“For Every Mozart, a Million Salieris” … Tim Vanderweert

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I think Tim Vanderweert had one of the best photography sites on the net. I loved his no nonsense writing. I didn’t always agree, but Leicaphila.com remains in my favorites power rotation! His passing earlier this year was a tragedy but his photographs and writings will live on for those who visit this wonderful place. In an early blog entry he writes about, “Why B&W Photography”, as well as Robert Frank, who he considered to be his “photographic mentor”. I found the following particularly thought provoking:

“Photography, as Robert Frank has stated, is “an art for lazy people.” And it is an easy medium to master, more so now than ever. But really good photography, evocative images that have something to say, are still as rare as hen’s teeth. It’s always been that way with every creative medium. For every Mozart, a million Salieris; for every Robert Frank, a million photographers printing super large, vibrantly colorful, resolutely superb junk. The mistake comes from thinking that Art results simply from doing something competently. Its the mistake of the Salieris of the world. True Art, the product of a unique inspiration, uses the artistic medium as a way to make statements about itself rather than the subject in front of the artist. The best black and white photography, reducing images to essential visual elements of form, shape and tonal relationships, allows the viewer to see behind the photograph’s illusion as representation in a way not available to color images.”

I think what Frank should have said is lazy people think they can use photography to make art. And to say it a little differently than what Tim wrote, with modern digital cameras the technical aspects of medium are easy to master.

As I’ve written lately I’ve been on a bit of a book buying binge lately and feel that I have now just about rounded out my library fairly well … I am on the hunt for a reasonably priced three book set of Bruce Davidson’s work Outside, Inside, and if I had more space I could always buy more books to be more of a completist. So I’m pretty satisfied that my library is filled with books of great photographers that understood “the mistake comes from thinking that Art results simply from doing something competently … and that “True Art, the product of a unique inspiration, uses the artistic medium as a way to make statements about itself rather than the subject in front of the artist”.

I couldn’t agree more with Tim that “really good photography, evocative images that have something to say, are still as rare as hen’s teeth”. There are so few photographers that get it right. The great ones knew they were lucky to make many truly meaningful images in year’s time. Those are the ones I gravitate to and draw inspiration from.

I think Tim is also right in his statement about black and white can enable vs. color. And while it may be harsh … Tim always told you what he thought, not necessary what you wanted to hear … it is true that “for every Robert Frank, [there are] a million photographers printing super large, vibrantly colorful, resolutely superb junk”.

I also believe that hand in hand with great black and white photographs that “reduce images to essential visual elements of form, shape and tonal relationships” is the use of normal to no more than moderate wide angle lenses, e.g., not wider than 28mm (or equivalent in medium format or larger formats). The vast majority of the books I own by those photographers I greatly admire contain black and white images with a fairly normal field of view. There are some exceptions, e.g., color photography by Eliot Porter (“American Places”), Morley Baer (“The Wilder Shore”) and Jeffrey Becom (“Mediterranean Color”), but I can’t think of any photographer I gravitate to who’s pictures have an exaggerated angle of view.

So here’s what to do. Buy the books and learn from the masters, the one’s whose work has and will continue to stand the test of time. Then strive to make well seen and captured work that’s meaningful to you. It’s a constant struggle, but well worth the effort. Though frustrating, I’d rather have a but a few gems out of a year’s work than a bunch of also rans.

Oh, just one other thing … when you have some time listen to some Mozart.

Stay well,

Michael

A Bit About My Photograph … “Glasses and Glass, Buffalo”

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Ok, I think I’ve decided to talk about my photographs more or less in the chronological order in which they were made. So here is another early one I am quite fond of, made when I was a teenager.

I always enjoyed walking around downtown Buffalo with only my 35mm camera, a 50mm lens along and a roll or two of film. I was becoming more confident in myself and the results I was getting, often of people I found interesting in some sort of way. I was looking for what I have come to think of as environmental portraits … always as close as I could get, even though I didn’t own a 35mm lens. Glasses and Glass, Buffalo is a good example of this!

There was some kind of outdoor art festival going on and these events always could be counted on to bring out some interesting looking people!  The first thing I noticed when I saw this woman sitting behind her table was the unusual large glass vases she was selling. But as I got closer, I noticed the slightly bizarre eye glasses she was wearing.  They seemed to mirror the shapes and designs of the vases sitting in front of her!  As I continued to study the scene before me I realized she was sitting in front of a large storefront window that had been covered with designs made from soap or candle wax. These background designs seemed to mirror woman’s glasses and her glasswork! I got as close as I reasonably could, smiled, framed up and made my picture, then nodded and walked away.

