Tami Bone
Artist Statement
Tami Bone grew up in the rough and tumble of deep South Texas where she spent a childhood
blessedly free and driven by her imagination. Her photographic work today pulls from these early
beginnings, calling forth yearnings, hopes, fears and dreams that make their way into her narrative
images.
Today Tami lives in Austin, Texas and engages photography as a means of story telling and selfexpression,recognizing that the stories we tell form our personal truths and modern day folklore. Shebelieves that our stories, in essence, the way that we choose to interpret ourselves and our world, aresignificant and have the power to shape our lives, before finally, they become our lives. Her most
recent body of work, Mythos, is her ongoing story.
Bio
She attended The University of Texas, and later in life discovered her interest in photography. Her
work has been shown nationally in both invitational group exhibitions and juried exhibitions, and in
2012 will be shown in several solo exhibitions. She has received numerous awards and recognitions,
including being listed by BWGallerist as one of the Best of the Best Emerging Fine Art Photographers
of 2011; selection as a 2011 Photolucida Critical Mass Finalist, a Photo Review 2010 Competition
Winner, a 2009 Photolucida Critical Mass Finalist and a 2008 Review Santa Fe participant.
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Local Artists: Bryan Boyd, Michael Cavazos, and Glenda Derveloy
Join us Friday December 2, from 5 - 8:30 for an artist reception of local photographers Bryan Boyd, Michael Cavazos, and Glenda Derveloy. All three photographers studied under O. Rufus Lovett at Kilgore College. The same evening, Discover Downtown Christmas, Downtown Market, and ArtWalk - they are all happening at the same time. Lots of fun for the entire family.
Bryan Boyd will be displaying "House of LeRoy", Boyd said, "This series captures the unique way that one man creates what I first imagined to be “yard decor.”
Michael Cavazos is showing a series of images of birds and hi-line wires. Cavazos said, "This group of images are the result of challenging myself to make something interesting of what is overlooked by many every day, as well as my falling in love with the simple complexities of photographing wildlife in its man made habitat."
Glenda Derveloy is showing a series of images she photographed using High Dynamic Range method or HDR. Derveloy said, " These images are my attempts at turning both everyday scenes that may not seem remarkable as you drive past them, as well as well-known historical sites and already breathtaking landmarks, into works of art that surprise the onlooker with details or beauty they would not have noticed otherwise."
Byran Boyd BIO
PERSONAL
–
Bryan Boyd is a fifth-generation East Texan who graduated from Pine Tree
High School in 1977. He went on to Oklahoma State Technical College and graduated
with a degree in Commercial Art in 1979. He and his wife of nine years, Karen, reside in
Pine Tree,and have two daughters,Alaina,who is five-years-old and MaKenzie who is three.
CAREER
–
Mr. Boyd’s passions are in the areas of painting, archeology and photography,
but he began a career in printing in Dallas,Texas in 1979 and has been deeply involved in the
printing industry since that time. He eventually left Dallas to return to East Texas and
became employed at Hudson Printing in 1989. Bryan has many years of experience in the printing industry and
recently celebrated his twenty second year of employment with Hudson.
PAINTING
–
In 1982, Bryan began expressing the beauty of the East Texas area, its rich history and its inhabitants
on canvas. One of his best-known paintings is of the Mittie Stephens steamboat as it was docked at the wharf in Jefferson,Texas in 1868. This painting,completed in 1986,required a great deal of research and is currently on display in downtown Jefferson. In 1987, Bryan was interviewed by Joan Hallmark and he was featured in the Proud of East Texas series as a prominent, local artist. Following the completion of the Mittie Stephens painting, Mr. Boyd involved himself in yet another research project in order to successfully portray a historical scene of the Marshall Train Depot. This depot painting was awarded Best of Show in the 1989 Stagecoach Days in Marshall,Texas and remains a part of
his private collection.
ARCHEOLOGY
–
Along with painting, Mr. Boyd is also involved in the preservation of the history of East Texas
and is currently serving his twelfth year as one of approximately 100 volunteers in the Texas Historical Commission
(THC) Stewardship Network. As a steward, some of his duties are to educate local landowners on how to protect archeological sites on their property, perform the physical task of finding, recording and monitoring archeological sites, help obtain protective designations for important sites and record private artifact collections. Bryan has participated in a special area of education by speaking to schools and preservation groups about archeological procedures. He has assisted THC archeologists with numerous digs and surveys and has been called on to carry out emergency, or
“salvage,” excavations when an archeological resource is threatened.
