New Exhibition: Romancing Σtone by Jonathan Spath

In his series of photographs Romancing Σtone, Jonathan Spath unifies two areas of deep personal interest - math and photography.

The photos, taken in a former granite quarry on Cape Ann, MA, also reflect his style of photographing which "looks further and deeper into everyday surroundings to discover what singular perspectives may exist both in the object and the space around the object," he says.

"The stones' shapes, tones, textures, and scale were all of initial interest to me," Spath says. "I then spent time sitting, being in and getting a sense for the place and its formations. After some time passed, I began seeing the distinct geometric shapes, the spheres, the many triangles and other polygons. My natural inclination to uncover the order, even the mathematical, within the randomness of the stone piles emerged."

Spath adds that the photographs' titles also describe a mathematical quality he sees or feels within the stone. In the photo Inscribed, for example, Spath says "the oblate stone is positioned to almost touch the exterior triangle in three locations. The egg shape is therefore 'inscribed' within the triangle."

"As an educator I love to take opportunities to teach through the arts," says Paula Tognarelli executive director of the Griffin Museum of Photography. "Jonathan Spath has woven and integrated some enduring lessons on math into the exhibition of his photographs that can long outlive the classroom. Learning through the arts is learning that lasts a lifetime."

Romancing Σtone is featured at the Griffin Museum at Digital Silver Imaging in Belmont, MA, January 21 through March 28. An opening reception with the artist at Digital Silver Imaging is January 28, 6-8 PM.

All framing at the DSI Gallery is provided by Kathy Skarvan from Ava Art Custom Framing.

Arthur Griffin: Ted Williams, The Splendid Splinter @ The Cambridge Homes

From The Wall Street Journal.
by William Meyers
January 16th, 2010

My older brother, Leonard, idolized Ted Williams. Growing up in Providence, R.I., in the 1940s, and a good schoolboy baseball player himself, Leonard regarded Williams with something like awe. He wasn't the only one. Arthur Griffin, a longtime sports photographer for the Boston Globe, was asked by Kodak in 1939 to try its newly developed color film; he used that 4-by-5-inch film to shoot pictures of Williams. In 1939 Williams was Rookie of the Year—young, personable and eager to oblige the press. (Later his relations with the press and his fans would sour.) The color pictures Griffin took show the Splendid Splinter in various stages of his incredibly accurate swing.
Griffin also took black-and-white pictures with his 35mm camera of Williams in the outfield leaping for a ball—his feet high off the ground, his body twisted but relaxed, and a great smile on his face. There is a picture of the Fenway crowd, all the men wearing Panama hats or straw boaters; the women, too, wearing hats. A large-format color picture of Williams at rest is a quintessential portrait of a young man for whom things are going well. In 2002, when Williams died, Sports Illustrated used one of Griffin's 1939 color photos for its cover.

Arthur Griffin: Ted Williams, The Splendid Splinter
The Cambridge Homes
360 Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA
Through February 7th.

Ron Rosenstock – 2010 Photo Tours

Join accomplished photographer and guide Ron Rosenstock. Ron started leading photo tours in 1967. In those years he has led more than 200 tours to many destinations worldwide. Ron retired from Clark University after teaching photography there for thirty years. His published books include his exquisite black and white photographs: The Light of Ireland, Chiostro (Cloister), and Hymn to the Earth; and color
photographs in Journeys. His photographs are to be found in the permanent collections of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts, The Polaroid Collection in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the International Center of Photography in New York City. Ron’s striking; one-of-a-kind photographs can be seen at www.ronrosenstock.com.

• Morocco:  February 23-March 9, Sold Out, please call for waitlist
• Iceland:  May 13-23 
• Ireland:  St. Patrick’s Day March 13-23, Accompanied by Paul Caponigro May 31-June 10, Exclusive Camera Club Members August 29-Sept. 8, Photo Workshop with Peter Cox August 20-30
• Venice:  September 21-30
• Prague:  October 1-11
• Death Valley:  October 20-26
• Bhutan:  December 1-13 
• 2011 Tours to be announced including Santorini-Greece, New Zealand

Digital Silver Imaging has worked with Ron on his Black & White digital infrared series.  Ron came to us and we helped convert his Canon 5D to infrared.  The Griffin Photo Gallery at Digital Silver Imaging exhibited his new series of Infrared prints that were printed at the lab, Digital Silver Imaging.  The images were all from the Infrared digital files, but printed onto true Ilford silver gelatin  paper. 