I’m not so sure this picture would have been as successful were it not for the chaotic background. And even with that background, it wouldn’t have been very interesting without those wonderful and tacky glasses!  All and all a lucky combination that all came together in an instant. I think it is these lucky combinations of visual elements that are what make the most interesting and rewarding images. It can be frustrating; they’re far and few between, but fifty years later I am still on the lookout for them! When found its pure magic!

Stay well,

Michael

“It’s About being There and Having the Privilege of Being In Command of Your Own Joy” … Don McCullin

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Recently I saw an interview of Don McCullin on YouTube. In discussing his landscape work McCullin said:

“Many times I go home without a picture because the last minute clouds go somewhere else. The sun’s beating in my face. I get nothing and you know I align it for the same situation that somebody sits on the riverbank fishing. It’s not about catching fish or getting negatives. It’s about being there and having the privilege of being in command of your own joy.”

So there you have it. I’m not going to compare myself to the great master, but I got some serious satisfaction knowing that he thinks the same way I do about the “journey” and “being there”! Damn, he even uses the fishing analogy like I have!!

Here’s what I wrote almost eight years ago:

Photography and Fishing

When I was a boy I used to go fishing a lot.  Not too often in a boat, but mostly on local piers along the Niagara River, Lake Erie or Lake Ontario in and around Buffalo, NY where I lived.  Sometimes my Dad would come with me and hang out and other times he would drop me off with a couple of my friends.  As I got a little older I would lash my fishing rod onto the frame of my red Huffy bike, strap my tackle box to the rear rack and peddle all the way down to Niagara Street myself.  Neither my parents nor I ever thought twice about me riding down main streets by myself, miles from home, but I guess it was a different time then.

I would spend hours sitting on those old wooden or concrete structures that protruded into the water with my Dad, my friends or by myself.  The fact is that I didn’t catch very many fish.  But even at a relatively young age I realized that it wasn’t all about catching fish.  The fishing was a means to an end because I was having a great time talking about all the girls I liked that would never want to be seen with me, telling stories and bad jokes, and just meeting other people, particularly the old timers.

I was taking in a world that was different from the world of my family, school, Boy Scouts or Little League.  This was my special private world, void of expectations, but full of daydreams, fresh air, snacks and soda pop, and if I was lucky, sometimes some “keepers”.

Perhaps you are wondering why I am bringing up my fond memories of being young and going fishing.  Well what I described is how I have felt for over 45 years when I go out photographing.  I am in another special world.  Not the world of my family, work, religion, politics or a hundred other things, both wonderful and not so good.  This is my special world of seeing and just taking in life’s moments that are surrounding me as I walk, hike or drive.  It’s wonderful and another means to an end, just like it was when I was “fishing”, even if I don’t end up ever snapping the shutter or getting any “keepers”.  Of course not making an exposure or capturing a wonderful image is not the intended outcome, but just as I always hoped to catch a nice fish, it doesn’t always happen.  Seeing the world and taking it all in, on your own terms, in your own time, is really special and an opportunity to be grateful for.

Think about it.  You might enjoy yourself, and without the stress or self-imposed expectations of the results, you may get more “keepers” than before.

******

My feelings haven’t changed since I wrote that early entry. If anything, they’ve gotten stronger!  In fact, I have touched on this theme a number of times here. What’s gratifying for me is to know that others have the same experiences when they’re out there as I do … that as important as their work is … there is something more.

Stay well,

Michael

My Artist Lecture at Penn State … “Michael Marks: A Passion for Analog Photography and Music”

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As part of programming related to the Monalog Collective’s show at Penn State Lehigh Valley, I was asked to give an artist lecture called “Michael Marks: A Passion for Analog Photography and Music”. I gave my talk this past week and it went very well. No one fell asleep or walked out while I was speaking! As part of the talk I was able to show a number of my prints, the cameras I have used to make them, as well some of my favorite vinyl record albums. Staying on theme I even made some pictures and stopped at a used record store on the way there! All in all a great experience!

I thought you might enjoy my talk, so here it is!