PHOTOGRAPHY
–
Since high school, photography has been another of Bryan’s many interests. His unique
photography has been critiqued and awarded numerous accolades by such accomplished photographers as True Redd,
O.Rufus Lovett,Tammy Cromer-Campbell and Scott Campbell. His collections have been on display at the Longview Museum of Fine Arts and at P’s Gallery.
Artist Statement:
The collection, “House of Leroy,” celebrates an elderly man’s real-life example of the old adage, “Make use of what you have instead of spending your life wishing for things that you do not have.” This series captures the unique way that one man creates what I first imagined to be “yard decor.” His whimsical use of materials that most people might discard such as used light bulbs, plastic bags, old toys and a faded baseball cap intrigued me. Through my camera lens, his creation was a true work of art. However, when I inquired about the real purpose of it all, his reply was simply, “To keep the birds away.” These images portray how one man’s resourcefulness can become another man’s vision. In a society filled with people that are rarely satisfied with what God has granted them, Leroy became a true inspiration to me.
Michael Cavazos BIO
Michael Cavazos was born on March 21, 1983 in Grand Forks, North Dakota. One week later moved to McAllen, Texas and by the age of two, Kilgore, Texas. After graduating from Kilgore High School, he studied photography under the direction of O. Rufus Lovett at Kilgore College and Christopher Talbot at Stephen F. Austin State University. Michael now works at the Longview News-Journal where he provides photography/videography for feature stories, news, sports and much more.
Michael Cavazos Artist Statement:
This series began out of sheer boredom. While looking to pass the time, I photographed a bird sitting on a power line. Silhouetted by an overcast sky void of anything natural in the frame other than the bird itself. Upon further review of the image, I began to think about how birds have been forced to adapt to man replacing their natural habitat. I also enjoyed the geometry of the simple black on white silhouette made by the subject matter against a blank sky. At that time, I decided to set some rules as to what the images would consist of and shoot more. No nature is to be in the image, there must be at least one bird, and it must be a silhouette against a blank sky. The series quickly became a challenge to stick to my rules and keep making new and interesting images of the same thing over and over without letting it become mundane. This group of images are the result of challenging myself to make something interesting of what is overlooked by many every day, as well as my falling in love with the simple complexities of photographing wildlife in its man made habitat.
Glenda Derveloy BIO
Glenda Derveloy continues to study photography at Kilgore College while working as a legal videographer and fine art/portrait photographer. She has studied digital photography and high dynamic range photography through workshops conducted by Dan Burkholder and participated in the Holga workshop conducted by Tammy Cromer-Campbell. Her work has been exhibited in several galleries and exhibits including Childhood: An International Exhibit, "Short Exposure" exhibits at the Longview Museum of Fine Arts, and several Kilgore College student shows. Among her honors and awards are being published as a finalist in Photographer's Forum Best of College Photography 2010 and Photographer's Forum Spring 2010 Annual, numerous awards in the Fine Art, Landscape, and Human Interest categories of the Texas Bank & Trust Calendar Contest from 2008 through 2011, and being named Who's Who in Photography for 2007 at Kilgore College.
Glenda Derveloy Artist Statement
O. Rufus Lovett first introduced me to the technique of high dynamic range photography in my digital photography class at Kilgore College. Instructor Lovett also showed the class one of Dan Burkholder’s breathtaking HDR images from the series of photographs of the devastation created by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans portrayed in Burkholder’s book “The Color of Loss”. I became immensely interested in HDR photography at this point and subsequently met Mr. Burkholder and then attended one of his HDR workshops. These images are my attempts at turning both everyday scenes that may not seem remarkable as you drive past them, as well as well-known historical sites and already breathtaking landmarks, into works of art that surprise the onlooker with details or beauty they would not have noticed otherwise.
“Trinity Lost” is an image I created as an experiment, and is one of my favorite creations. The “ghost” is the subject of the image. However, I am always delighted when I find “ghosts” in images that were not planned that way, as in “Deserted” and “The Flagship”.
