The Photographic Society of Philadelphia, the oldest continuously active photographic society in the United States, marks its 150th anniversary with a major exhibition opening on November 4th, 2012 at The Plastic Club Galleries on the Avenue of the Artists in Center City Philadelphia.
The juried exhibition, which will be open Sundays November 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th from 1:00 5:00pm and Tuesday evening November 20th from 6:00 9:00pm, can be experienced at The Plastic Club, 247 Camac Street, Philadelphia, PA.
Presenters will include many of the outstanding ninety-six members of PSoP some who have shown their work in galleries throughout the US, Europe and Philadelphia. The exhibition will be juried by a panel of three distinguished members of the photographic community Kyle Cassidy, JJ Tiziou and Martin McNamara.
During this celebratory year, The Photographic Society of Philadelphia will draw attention to its longevity (the third oldest in the world founded in 1862) and illustrious history. Documentary, artistic and scientific works by many of its members have featured prominently in the history of American photography. Changes in technology have moved forward dramatically and no longer dictate that photographers must grind their own lenses, or make their own cameras. The digital era and instant have become the norm.
President of PSoP, Eileen Eckstein, noted that The object of the Society, as stated in the constitution, was to increase and diffuse knowledge of the natural laws which relate to the action of light, and particularly to promote improvements in the art of photography. And, she added, rhetoric aside, the philosophy, developed one hundred and fifty years ago, is as fresh today.
Since its inception, The Photographic Society of Philadelphia has been a haven for both amateur and professional photographers who come together for photographic outings, educational lectures and lively discussions on techniques, style and the art of photography.
The Amateur Photographers of this city have long felt the want of opportunity for full and free interchange of views relative to their favorite pursuit. Under the conviction that we might readily form an association whose re-unions would be agreeable and beneficial, I have made bold to take the initiative step, and to ask the favor of your attendance at a preliminary (and unceremonious) meeting at my laboratory, on Tuesday evening, December 4th, at half-past seven oclock.
“Girls are getting into abstract analysis That want to make that intuitive leap They are making plans that have far reaching effects” – Talking Heads, The Girls Want To Be With The Girls, More Songs About Buildings & Food
Gallery 339at the corner of 21st and Pine Streets is dedicated to fine art photography, the chic space always has something special and inspirational to see. Spending time alone there with the incredible images is one of DoN‘s favorite things to do because there is nowhere else like it to see art by master photographers (except PPAC, of course) but that’s across town. The gallery has become a destination for photography lovers from around the world and it’s right down the street from Haus ofDoN. Usually the gallery is dedicated to just a few photographers, focussing on a body of work but More Photos About Buildings and Food is a large group theme show with many of the great photographers who have exhibited in the past at the gallery.
The opening night was more like a party than an opening with a DJ spinning classic Talking Heads songs at ear throbbing volume making it impossible to talk but that only meant the party spilled out into the street. The eclectic mix of images are either about buildings or food, all of them spectacular and special examples of the state of the art in fine art photography. Some are easy to look at, some disturbing and deep, others are pop art or documentary style. The mix is heady and exciting, the crowd was loud and rambunctious – just the way DoN likes it.
More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Martin Parr, Turkey Leg, Disneyland, Tokyo, 1998, chromogenic print
More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Vincent Feldman, Shizuoka Shinbun and Broadcasting System Tower, carbon pigment print
Vincent Feldmanlives down the block from DoN and it was a nice surprise to see him and his family at the show, it was an even better surprise to see his work in the show with spectacular prints of Japanese modern architecture. Over the roar of the music we chatted about his contribution to the exhibit. DoN asked how Vincent Feldman, a professor of photography atUniversity of the Arts, got involved with More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339?
“Well, I live in the neighborhood near the gallery, so I know Martin McNamara, the owner and director of the gallery and he’s actually purchased some of my work in the past. So the work that he owns is what’s being exhibited but they’re a larger scale. I take pictures of buildings and that’s part of the theme of the show, so, it worked out for this exhibit.”
DoN asked how long Vincent Feldmanhas been involved in photography? “Thirty-plus years, most of my life.” Not long ago the artist unloaded a bunch of enlargers for people to glean from the street which lead DoN to think maybe he had gone digital. “I still have some enlargers, but the prints I’ve been doing lately, I would say, are mostly digital but I always shoot film. It’s four by five negatives, there’s nothing comparable for me to shoot digitally in that size. I use a large format 4 x 5, Toyo, a Japanese company”
Do you still have a darkroom, they seem to be going away? “Yes. There are still a lot of darkrooms, in fact, they seem to be a growth industry since a lot of them have been decommissioned and I teach, too, and a lot of students want to print in the darkroom. They want to make real prints. It’s a magical process, I love working with the computer but I think you should know what real photography looks like before you try and make it with a computer. You can make anything, you can print out an M16 now, a working gun, so what’s to prevent students from doing that, when you give them a computer you’ve got to focus them and the computer’s not a great thing to focus with if you’re just learning.”