  • Hello, I’m Michael Marks and I am very pleased to be back to Penn State to talk to you about my passion of Analog … Analog Photography, notably black and white – using light sensitive silver-based film and paper and traditional darkroom practices, and Analog Music – listening to vinyl records created from a pure analog process chain.
  • Before diving in I’d like to thank Ann Lalik for asking me to give this somewhat offbeat talk. I hope you’ll find it interesting and perhaps amusing.
  • I’m a black and white film photographer. I make prints on silver gelatin paper under the light of an enlarger using negatives I’ve developed.  I’ve done this for more than 50 years. My pictures are made with 60 year old mechanical cameras. I’ve never made a digital photograph for personal work … only to sell stuff on eBay. So that doesn’t count.  There is something very pure, authentic, and visually rich with a real sense of immediacy … to me … about black and white photographs printed on silver gelatin paper. They allow me to best express myself and there’s great joy in creating the finished product!
  • I only listen to vinyl LPs. And I listen to them through equipment using 60 year old tube electronics instead of transistors.  I have done this for more than 50 years.  I only listen to CDs in my car because I can’t play records there.  So that doesn’t count.
  • I listen to vinyl LPs for many of the same reasons why I use black and white film and make my own prints in my darkroom. There is something very pure, authentic, and tonally rich with a real sense of immediacy … to me … about listening to vinyl through a tube-based system, along with the entire vinyl experience … the record itself, the cover art, the album jacket and other materials that often accompany the record.
  • So what’s going on here? Am I an Analog Luddite?  I’d like not to think so.  I use an iPhone after all … although I avoid text messaging, don’t do social media and have been told by friends I should have lived my life in the 1950s!
  • My interest is primarily in photographing people in their environment, often seeking what I consider amusing. And what can be more amusing than a Donald Trump zombie standing next to another zombie with a huge kitchen knife protruding from her head? I really don’t know, so when I saw that picture before me I had no choice but to make it! You can see if you agree … it’s around the corner at the exhibit “The Monalog Collective: Traditional Analog Black and White Prints”.
  • So Monalog is an interesting name for a group of photographers isn’t it. I thought so when I first came up with the idea while taking a walk.
  • What if you combined the concept of monochrome, which is another word for black and white, and analog which is another word for non-digital. All of sudden the word Monalog flashed before me … spelled MONALOG … not MONOLOGUE which is what Jimmy Fallon does every night when he opens the Tonight Show!
  • When I founded our Collective in 2019, and dedicated it to supporting black and white film photography and traditional printing processes, it made sense to call it Monalog. And because I couldn’t help myself I actually trademarked the word!
  • My passion for analog black and white analog photography goes back to when my parents gave me my first camera, a Kodak Brownie, when I was 10 years old.
  • Here it is!!!
  • I loved making pictures and going to camera stores. I could look at the cameras, talk to the salespeople and learn everything I could.  They’d let me hold pick up and marvel at anything I wanted to see even though they knew my paper route money wouldn’t get me too far.
  • Given my finances, I became good at buying and selling to get what I wanted and finally ended up with a used Nikon F2, which was and still is a spectacular camera. I also was able to somehow finagle a Hasselblad 500C camera with a gorgeous chrome Zeiss lens.  I loved that camera but soon needed money to buy a car, so off it went.  Having a ride was better than having your parents drive you on a date!
  • Beginning with my first one in my parent’s basement I’ve always had a darkroom, except when I was away at school or newly married.
  • When we bought our first house I built a in darkroom in my basement.
  • I wanted a 10 foot stainless steel sink but they were too expensive. So I told my wife I would build one out of wood.  Being familiar with my skillset, her immediate response was laughing derision.  She said it would be better if we found the money for the stainless steel sink.  At least it wouldn’t leak.
  • So what was I to do? The only thing possible, now that the gauntlet had been thrown – build a large wooden sink! It wasn’t perfect, but it held water and even drained as it should!
  • One problem. After I built it in my darkroom space I realized if we ever moved it would never get out the door, let alone up the stairs. No problem, I used it for twenty-five trouble free years.
  • I actually developed an attachment to the thing, so when we sold the house in 2012 I had another idea as improbable as my one to build the sink in the first place – saw it in half so it could be moved to Pennsylvania where it would eventually be put back together!
  • Again, my wife thought I was crazy, so what was I to do? My friend brought his very large power tool over and in a few minutes the whole thing was cut in two.
  • The pieces were moved to Doylestown from the DC suburbs, and with the help of a kindly carpenter, who first laughed but then felt sorry for me, the sink was put back together.
  • I thought you might like to see some examples of my work – black and white pictures made with film and printed on silver gelatin paper in my darkroom. I also brought some of my cameras used to make them. 