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New York Noir
Street Photography by Orville Robertson
Curated by Roy Flukinger
Join us for the opening reception of New York Noir, Street Photography by Orville Robertson and curated by Roy Flukinger, Senior Research Curator at the Harry Ransom Center, Austin, TX. Thursday October 6 from 4-8pm - during ArtWalk. The exhibit will be up through November 19. The gallery is located at 207 N. Center St. in downtown Longview, TX and on the web at http://www.tccphotogallery.com
We conducted a Skype interview between the photographer and curator to better understand the scope of the work. Here is the interview.
TCC
Today we have Orville Robertson, New York photographer and Roy Flukinger, Senior Research Curator of Photography at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas, Austin.
OR
My name is Orville Robertson I am a New York City street photographer. I've been s street photography for about 33 years or so, and I love what I do. Walking around and only photographing what I find interesting. I usually take anywhere from 5 to 10 shots and then go home.
I shoot very slowly. Like 20 to 25 rolls of film a year slowly. When I first started photographing street I shot a lot more than I do now. Most street photographers take more pictures in a day than I do in a year. I just never felt comfortable doing that. Part of what has kept me fresh is my love for what I dot. The fact that i shoot very deliberately and then quickly take a picture. When I first started photographing I shot as much as I could because I followed what was expected. One day I was introduced to Marcia Sheer, who was a pinhole photographer, and asked to assist her with managing her equipment for outdoor shooting sessions. Her methodical approach and one-hour exposures drove me nuts at first. But it made me understand that if you concentrated and used kind of a large format mentality, where each frame meant something rather than just burning through roll after roll, you would actually get a higher percentage of what I felt were good photographs. You have a lot of street photographers who disagree philosophically, and that is their method that works best for them. I certainly respect that. But if I shot 36 exposures and did not find at least 10 interesting, and perhaps 5 quality, images I would probably cut my throat.
TCC
While you may say that you only expose 5 to 10 images on a given journey, it appears that you very prolific. Your slow approach seems to work for you. It is really great to see you post new images on Facebook all the time.
RF
Number one, I love the title, New York Noir. I think it is very onomatopoeic. It's got a wonderful ring to it and sounds like the images look.
Number two is the fact that I have seen work by lots of night photography by other photographers. I think most of them have said that it has forced them to come to terms with things like lighting and structures which is addressed differently from the daytime work. But what was interesting to me was that you said it forced you to become a better daytime photographer too. Which I think is quite remarkable. Quite nice and the evidence is clearly there. With night photography, of course what is obvious is the light is entirely different. The light is more directed by other sources not by a general overall sunshine, and with that you have to compensate and take that advantage. And I think that is one of the things that you sir do particularly well. Because you are aware of what's going on there and you still have that great fascination with the street. Not just for it's overall theatrical look and broad face , but to also come in close and see things , see in details, see things structurally that were there that contribute to each photograph's power. That power lies within the body of work and in I think it will be evident in the show that you can deal with it on many different levels at once.
What fascinates me is the fact that one picture can step back and present a broad sort of documentary awareness of the street and everything in it, while the next one can be up close and possess a vibrant intensity. It can be a character study; it can take advantage of the blur of the figure . It can take advantage of the out of focus figure . I can give us fascinating juxtaposition because of what is going in front and what is going on way back of you - and behind you - and it all ties together in a complex structure. And I love that sort of work when it is done well by a photographer like Orville, either during the day or at night. You happen to do it eloquently . And you address that the challenge even more in the nightime. Plus the fact that your compositions are always right on and they embody such fascinating structures in and of themselves. That complexity on the one hand looks very simple but on the other hand grows very fascinating the more you dig into and see it. I love the pure experience of looking at your work.
Finally, I should note that the intuition you follow throughout your career remains very sound and you continually come up with the imagery that supports that intuition and invigorates the feeling that lies behind it very much. Orville's imagery is deeply felt, and always has been. Many photographers look at the street and can find something that is interesting or ironic or cute. But you go further. You get in there and make us feel what it is like to pound the pavement and feel the air and smell the scents of the city. And THAT feeling, THAT emotive force, is truly tremendous.
RF
Do you find that particular technique has made you miss some opportunities or not?
