Photography and Poetry - Artistic Expression in Tandem
Nature has held the most photographic appeal for me. My first camera, in the late 1950s, was a Brownie, from which I still have a picture or two (one the center table). Always having a camera close by has been the case for most of my life. Early on, after the Brownie, there was a Pentax Spotmatic, a Nikon FE2 and a Nikkormat. My film of choice in early days was Kodachrome II, asa 25, twenty-four or thirty-six to the roll. A box of slides would eventually arrive home from some, usually distant, Kodak lab. In those days, one certainly was aware of the very limited number of photo shots available for any given subject. Many of the pictures in this show are from pre-1980 slides, some pre-1970. To this day, these early slides have kept their original color. Getting color prints to satisfactorily portray film colors was the issue in days gone by.
Then came the digital camera age. I had several dedicated cameras and finally two quality cell phone cameras which is all I use these days. In the old days, I had telephoto and wide-angle lenses (with the bulk they entailed) and polaroid filters for use with the conventional SLRs. I’ve come to prefer the ready accessibility of a ‘pocket camera’. One never knows when might encounter a good photo, maybe even an excellent one. And often when least expecting. I confess to going to Africa a few years ago without telephoto lens capability which was a mistake. I couldn't put a lion in my lap, so to speak, though, for having said that, I learned that lions can be quite nonchalant as photo subjects when we intrude into their space. Besides, I did not have a digital SLR to accommodate the telephoto. That trip seems to be the only glaring omission. I’m not a bird watcher which would seem to scream for a telephoto lens too.
This show initially evolved from my accumulating 20 by 30” prints over the years. In the days, I’d take a slide or send a jpeg image or two to Concord Camera, walk out a few days later and go into Rowlands right next door and walk out from there in another few days with the 20 by 30s you see here. The oldest slides from which these prints were made date to the late 1960s. The most recent 20 by 30 is indeed modern, an image from April, 2022, printed at the new Rowlands on Fort Eddy Road. But there are numerous other photos on the table, prints made over the years. I’ve jotted whatever I could recall on the backs of them.
As my idea of the show evolved, it occurred that photography and poetry I’ve written could go hand in hand. I’ve included some of these poems (a number with photos I took, unless noted) as well.
Art is in the eye of the beholder.
Please enjoy your beholding!