SHOW PICTURES AND CAMERAS

  • As I’ve said, I have another passion … listening to music … on vinyl records played using ancient tubes. Not surprising, I don’t own a CD player and don’t stream either.  Hum … black and white film photography, vinyl and tubes. Perhaps there’s a pattern here!
  • Why analog playback? Like analog black and white photography it’s just more real and immersive. Records sound more like live music with a warmth and lush sound that make you want to keep listening. The whole experience is special to me. The art and craft that goes into the making vinyl … the entire analog chain from capturing the live performance on tape to creating a master lacquer and the pressing of records onto the vinyl. The tactile pleasure of handling the record itself, cleaning the record, putting the needle down on the record, the pleasure of looking at the record sleeve and other materials that accompany the record, the beautiful outer jacket, and most important … the sound.
  • I began listening to records in the early 1960s but I got hooked for good when I first heard the Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 on my cousin Elliot’s Zenith Circle of Sound stereo. I think we listened to it about 11 times that day! And yes, it changed my life!
  • Thanks to my paper route earnings I soon I had my first stereo. The brands are long gone but my fond memories remain.
  • Today I own over 6000 records. Just ask my wife about my habit. I buy them at record stores like Double Decker Records in Allentown and from online shops and individuals all over the world. Old records and new ones.
  • That’s right new vinyl! Here’s a news flash. Today they’re selling more turntables than ever before and more LPs are being produced than CDs … because … you guessed it … they’re better!
  • Admittedly I have more records than I will ever listen to in my lifetime. Even if I don’t get to listen to them all I can admire them, their jackets, the artwork, and just everything about them.
  • Here’s a record I own you should be familiar … A UK pressing of Sgt. Pepper with along a CD copy I borrowed from a friend. And here are a few others. 

SHOW RECORDS AND CDs

  • Ok, now you know about me and my two passions. Now some more on why you should consider analog in making photographs and listening to music!
  • The look and depth of an analog print, especially black and white … you can see into it … it’s not sitting on top of the surface of the paper like an inkjet print. Just look at our show, but its more than that. It is about an entire photographic process ritual that’s slow and deliberative, from loading the film into your camera to carefully metering the light and framing your picture, to developing your film, to printing the final version of your picture in the darkroom after many failed tries.
  • This is so much different than the digital workflow.
  • We move at an ever-faster pace in our daily lives and become drawn into the digital/ mobile/ phone tablet/ computer vortex. Do you want that as part of your creative life?
  • So how do you create something meaningful rather than more noise? I think this question is at the heart of the film/photographic process.
  • I believe there is something special about the film/photographic process. You work slower and more deliberatively, connecting with subjects rather than firing off hundreds or even thousands of shots per day, hoping later to find a few “keepers” buried within all the rubble. Analog photography is a contemplative approach that supports the creative process, and is much different than the digital experience.
  • There’s a quiet solitude working in the darkroom with only a dim safelight on. And there’s nothing quite like the magic of exposing a blank sheet of photographic paper under the light of the enlarger, then watching your picture slowly emerge as the paper floats in the tray of developer.
  • Compare that to making a digital print … sitting in front of a computer with Photoshop, then pushing a button to print with ink. I believe and have found in my own experience that anything worth doing is hard. And there’s a special satisfaction in the accomplishment!
  • A friend of mine who is a very fine photographer went over to the dark side and even took a workshop on how to be a better digital printer. One day I was looking as some of his prints and asked how long it took to make them. He told me he did it during commercials while watching a football game.
  • Digital is just so damn easy and the results often show it. I’ve taught photography classes and all my students use digital devices. I tell them the most important thing they can do to improve their results is to slow down and concentrate.
  • Then there’s Photoshop. I think it’s essential that it be used subtly and judiciously. Unfortunately this isn’t always the case. Yes, we dodge and burn and use different paper contrasts when we print in the darkroom, but in the digital world it’s just too easy to overly manipulate things … because … well … it’s just too easy.
  • What we’re really talking about is convenience vs. craft. In my opinion, digital is really about convenience and speed. And why not? That’s what we look for in the rest of our daily lives, from fast food, to home delivery, to text messaging.
  • Recently I heard that over 3 billion photographs are being made each day. That’s right – 3 BILLION! Very few of these are being printed. So when displayed, they appear mainly on the Internet via the various photo sharing sites. The vast majority are most certainly digitally based. I think that’s fine, but how do you rise above the overwhelming quantity to create something truly meaningful to you?
  • Well, I believe more and more people are going back to film-based photography. Things will never be what they were 15 or 20 years ago, but again who would have thought vinyl LPs would make such a comeback.  People are longing to create something that is truly tangible, the result of a linear creative process that can be held in one’s hands, vs. something viewed in a fleeting moment on an electronic device or as a single dimensional print made during a television commercial.
  • Maybe you know this is true. There’s no hiding, no excuses, and it takes much more effort and more thought — but so does anything that is truly worthwhile in life!
  • Think about it … it’s the picture you first envision in your mind’s eye and expose on film; the developed negative results in a print you labor to make as best as you can to recreate your original vision, then you finally view and ultimately hold in your hands the results of your finished work. That’s satisfying, even more so if you hang your print on a wall somewhere.
  • So what to do? I think easy and convenient go hand in hand. But easy and convenient don’t always produce the best results or the most satisfying outcomes.
  • Somewhere there needs to be a place in our lives for something that isn’t easy or convenient. There needs to be a place in our lives for something that is hard and inconvenient. For me it is my photography, how I go about creating my work and the craft of it.  The ends justify the means. I have a similar approach to listening to music. Only vinyl played through tube electronics.  Very inconvenient but the results are sublime.
  • I have a wonderful library and study the greats … Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Paul Strand, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alfred Stieglitz, Robert Frank. I have a wonder record collection and listen to Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Bob Dylan, the Beatles. My passion for analog photography and music playback has remained strong for almost sixty years.
  • Like using film and making traditional wet prints, listening to my favorite vinyl records through tube electronics is the ultimate listening experience. When I sit down and listen to a good pressing of a Beethoven piano concerto or Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, turn the lights low and see the tubes glowing its sublime. Just like looking at an 8 x 10 contact print down the hallway.
  • Oh and by the way, on March 9th, the Recording Industry Association of America confirmed that vinyl records outsold CDs in 2022, for the first time since 1987.
  • Thank you.

