"My Little Town" Exhibit at Photoworks, Glen Echo

I've been participating and learning from a great group of photographers at Photoworks, Glen Echo Park, in Maryland. (Click Here) to read more about the group.

 

Photoworks is hosting a juried exhibit from February 27 - April 13, 2015.

 

I entered the following images, but did not get selected for the exhibit. I shot all of these in DC, with my Rolleiflex 2.8F. Though they weren't selected, I'm still proud of these images.

 

 

It's important to remember that we don't only learn from our successes. In fact, some would argue that we only learn from our failures. I am looking forward to seeing the work that was selected for the exhibit, to help me improve my own photographic skills.

 

There is a reception at the exhibit on Friday, February 27.

 

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Meeting Frank "Tico" Herrara

Last night, I had the good fortune to meet master black and white photographer and printer, Frank "Tico" Herrara. I had shown up way early for the hanging of my images for the exhibit "Coffee and Critique: Exposed" at Glen Echo Park in Maryland. More on that below.

 

Happy to at least find the building open on this cold, windy night, I had to wait for a long while in the dark lobby, until someone showed up and unlocked the gallery and darkroom space where Coffee and Critique is held. Along comes this gentleman, who happens to have a key, and is willing to let me follow him in. When he asks why I'm there, I tell him I'm there for a hanging. He says "Oh, good. I haven't been to a good hanging in so long. I thought they were outlawed nowadays." or something to that effect.

 

Anyway, it turned out that this was none other than Frank "Tico" Herrara, the most senior staff member at Glen Echo Photoworks, winner of a Guggenheim fellowship, and excellent photographer and printer. We sat and chatted for about an hour, which gave me the opportunity to learn about his Guggenheim project, "The West Virginia Crosses," among other things.

 

In this project, Tico used the Guggenheim fellowship to "document clusters of Roman crosses that were being erected all over West Virginia by a millionaire businessman as part of a religious mission called "Cast Thy Bread.""

Image Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiZGouJYA1UUbb2WQ54ZVCSgFdbEaE-NN9YQHUTqfMPSMfAWMEaGb_d66MXvaG1Q-R3oI02LRjI1o2PLPs6brCPyi9UJwwXqUnifU7EeGXfND0NEOuyai_yVnFvmcjqYGiJEt21STQ0HO95Gfo1gomIzZ2XMoDelUepAGEbdiM=s0-d-e1-ft

 

After we'd talked for a while, I screwed up enough courage to ask Tico for input on the pictures I'd come to hang, those of my meditation practice, shot with large format film and old cameras, including a pinhole. I posted a slideshow of those images previously. (Click Here) to see that post.

 

I was pleased to hear that Tico sort of "got it," meaning the idea of what I was trying to communicate with the images. He said they definitely communicated a meditative message. That was really nice to hear.

 

So, all in all, I'm glad that I arrived so early to the exhibition hanging. My reward was to meet and spend some time with a real photographic master, one on one. Tico is a really nice guy, and I hope to get the chance to meet up with him again.

 

If you're interested in seeing my exhibition, along with about fourteen of my colleagues that take part in the Coffee and Critique sessions at Glen Echo Park in Maryland, you can (Click Here) for the details. My work will be up until January 5, 2015.

 

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Lessons from the Forest - My Upcoming Exhibition

I spent some time yesterday printing and preparing for my upcoming photography exhibit, as part of the "Coffee and Critique Exposed: The Exhibit," to be hosted at Glen Echo Park, Maryland, from November 21, 2014 - January 5, 2015.

 

I've been working on a set of photographs related to my meditation practice. I've put together five prints for the show, printed on matte paper. I'm using Epson matte paper at the moment, but may experiment with some other papers before the exhibit hangs on November 13.

 

One thing I learned from the Magnum Days workshop with David Alan Harvey is to make short slideshows of my work, as part of the editing process. Here's one that I made and posted on youtube for this exhibit:

 

 

Lessons from the Forest, by Reed A. George

 

All five images were shot on 4x5 film. The first and final shots were made with a Graflex Speed Graphic, the others with a pinhole camera. I have a lot more to do on this project, but the goal of this series was to share something of the state of mind that I achieve in meditation, and particularly in walking meditation.

 

I hope you find it interesting!

 

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Summer Contra Dance at Glen Echo Park

The Folklife Society of Greater Washington (FSGW) hosts weekly dances at Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo, Maryland. On this particular night, it was held in the old bumper car pavilion. I found out about the event because some of my friends from the band "The Hot Seats" were playing the tunes.

 

A beautiful evening with moderate temperatures brought out a nice crowd of dancers.

 

All of these images were captured with my Leica M9, mostly with my 35mm f1.4 Summilux, at iso 640. Many of them were made at f4, 1/15 of a second exposure, with fill in flash provided by my tiny Nikon SB30 strobe.

 

Sunday Night Contra Dance, by Reed A. George

 

The lighting was a real challenge, and flash was a must. I wanted to keep the iso at 640, so pushed the limit of handheld sharpness with 1/15 second exposures. The flash helped out with that as well. At f4, I had to preset my focus (usually at about 10-12 feet) and walk around the crowd until I saw the right scene develop at the right distance. Actually a pretty fun way to shoot, I think it worked out pretty well.

 

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