OR
I am always thinking of the next. the next, the next. If you get aggravated because you missed a really good shot, you are going to miss the next one as well. The concentration required to consistently shoot street photography at a high level is enormous and totally mesmerizing. You must have deep passion for the whole thing; the streets, the people, your camera in your hands, pressing that shutter down hard.
i have an expression I love saying: There are pictures everywhere. On a great day it consumes your vision corner to corner. You could not possibly grab everything. That, even if possible, is never my intention. I slam my shutter down when that internal voice screams at me to take the picture now. In truth the only true technique I use is to guess focus and snap the shot. I hate to fidget with the focus so use tabbed wide-angle lenses so I know by feel how to set my distance.
Thank you very much ! i am not used to people talking about my work, so this is greatly appreciated.
Bios:
Orville Robertson
Orville Robertson has been a street photographer for over thirty years. His work has been included in numerous exhibitions in the United States and is represented in many major museum, private, and corporate collections. He is the co-curator of “Committed to the Image: Contemporary Black Photographers” at the Brooklyn Museum in 2001, highlighting one hundred living black photographers, and was featured in Deborah Willis’s Smithsonian exhibition and book entitled, “Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 – 1999.” He was a reviewer at Portland’s PhotoLucida 2003 and Houston’s Fotofest 2000-2002. His work was featured at New York City’s Leica Gallery in the group show “Saturday Night/Sunday Morning”, curated by 2002 MacArthur Fellow Deborah Willis and Lisa Henry. In 2004 his group show “Man-ifestations: Photographs of Men”, co-curated with Kay Kenny, was exhibited at The Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach, Florida. He was also awarded a 2002 Fellowship in Photography by the New York Foundation for the Arts. The following year he was selected as one of New York’s best night photographers as part of the New York Foundation for the Arts/Tanqueray Night Photography Awards. He was the founding publisher and editor of Fotophile, the photography journal, from 1993 to 2008.
His work is represented by Jack Domeischel ( http://www.domeischelgallery.com ). He lives in Astoria, New York City with his wife Patricia and has worked for Verizon as a representative for the past 28 years. He loves being a street photographer.
Roy Flukinger
As Senior Research Curator at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Mr. Flukinger is currently in charge of the development, administration and application of the collections. He has and continues to lecture and publish extensively in such fields as: regional, cultural and contemporary photography, the history of art and photography, and film. He has produced nearly fifty exhibitions ranging from classical photohistory to contemporary photography, and from photographers' retrospectives to American/regional/Texas photography. He serves as juror, reviewer and evaluator for contemporary photographic events, institutions and support organizations, as well as finds and developes acquisitions for the HRHRC Photography & Film Department. Mr. Flukinger serves as liason for the Department with fellow professionals worldwide throughout the fields of Photography & Film.
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John Wrather Artist’s Statement
“Life is not perfect so why should your photographs be”. I heard this statement in a workshop from one of the photographers I greatly admire. For me this statement led me into more creative photography rather than documentation. The question is how to take an ordinary scene or subject and make something unusual, visually fresh and stimulating to the viewer. I like to leave the viewer wondering what did he see in that and how did he get to this point. The creative motivation and the interpretation of the image is why I do photography. You are a success if someone views your image and takes more time to think about the emotion and mystery rather than just saying isn’t that a pretty picture. If you look at an image and see something you missed on the first look, I have created something worthwhile.
Biography
Born Longview, Texas and grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Is an oil and gas producer in Longview, Texas.
Always had a passion for photography but was particularly intrigued by the depth and scope of Fine Arts Photography
Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida l965, B S Degree
He continued his photography education when he studied black & white photography and color photography under O. Rufus Lovett instructor and contributor to Texas Monthly Magazine, Texas Highways Magazine, Gourmet Magazine, Gear Magazine, and others
Workshops
1998 Photoview
Studied under Ruth Bernhard and Michael Kenna
1999 Santa Fe Photographic Workshop
Studied under Mark Nohl photographer for New Mexico Magazine
2000 Santa Fe Photographic Workshop
Studied under Alan Ross assistant to Ansel Adams
The “Two Girls” photograph was taken on location in Santa Fe, New Mexico
and published in The Best of College Photography book
2002 Maine Photographic Workshop
Studied under Joyce Tennison nationally known portrait photographer
2004 Santa Fe Photographic Workshop
2005 Santa Fe Photographic Workshop -- San Miguel Allende, Mexico
Studied under Keith Carter nationally known fine art photographer
Studied under Raul Touzon National Geographic Photographer and Contributor
2005 Touzon photographic Workshop – Tuscany, Italy
2006 Touzon Photographic Workshop – Cannes, France
2007 Touzon Photographic Workshop – Barcelona, Spain
2008 Touzon Photographic Workshop – Paris, France
2009 Touzon Photographic Workshop – Maine
2010 Touzon Photographic Workshop – Dublin, Ireland
Exhibits
Image Gallery, Longview, Texas 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
Kilgore College Student Show l998, l999, 2000, 2001
Letourneau University solo exhibit 2003
Longview Museum of Fine Arts
Best of the Southwest l999
Members Exhibition 2003 & 2005
Short Exposure Exhibit 2008, 2009, 2010, & 2011
Kilgore College Newspaper
Longview News Journal
Texas Bank & Trust Photography Contest – Best of Show Award 2006
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Heal Our World
Statements
John Trotter
No Aqua, No Vita
I’d crossed the Colorado River many times over the years and once even spent a few days in a canoe on the Green, one of its main tributaries, wondering where all the water propelling my boat would eventually go. When I finally went to find that place, four years to the day after a near-death experience, I was ready for the river to take me far away from what I’d had to survive.
