November 2006
— Members' Current & Upcoming Shows
— IN FOCUS with Ray Bidegain
— Members' Workshops
— Photographers' Outings
— Special Offers
— New Members
“I do not photograph what I think I should—I photograph what I feel I must photograph. I must, because to not photograph would be stifling a passion within me, holding back a vital and life-giving experience. Making my photographs is thus an essential vehicle for the growth of the life of the artist within me, that part of me which demands growth in order to be more aware and sensitive to the world around me.” This passage from Paula Chamlee’s entries in her book Natural Connections seems to make sense out of why we photograph. (At left is her stunning image "Cataviña, Baja California 2003.")
We are very pleased to add Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee as honorary members of the Contact Printers Guild. Michael has been crafting contact prints for almost 40 years, most likely longer that any other working photographer today. His commitment to the craft of contact printing has influenced countless photographers today—and you can include several Guild members in that number. Michael was instrumental in helping set up the Guild and has been one of our best supporters since. It seems only right to have them in the Guild and represented in the store. Since they are well-respected workshop instructors, we will also keep you posted on their “Vision and Technique Workshop” schedule.
If has been one year now that we have been publishing the Contact Printers Guild Newsletter. It has been the Guild’s mission to promote contact printing as a significant art form and to make it available to everyone through our store. For the coming holiday season, we have discounted several prints 20% or more and placed them in the Special Offers section of the store. In the coming year, we have several exhibitions scheduled, both individual and group, and will offer workshops as well, so look for the current schedule of activities in future newsletters. We wouldn’t be doing this without your continued support, so thanks very much to all of you.
As we announced earlier this year, we now have contact prints from Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee available in our store. Michael's and Paula’s photography and print-making skills are internationally acclaimed. On the left is one of Michael’s images, entitled "Jokulsarlon, Iceland, 2004 (82-9408-10-27)." To see more of his work, please click here.
To see the work Paula is offering in our store, you can use this link.
Because we understand the difficulty of seeing the true beauty of a contact print from a scanned image on your computer, we offer an unconditional guarantee. If you are not satisfied with any photograph you have purchased from the online store, you can return it for a refund. We currently have well over 300 photographs available for your inspection. Just click here to quickly and easily view our catalog. The store is a secure site that allows you to purchase using your credit card or PayPal account.
Ray Bidegain and Patrick Kolb
Portland Photographers’ Forum has included works of Ray Bidegain and Patrick Kolb in a PPF group show at Cedar Hills Center, 11640 SW Park Way, Portland, Oregon (corner of Park Way and Cedar Hills Boulevard). The exhibition opened November 1 and runs through the month of December 2006.
Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee
Michael and Paula are featured artists at Paris Photo 2006, to be held November 16-19 at the Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France. For more information on this event, please visit the Paris Photo web site.
John Wimberley
John Wimberley’s work is included in an ongoing show of nudes by the on-line gallery Soulcatcher Studio. To see his image, please click here.
Patrick Kolb
On January 17, 2007, Patrick Kolb will be the featured speaker at the monthly meeting of Portland Photographers’ Forum. More information will follow.
Guild Group Show
The Curatorial Committee of Sacramento's Viewpoint Photographic Art Center has invited the Contact Printers Guild to exhibit during the 2007-2008 season. The exact dates will be determined this month and announced in our next newsletter. Viewpoint Photographic Art Center is located at 551 Sequoia Pacific Blvd in Sacramento, California. For more information about Viewpoint, please visit their web site.
John Wimberley
From May 1-31, 2007, Ryerson University is showing the work of Guild member John Wimberley, along with Aubie Golombek and Frank Roddick, at its School of Image Arts in Toronto, Canada. The theme of the show is the incarnation of spirit in physical matter. At left is an image John has selected for the exhibit, entitled “Crystal Springs #914, 2002.”
The Making of "Pears with Leaves"
I am a photographer who works on still life photographs now and then, and I have made several over the last few years. When I choose to make a still life image, I find it important to me that the subject be a volunteer. By that I mean that the subject needs to just sort of “show up” in my life. The times I have deliberately shopped for subject matter have never worked well for me.
In the example “Pears with Leaves” my young daughter came home one day after visiting the farm of a family friend, and she had these three beautiful pears. I took them to the studio and spent an afternoon working with them. In this photograph, I placed the pears on an old table next to a large window and stood an old, weathered French door in the background. To me, one of the most important aspects of a still life is the relationship of the objects to each other and to the space around them. In this case, I worked out the placement of the pears first, then added the leaves. I used my 8x10 camera with a 300mm lens and Kodak T-max 400 film. Because I was very close to the subject and needed good depth of field, I stopped down to f/45 and made a time exposure. In printing this image in platinum/palladium, I found the warm tones of a mostly palladium emulsion on a warm white stock gave the image the wonderful feel I had imagined.
Platinum Printing Workshop with Ray Bidegain and Patrick Kolb, February 9-11, 2007
Platinum/palladium prints are valued by photographers, collectors, galleries, and museums for their inherent beauty and archival stability. This workshop will demystify this process and give students the basic skills necessary to produce very fine platinum/palladium prints at a reasonable cost.
The workshop will be held at the Washington State University campus in Vancouver, WA. Space is limited to only ten students. Cost will be $225, all-inclusive (price includes chemistry kits, paper, etc. for hands-on lab sessions). You may sign up and reserve your spot with a deposit of $125 via PayPal by clicking here.
John Wimberley
John Wimberley recently traveled to the Warner Uplands of Eastern Oregon, near Adel, to photograph at a major petroglyph site. He camped in "Luna," his four-wheel-drive VW van. Elk and deer kept him company as he photographed with his 5x7 camera along basalt rims that were long inhabited by prehistoric Indians. Here you see his image “Lone Grave Butte #284” from the series he has named for a geographical feature in the region.
For purchase information on John’s contact prints, please click here.
Patrick Kolb
Taking advantage of summer-like October weather, Patrick Kolb journeyed to the Southern Oregon coast towns of Coos Bay and Bandon to capture their unique features with his large-format camera. Staying first at Sunset Bay State Park, Patrick was able to spend many hours with one of his all-time favorite subjects, the sculpted sandstone formations at nearby Shore Acres, while Mary Jo hunted wild mushrooms in the adjoining woods. Below is “Shore Acres – New Beginning,” one of the abstract images Patrick brought home from this part of the trip. He next focused on the exquisite formal gardens on the former Louis Simpson estate, which include plants from all over the world, a Japanese-style pond and collectors’ roses. This environment presented Patrick with some images just made for expression in platinum prints.
A few miles down the road, Bandon’s beaches beckoned, their surf adorned with rocky spires and massive, water-sculpted crags. A stay at Bullard’s Beach State Park’s campground provided time to photograph at the beach as well as at the classic Coquille River lighthouse. Above is a digital snapshot by one of the volunteer lighthouse keepers, who saw Patrick on the rocks just below and wanted to document his curious old-fashioned apparatus. (If you get out this way, be sure to stop at the Bandon Coffee Café, a great bakery in the Old Town section with free wi-fi and excellent pastries and coffee.)
To see Patrick’s special offer on these new prints, please click here.
Special-Offer Prints by Guild Members
With the holiday season just around the corner, this would be a great time to check out the specially priced prints offered by Guild members through this newsletter. Using this link, you can buy selected photographs that Guild members have discounted 20% (or more) for a limited time. At left is Gerhard Bock’s “Canyonlands,” just one of several images that are featured this month. Some of the prints are featured in the current B&W Magazine advertisement. Please visit this issue's special-offer prints on our website.
New Members