Stay well,

Michael

Filling Known and Previously Unknown Holes in My Library

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I’ve gone on a bit of a near end (I hope!) of Covid book buying binge as differentiated from the full blown Covid book buying binge I had a while back. I realized I had forgotten about getting some books I had long wanted and I also made some important new discoveries, care of the Internet. Beyond some obvious holes that had to be filled, I realized I needed to open the aperture beyond what I know about in general and move more beyond an American photographer-centric focus.

Newest books include those by these incredible photographers: Bill Brandt (UK), Don McCullum – two books (UK), Robert Doisneau (France) Sergio Larraine (Chile), Graciela Iturbide (Mexico), Josef Koudelka (Czechoslovakia/France), Fan Ho – three books (Hong Kong), William Klein – two books (US/France) and Carl Chiarenza (US).

If you live in the US and have focused primarily on American photographers, or haven’t ventured beyond your normal field of view, I encourage you to do some research and discover the many great photographers whose books would make an important addition to your library, provide you with inspiration, and contribute to your own photographic growth.

Stay well,

Michael

My Neato Torpedo Sunday Road Trip Part 2: Takeaways from the Exhibit “Timestamp …. The Photographs of Larry Fink and Judith Joy Ross”, Allentown Museum of Art

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So after Photorama, Peter and I headed to the Allentown Museum of Art, about an hour and a half away, to see the double bill show of two great photographers living in my neck of the woods … Larry Fink and Judith Joy Ross. Timestamp … The Photographs of Larry Fink and Judith Joy Ross is a small and intimate show. The space devoted to both photographers could have easily been filled by the work of just one of them. Yet for those that have never seen either of their work this might be a good place to start.

The exhibit focuses on Fink’s photographs made on the streets of Harlem in the Sixties and Ross’s outdoor portraits made in the areas where she grew up, Weatherly and Hazelton Pennsylvania.

The work of the two photographers and how it is presented could not be more different! Fink’s photographs were made with a 35mm camera. Ross’s images were made with an 8 x 10 view camera on a tripod. Their choice of equipment and negative size notwithstanding, seeing both artist’s work side by side made me think about what goes into the print that will be displayed to the world … beyond that of the subject matter itself. Fink’s pictures were quite large; probably about 20 x 24 inches in size. All of Ross’ work were 8 x 10 contact prints except one pretty good sized enlargement.  Fink’s prints were made with an ink jet printer. Ross’ prints were made on gold toned printing-out-paper. Fink’s hybrid process prints looked like ink jet prints; the pictures resided on top of the paper’s surface. Ross’s prints had an incredible depth to them. Fink’s prints were much larger than necessary in my opinion, and didn’t force you to really study all that was going on in them. Ross’s prints were intimate studies that drew you in.