Contact Strabo Tours for complete details:
607-756-8676      www.phototc.com

Eric Luden interviewed for Inside Analog Photo Radio

Scott Sheppard from Inside Analog Photo interviewed me for the iTunes Podcast of his program.  We explore our silver gelatin process in detail and discuss the workflow at our lab.

So grab a cup of coffee or a nice glass of vino and listen to the interview on Inside Analog Radio. 

You can also visit the iTunes feed.

Enjoy and let us know what you think.

Archy LaSalle wins Excellence in Teaching Award

A friend from many years back, Archy LaSalle has just been awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award from Center, The Point of Great Photography.  I have always enjoyed his Widelux images and I hope my son gets to work with Archy next year when he enters the high school!

Please visit the Center site to read the complete text from Archy.


2009 WINNER
Archy LaSalle, Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, MA

"Archy's approach to photo education is comprehensive, meticulous, generous and infectious. He has long led one of the country's top high school programs, where he nourishes his students' photographic passions every day. Archy masterfully understands and values people. His teaching effectiveness is proof that strong work is intimately connected to individual support and meaningful community."
-- 2009 Juror Patrick "Pato" Hebert

Teaching Philosophy (excerpts)
"I have been teaching the art of seeing in one aspect or another since 1963. While as a sophomore in high school, I taught art to an Elementary After School program at the Boys and Girls Club in Mobile, Alabama. Professionally I have taught to middle school, high school, college, and post-grad students. There were many reasons behind my choice to teach at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School (C.R.L.S.). It was renowned as one of the top photo labs and programs anywhere. In addition, my interest in diversity attracted me to the school community. There are currently 98 different ethnic groups and races represented in our student body."

About Center
Center, formerly known as the Santa Fe Center for Photography, was founded in 1994. Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that supports, promotes, and provides opportunity for gifted and committed photographers. Their programs bring exposure to worthy photographic projects and series, and create fellowship among photographers and influential members of the photographic community.

Congratulations to Archy - Well Deserved!

Evolution of the Revolution

Over the past 6 months, we have converted close to 100 cameras to digital Infrared for our clients.  These conversions are usually at 715nm, which produces files that are very similar to the classic black & white infrared images we had with film photography.  Our continued partnership with Precision Camera has enabled us to provide an outstanding service to our clients who are looking for solid advise and experience. Precision Camera has also selected Digital Silver Imaging as their preferred partner for Infrared Conversions.

Once we have converted the cameras, we can then advise people about how to work with their files.  The images that come up in the camera and in your photo editing software will still have to be adjusted to produce a true Infrared image.  This is what you can expect your digital file will look like:

The file looks red or magenta.  We have found that working with Nik Silver Efex Pro software yields the best results for all of our black and white digital work, and especially when we're working with digital infrared files from our clients. 

We open our RAW file in Photoshop and then launch Silver Efex Pro and look at the preview file again.

In this side by side comparison, we can still see the RAW file on the left and the initial black and white conversion on the right.  Nik gives you some basic presets on the left hand side as a good starting point.  For many of the Infrared files we have received, we have found that the preset for "High Structure" yields great results.  You may have to reduce the amount of structure depending on the individual file.

Neutral Setting                              High Structure

Of course you can continue to tweak and edit the file according to your own needs.  We like to add in one of the preset film types that comes with Nik Silver Efex Pro.

 

Digital Silver Imaging is offering a special package price on Infrared Conversions and Silver Efex Pro software.  We can provide conversions on most major digital cameras, from compact point & shoot models to full frame DSLR's like the Canon 5d.

Save $10 on any compact camera model or $25 on any DSLR model when you buy Nik Silver Efex Pro from Digital Silver Imaging.