But the Colorado, I soon learned, was greatly reduced from what it once was and no longer made its ancient rendezvous with the Sea of Cortez. Forces north of the border had other destinations planned for the river’s water and in 1922 divided its annual flow between seven U.S. states and Mexico. On this foundation and with the help of many dams, the southwestern United States as we know it has been built. Without water from the Colorado, cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego would be greatly reduced, desiccated versions of themselves and many of the fresh fruits and vegetables available year-round in our grocery stores would vanish.
But as it has turned out, the foundation of everything, the premise of 1922, is false and more water has been promised to each player than historically actually exists in the river.
My ongoing documentary project explores the perception of the river as a seemingly unlimited, plentiful resource, as well as the consequences of this belief.
Bio:
A native of Missouri, John Trotter worked as a newspaper photojournalist for fourteen years, on stories large and small, local and international. He photographed events ranging from local elections to national political conventions and covered United States military interventions in Panama, Somalia and Haiti. Some of his work from Somalia was part of a United Nations exhibition on that country’s massive famine in 1992.
On March 24, 1997, while on assignment in Sacramento, California for The Sacramento Bee, he was nearly beaten to death by a half-dozen young men. During his long recovery from that attack he photographed Sierra Gates, a brain injury rehabilitation residence, where he himself had lived after his release from the hospital. Those photographs have been published and exhibited in Europe and the United States and a book of them is forthcoming.
In Mexico, on the fourth anniversary of his attack, Trotter took the first pictures for his ongoing project on the Colorado River.
He has lived in Brooklyn, New York since 2000.
Tammy Cromer-Campbell
Heroes of the Gulf/Dying for Profit
With Fruit of the Orchard | Environmental Justice in East Texas successfully published as a book, and knowing that Winona's environmental injustice problems are not limited to Winona, it was time to expand the project to to include other communities in East Texas and the Gulf Coast struggling with environmental injustice. The working title is Dying For Profit.
With the largest environmental disaster in our nation’s history still unfolding and the egregious efforts of BP trying to say - all is well now, this story is now a part of Heroes of the Gulf. In the beginning all cameras were on the Gulf and what was happening to the people and their environment. Now with the well capped, the cameras have gone. The national news thinks the story is over. The people feel abandoned. The people in the communities truly believe they are experiencing first hand the effects of toxic exposure from the oil and the dispersant. BP and the US Government say that the Corexit is no longer being sprayed since they capped the well. People living in the communities believe otherwise. Now the Dolphins are dying off in record numbers. This story is far from over. Many scientists report that the Gulf will be experiencing the environmental effects for years to come. I will introduce you to some of the Heroes on the Gulf. Those that are trying to keep their culture alive.
Bio
Tammy Cromer-Campbell is an award winning American photographer best known for her work as a social documentary photographer and speaker. Cromer-Campbell received her Associates of Applied Arts degree in commercial photography from Kilgore College, Kilgore, Texas under the direction of O. Rufus Lovett. She continued her education by taking workshops from the masters in photography, such as Arnold Newman, Ruth Bernhard, Michael Kenna, Keith Carter, John Sexton, and others. The University of North Texas Press published, Fruit of the Orchard/Environmental Justice in East Texas. She’s received many honors and awards including Blue Earth s first ever cash grant, in 1999, for Fruit of the Orchard. Her work’s included in public and private collections internationally such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museet for Fotocunst, Belgium, and others. Fruit of the Orchard won a 1st Place under entertainment and culture in the Green Dot Awards and Cromer-Campbell is a 2009 National Women's History Project Honoree for the Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet. Her work is one of the 10 masters featured on the Holga Inspire website http://www.holgainspire.com
Here are two great organizations helping the communities in the Gulf. Please contribute to them. The need is great.
