawork Gallery will hold an exhibit of Patrick Kolb’s Azo prints from July 22 to August 18. The gallery is located at 2255 NW Northrup Street in Portland, OR. An opening reception will be set at a later date.
Christian Nze
Christian Nze is offering two workshops in March. The first is scheduled March 11-12 and covers platinum printing; the second is March 18-19 and is a Cyanotype – Van Dyke workshop. Both take place at Vire, France, during the "Mois de la photo de Vire." To sign up or get more information, contact Christian at cnze@club-internet.fr.
Ray Bidegain
Ray Bidegain is teaching two workshops in conjunction with the Portland Photographers forum. The first is entitled “The Fine Art of Platinum Printing with Ray Bidegain” and will take place from May 19- 21, 2006. Only a couple of open spots remain, so don’t delay in contacting Ray if you want to participate. Ray’s second class this year, to be held September 15-17, 2006, is called “The Portrait and Figure Workshop.” We will explore the portrait and figure in a wonderful setting in the Columbia Gorge near Portland. Click here for more information or to sign up for these classes.
John Wimberley
“Sight and Insight—A Workshop on Seeing in Photography,” is being offered by John Wimberley October 6-8, 2006. This workshop, also under the aegis of Portland Photographers Forum, is open to all photographers, regardless of format and whether film or digital. Tuition is $250 and the class is limited to 10 students. To sign up, please contact Robert Brummitt at (503) 614-0161, or e-mail robert8x10@hotmail.com.
Broadly speaking, my work falls into the landscape category. For many years, I
worked in the “grand landscape” tradition that shows nature at its most dramatic, untouched by the hand of man. Eventually, however, I grew tired of waiting for the perfect cloud, the perfect light, the perfect moment, and I realized that beautiful landscape images can be made not just in national parks and other places of stunning scenery, but literally anywhere and at any time of day and year.
Since that time, I've focused on photographing closer to home: the open spaces that surround the town where I live in California's Sacramento Valley, the magnificent oak trees that still dot the fields, the clouds that float across our big Western sky like icebergs in the Arctic Ocean. Even the greenbelts near my house that form the boundary between nature and the city and our freeway under- and overpasses, in their unloved anonymity, have their own grace and elegance. In other words, I've become what I call an “omnivorous” photographer, meaning I photograph anything and everything that I find visually appealing. In photography, as in life, everybody has a different sense of aesthetics, and one of the most wonderful compliments I can imagine receiving as a photographer is when somebody says, “Wow, I've never noticed that such an everyday scene can be so beautiful.”
This image, Valley Oaks, Study 2, was taken north of Davis, California, about 30 minutes from my house. It was a damp fall day with no dramatic light, no dramatic clouds and certainly no dramatic mountains in the background. However, I was struck by how majestic these oak trees looked against the white sky. I felt a perfect sense of joy and peace, and I knew that in this image I had managed to capture the essence of the place that I now call home.
Valley Oaks, Study 2, is available as an 8x10" platinum/palladium print in an edition of 25, archivally mounted to 14x18" board and overmatted with a matching window mat.
Special-Offer Prints by Guild Members
Please have a look at this issue's special-offer prints on our website
Ray Bidegain is offering two platinum palladium prints on special offer to subscribers of the Contact Printers Guild newsletter. These are 8x10 prints presented in 4-ply window mats and are priced at $ 95.00 each. This is a perfect way to start or add to your collection. To see this month’s special-offer prints by Ray Bidegain, click here.