“I have a book coming out in the Spring called Philadelphia City Abandoned about the civic architecture of the city. I’m working with Paul Dry a Philadelphia publisher and he’s been really great and hopefully it’s going to be a beautiful book that will last a long time.”
More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Mary Parisi, Wounded Soup, chromogenic print
More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Ion Zupco, American Homes Portfolio, gelatin silver prints
Bob Bruhin at Cafe Twelve – Images from Eraserhood
The Photographic Society of Philadelphia‘s current solo show is photographer and blogger Bob Bruhin, at the reception in the comfy Cafe Twelve, 212 S. 12th Street, Bob explained to a group of society members his collection of photographs. “This is a small selection that I call Images from the Eraserhood, it’s photos that were taken originally for my blog eraserhood.com, which is discussing the neighborhood North of Vine Street, South of Spring Garden Street, East of Broad Street and West of 7th or 8th depending on how you determine it. It’s an historically industrial neighborhood that used to have the Reading Railroad running through it, there a big old thing called the Reading Viaduct which was where the railroad ran before they built commuter tunnels. It’s filled with old industrial properties, beautiful stunning buildings. In the mid to late 60’s the artist David Lynch lived there, he was a student at the Pennsylvania Academy and the geography and the look and the tone of that neighborhood of that time inspired his first feature film entitled Eraserhead (Import, All Regions). So recently as the neighborhood has developed it’s taken on the name Eraserhood, it kind of stuck to the neighborhood,”
Bob Bruhin at Cafe Twelve – Images from Eraserhood
“All that fascinated me when I came to work there, I work in a building called the Wolf Building which is an emblem of the factories and condos and offices and apartments, all manner of things. Rick Wright has his studio in that building. At the time I was originally photographing only using a cell phone, so what I was doing was taking composite images panoramically, specifically to build up a large enough image to make it worth the trouble. Eventually I found it amusing enough that I started to use a real small Nikon point and shoot, a simple Nikon Coolpix L20 10MP Digital Camera. But since I became addicted to the panoramic process at that point, I continued to do that and started building larger images, I worked with exposure stacking and high dynamic range to intensify the color and textures of the images.”
Bob Bruhin at Cafe Twelve – Images from Eraserhood
“So it’s kind of an historical study but it’s supposed to be a bit of a twisted historical study just because of the twisted history of the neighborhood, the tone of David Lynch‘s work kind of inspired that. I was further inspired by the fact that it is now a National Historic Landmark called the Callowhill Historic District which has all of these buildings in this show are from the Callowhill Historic District set…these have all been done with the panoramic process and have been enhanced with exposure stacking and high dynamic range. I bracket all my exposures and combine them digitally at the end wih a more even exposure and also to capture all the texture that I can possibly capture.”
Spring Bud, photograph, Jeff Stroud, Galleria Deptford, Deptford Municipal Building, 1011 Cooper St., Deptford, NJ, December 2011.
“I just started to notice how intricate the buds are on the trees as I was passing them by while I was walking, I didn’t realize. So, I was walking with the camera and as an artist, I thought these are worth taking pictures of, it’s very detailed, there’s a lot of detail that we don’t see on a normal basis.” Jeff Stroud‘s photograph, bathed in natural light from a convenient skylight is at once impressionist and representational, a sense of the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring. “This is actually shot at my home in Magnolia, there’s woods that surround the house and the energy of it, Nature’s always changing. I was using an 18 to 55mm lens and I just get very close to the shot.”
Jeff Stroud‘s photography is part of a group show in the halls of the Deptford Municipal Building in South Jersey, he is represented by eleven photographs. Jeff brought an extra photograph with him to get help from curator Pauline Jonas in editing and she decided to include them all. The annual photography show brings together work from a diverse group of regional artists that Jonas intuitively pulls together from her wide network of resources. “I met Pauline through the Salem County Arts League, I showed with them a couple years ago, which is all kinds of artists and I met Pauline through them. People that I know from the Salem County Arts League had show’s here (at Galleria Deptford) and I came to see them.”, said Jeff. “And then Pauline invited me to be in this show.”
Born With, Jeff Stroud, photograph. Jeff is a member of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia and will be a featured artist at the group show in Cafe Twelve in early 2012.
December 5 – February 1, 2012 Reception December 11
Photography by: Nancy Fogel and Diane Abell of www.dustydogdigital.com, Rona Golfen, Derek Jecxz, Kelly Lynd, Jeff Stroud, Arlene Wilson and her husband, Tony Wilson. And Design Concepts by David Smith.