Guardians of the Gulf
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Guardians-of-the-Gulf/114395808598986
Coastal Heritage Society of Louisiana
FACING CLIMATE CHANGE
Illustrating Global Change through Local People
Benjamin Drummond with multimedia stories by Sara Joy Steele
Climate change is a global problem, but every community has a local story. Whether the impacts are direct or make existing challenges worse, these are the stories society needs to know. We have to learn them from each other, see them in the news, make art about them and discuss them in our schools. After all, people cause, face the consequences of, and must collectively stop this climate crisis. But to mobilize global effort we must generate local will.
Facing Climate Change is a long-term documentary project that tells the story of global change through local people. From semi-nomadic reindeer herdsmen in the Arctic to wildfire fighters of the American West, Benj and Sara use photography and multimedia to document the lives of people around the world as they confront and adapt to the complex issues surrounding global warming. This project began with a series of stories about Sámi reindeer herders in Norway, volunteer glacier monitors from Iceland and fishermen of the North Atlantic. Benj and Sara are currently working in the American West.
Bio
As a documentary team, Benjamin Drummond and Sara Joy Steele have been telling stories about people, nature and climate change for almost a decade. Over the last two years their personal project, Facing Climate Change, has been featured in Photo District News, Orion Magazine and Mother Jones, in exhibitions from the Ansel Adams / Mumm Napa Fine Art Gallery to Houston Center for Photography, and as a multimedia presentation shown at a variety of venues, from colleges and prisons to art galleries. Their work has been awarded Nau's Grant for Change, a Blue Earth Lottery Project Grant, and the Our World Portfolio Review Orion/Photo Award. Benj and Sara are currently based in Seattle, Washington.
www.facingclimatechange.org
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HOLGA Out of the Box International Exhibition
AND THE WINNERS ARE:
LONGVIEW, TX: TCC PHOTO | GALLERY's very first call for entry was Out of the Box ! We had entrants from 6 different countries. The entrants submitted traditional processes and everything from contact prints, cyanotype, ziatype, wet plate collodion tintype, Van Dyke, lithobrome, infrared, lazertran inkjet on wood panel, silver gelatin, and digital carbon pigment prints.
The Holga Out of the Box call for entries eligibility: must be photographed with a Holga camera. Out of the box refers to creativity - not modifications. We asked entrants to show us your best Holga image with whatever modification you choose. It was open to amateur and professional photographers.
Holga Out of the Box opens February 19th at 7pm with an artist reception and awards ceremony. The exhibit is on view through March 26, 2011. The gallery is located at 207 N. Center St. Longview, TX and on the web at http://www.tccphotogallery.com
Holga Out of the Box International Exhibition
Holga Out of the Box exhibit will consist of 25 prints in the physical gallery with an additional 25 images included in the online gallery, totaling 50 images selected.
And the winners are:
Best of Show $500 and a Holga TLR - Heather Martinez
2nd Place $250 and a Holga N - David Boyce
3rd Place $250 and a Holga N - Jim Rohan
For a complete list of photographers in the show, click here http://www.tccphoto.com/blog/?p=137
Longview's Paul Anderson's photograph of the Greenwood Historic Cemetery made it in the gallery show with another one in the online show.
Christine So said "This juried exhibition highlights remarkable artists who demonstrate their artistic vision and creative expression using Holga cameras, an inspiring revelation of the versatility of Holga photography."
Christine So
Christine So is the PR executive for Holga Inspire, an initiative co-founded by Mr. T.M. Lee Holga cameras inventor. Christine So is responsible for Holga Inspires’ strategic planning along with selecting, promoting and connecting Holga photographers from around the world. She is a dedicated advocate of fine art photography, is continuously on the look out for ways to revive an interest in film photography and to inspire artists and art lovers with Holga’s’ unique and original qualities. Christine So has served as a panelist for the Krappy Kamera Competition Holga Inspire Award, acted as curator and organizer of the well acclaimed International Photography Exhibition “The Holga Inspire” show.