Ross’s one silver gelatin enlargement provided the opportunity to do an apples to apples comparison, and as far as I am concerned it wasn’t close in terms of emotional reaction. The Ross print made on silver gelatin paper just had so much more depth and feeling, as well as a real sense of immediacy to them. You’ll just have to visit the show to see if you agree!  In the end, while I was drawn more to the content of Fink’s outstanding work, I felt it was underserved by the presentation.  All of this having been said, Timestamp … The Photographs of Larry Fink and Judith Joy Ross is a fine show and well worth the visit!

An added bonus to the show was the opportunity to meet its curator Leah Frances who happens to be a wonderful photographer … I checked out her website when I got home! See her work at www.leah-frances.com.  We had a nice chat and I look forward to further conversations.

Stay well,

Michael

My Neato Torpedo Sunday Road Trip Part 1: Takeaways from Photorama USA … More Signs Film is Back!

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On Sunday I joined my friend and Monalog Collective co-member Peter Schrager for an action packed photographic road in Pennsylvania.  Our first stop was at the Best Western Plus Hotel in Bensalem, PA, about a half hour or so from where I live. We had discussed finding a date to see the Larry Fink/Judith Joy Ross double bill show at the Allentown Museum of Art and Peter mentioned his plans to drive down from Connecticut to go to Photorama USA at its Pennsylvania stop.  I love camera shows and hadn’t been to one since before the pandemic, so needless to say I was excited to go!!! We quickly set a date when we could do our road trip double header!!

We arrived at the Best Western in the morning just as things were getting underway in the morning and walked in. It looked like things were pretty much the same as the last time.  The show organizer and some of the dealers recognized me which was nice, and at first glance things pretty much looked the same … lots of stuff scattered with no rhyme or reason on lots of tables.

But it really wasn’t the same.  Almost everything was analog!!!!  From cameras (35mm, medium format and large format) to accessories, to film, and darkroom tidbits. We even checked out a stash of darkroom items in the trunk of someone’s car in the parking lot. But beyond the fact that there was hardly any digitalia to be found, prices had gone up dramatically for most of the used cameras you could previously pick up for a song. And much of what I saw was in “user” condition! Most shocking of all were the prices for medium format cameras such as Hasselblad, Mamiya 7, Rollei, etc. Sky high, e.g., $3500 for a user Mamiya 7 (not eve 7IIA!) and 80mm lens!

I didn’t spend anything except the fin to get in … I couldn’t afford to … but I had a lot of fun just looking at all the neat gear and talking to the dealers. Back in the car and driving to Allentown I thought about what was going on here. Look, the guys sitting behind the tables were there for one reason only – to make money!  So they brought stuff to sell they knew had the best chance to be bought. To me what was at the show and what was not, along the high prices was yet another set of signs that film is back!!!!

Yeah baby!!!

Stay well,

Michael

The Young are Interested in Black and White Analog Photography!

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Last Monday I moderated and was a member of an Artist Panel of Monalog Collective members at Penn State Lehigh Valley University, as part of the programing surrounding our show. Ann Lalik, the gallery’s Director and Arts Coordinator was going to moderate the event but came down with Covid at the last minute. Rather than cancel we agreed the show must go on! And I’m glad it did!

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of my dual role, mainly because of the student attendees. Two good sized art classes came, along with a number of professors and outside guests, but it was the students that asked the most interesting questions and made some of the most important observations! You never know how these things are going to go, but we went well past the scheduled time allotted and even after that, a number of students hung around to chat with us.

Even though none of the students were film photographers – in fact many were not photographers at all – they were fascinated by what they heard and the pictures they saw in the Ronald K. Delong Gallery. This along with many other things encourage me about the continued importance and future of analog black and white photography. Film photography is unlikely to reclaim its place as the capture method of choice, but if the young remain as interested as they are in its efficacy, and especially the efficacy of black and white, then the materials we love so much will be available for a long time!

Part of the Monalog mission is to engage with others, individually and through collaborative activity. I look forward to the opportunity to continue to interact, mentor and work with young people that are photographing or just interested in the art of black and white analog photography.

Stay well,

Michael