In addition, Christine So is a freelance art writer, works with energy and passion on a wide variety of fascinating photography projects and is involved in charity organizations, donating prints for fund raising auctions in collaboration with Holga artists. Christine So lives in Hong Kong.
Tammy Cromer-Campbell
Tammy Cromer-Campbell is a photographer, author, and filmmaker. She was innovative in using the Holga toy camera to create her first book, Fruit of the Orchard / Environmental Justice in East Texas, The book was published in 2006 by The University of North Texas Press. Tammy Cromer-Campbell has received many honors and awards, including Blue Earth Alliances first ever cash grant for Fruit of the Orchard. Her work is included in public and private collections internationally such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museet for Fotocunst, Belgium, and others. Most recently, Fruit of the Orchard is one of the Holga Inspire Master photographers of the Holga that is featured on the Holga Inspire website and in the exhibition that has traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, Longview, Texas, and New York, New York. It also received a first place award under the category of Entertainment and Culture for the first ever Green Dot Awards. Cromer-Campbell is listed as an honoree for National Women's History Month for the 2009 theme: 100 Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet.
Tammy Cromer-Campbell received her degree in Commercial Photography from Kilgore College, Kilgore, Texas under the direction of O. Rufus Lovett. She photographs from her studio/fine art gallery in Longview, TX.
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Within Shadows
Photographs by Susan Burnstine
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
Carl Jung
About the Work:
This ongoing body of work explores the fleeting moments between dreaming and waking – the blurred seconds in which imagination and reality collide.
As a child, I suffered vivid nightmares that stayed with me for days. Often, I would walk around not sure if I was dreaming or awake, as the lines between the two remained blurred. Existing within the shadows of the unconscious made life a curious synthesis of magic and reality. Portals to the unknown emerged, offering me pathways that seemed to bridge the gap between real and unreal, life and death. Though the intensity of my dreams did not lessen as an adult, my response transformed. Initially, I was lost within the haze of my dreams. But now, it is through my dreams that I truly see.
Conceived as a trilogy, this project is presented in three successive chapters, On Waking Dreams, Between and Flight, which explore three states of mind: dreaming (subconscious), sleeping (unconscious), and waking (conscious). To create the images, I recall a significant metaphor, contemplative moment or pathway into the unknown from a dream the night before. I then capture the fading memory on film that very same day using details from my own imaginings to tap into the collective unconscious.
For these series, I wanted to find a way to portray my dream-like visions entirely in-camera, rather than with post-processing manipulations. To achieve this, I created twenty-one hand-made film cameras and lenses that are frequently unpredictable and technically challenging. The cameras are primarily made out of plastic, vintage camera parts and random household objects and the single element lenses are molded out of plastic and rubber. Learning to overcome their extensive limitations has required me to rely on instinct and intuition – the same tools that are key when attempting to interpret dreams. -Susan Burnstine
Susan won the 2008 Black and White Magazine's 2008 Portfolio Spotlight Award. Dean Brierly of B&W said this of her work, "… regardless of the direction in which Burnstine orients the visual emphasis, her imagery is ultimately about charting a path toward spiritual and emotional liberation. While still probing the metaphysical implications of her subconscious, she doesn't rule out more conceptual exploration in the future.
About Susan Burnstine:
Susan Burnstine is an award winning fine art and commercial photographer originally from Chicago now based in Los Angeles. Susan is represented in galleries across the world, widely published throughout the globe and has also written for several photography magazines, including a monthly column for Black & White UK. Nominated for the 2009 Santa Fe Prize for Photography and winner of B&W Magazine’s 2008 Portfolio Spotlight Award.
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Texas Photographic Society’s International Exhibit
CHILDHOOD
This extraordinary exhibition that was juried by actress and child book author Jamie Lee Curtis that opens July 1st - September 10, 2010 at TCC PHOTO | GALLERY, located at 207 N. Center St, Longview, TX and on the web at tccphotogallery.com Join us for the opening night during downtown Longview's ArtWalk, July 1st from 5-8pm.
Juror's Pre-Jurying Comments:
Childhood is fleeting – yet sometimes, in a fraction of a second, photographers can capture its essence: joy, pain, play, boredom, frustration, elation. As an author of children's books I have tried to capture what it feels like to be a child - the good and the bad - and to stimulate a dialogue between children and parents regarding the issues raised in the book...
Jamie Lee Curtis
About the Juror:
Jamie Lee Curtis is a film actress with starring roles in such acclaimed films as Freaky Friday, True Lies, Trading Places and A Fish Called Wanda. In television, Ms. Curtis co-starred opposite Richard Lewis in the sitcom Anything But Love, as well as the title role in TNT’s adaptation of Wendy Wasserstein’s play, The Heidi Chronicles, and the CBS telefilm, Nicholas’ Gift.
Ms. Curtis is also an author of best-selling children’s books with net sales of all editions exceeding 4.6 million units. In addition to her eighth book, BIG WORDS for Little People which was released in September, 2008 and debuted as #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List, she is the author of Is There Really A Human Race?, It’s Hard To Be Five, Learning How To Work My Control Panel, I’m Gonna Like Me, Letting Off A Little Self Esteem, Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery, Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day, Tell Me Again About The Night I Was Born, and When I Was Little, A Four-Year-Old’s Memoir of Her Youth.
Ms. Curtis is also an AIDS activist and has a deep and active connection to many children’s charities including, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles as well as being the official spokesperson for CAAF (The Children Affected by Aids Foundation) and on whose Executive Advisory Board she is a serving member and The Starlight/Starbright Foundation. Ms. Curtis is a recovering alcoholic/addict and is honored to serve on the Board of Directors of CASA (The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University) and The Scott Hitt Foundation.
She is the mother of Annie, age 22 and Thomas, age 13 and has been married for 24 years to actor/director Christopher Guest.
Click here to view a catalog of accepted entries.
About TPS
The Texas Photographic Society, founded in 1985, is a nonprofit organization of amateur and professional photographers dedicated to supporting contemporary photography as a means for creative expression and cultural insight. TPS focuses on furthering the educational and artistic development of its members while involving the community at large by sponsoring exhibitions, publications, workshops and outreach programs.
TPS boasts over 1,400 active members from 49 states, and D.C, and 12 countries. While Texas based, over half the membership resides outside the state. TPS exhibits have been shown in California, Florida and throughout Europe. The Board of Directors, now 41 strong, includes: educators, authors, curators, gallery owners, fine art and commercial photographers and other interested professionals. Many notable figures in the photographic arts come to Texas to exhibit at TPS events, host workshops, or juror TPS exhibitions. TPS is funded by members dues, contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations.
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Observations of American Roadside Culture
Photographs by Danea Males
Over the past few years I have developed a body of photographic work that explores the manifestations of American culture as displayed along the roadsides of the country. Part of the motivation behind this project is simply to experience being on the road and seeing America. During my travels, being able to document elements of culture serves to record instances of time and place. The photographs also present something quite exquisite—the beauty of a particular location. While many of these settings are mundane in nature, they contain the potential for something grand. Being engaged by the sight of ordinary places, and viewing them as examples of American culture and history is what drives me to make photographs. Recognizing that potential and responding to it photographically is an educational and emotionally fulfilling experience. As part of the journey and the photographic process, I have gained some insight into what elements within the landscape are inherently American.
Making photographic observations about aspects of American culture forces me to consider the significance of the appeal of my subjects. America is my home. I am citizen of this country and therefore have a connection to its inhabitants. The way in which we mark the land out of utilitarian necessity or creativity has become increasingly familiar to me, and to document these markings through photography directly brings attention to how Americans use the land, and inhabit the country. Social commentary, documentation of a time and place, and responding to a thing of beauty are integral to the work. Developing an awareness of American culture contributes insight to familiar surroundings. However, there is no one answer to the question of what comprises American values. Some aspects of American culture are distinct to the country; others contain a universal appeal. To understand what is considered beautiful and essential within the culture gives a linkage to the work.
Inherent to making photographs is the obligation to ponder the experience, and reflect on historical memory. The various elements of Americana serve as evidence of the necessities of the way of life, cultural experience, and the different perceptions held by the American people. By definition, Americana is representative of things from or about the United States. My photographs question ideas that are often considered to be unwavering fact. However, I offer this body of work to layered interpretations. History, knowledge and experience affect perception, and in some cases, the imagery takes advantage of a visual irony that might otherwise go unnoticed. The continuing thread of observing America brings the work together to form a complete statement on the subject of Americana and my response to it.
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