Valley Arts District – Orange, NJ

Our local arts district gets noticed by the NY Times….

Dan-Fenelon-mural

Real Estate
Expanding an Arts Community
By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
Published: October 27, 2011
In Orange, as other projects remain stalled, the nonprofit developer Hands Inc. plans to add more housing for “working artists.”

The Article mentions Dan Fenelon, Terry Boddie, Oualie Arts, HANDS Inc., Valley Arts and should have mentioned Valley Arts Coordinator Lorena LaGrassa , Luna Stage theater company, and Arts Unbound.

It is an exciting development in Orange and West Orange, and is close to South Orange and Maplewood.
Being on a NJ Transit train line with Midtown Direct service, this project is a winner.


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Photo Technique Magazine – POP printing article published

POP Print

I wrote An article about using collodio-chloride printing-out-paper for Photo Technique Magazine. I reviewed Alt-Photo Products specialty paper which is a re-creation of a historic silver printing technique.

I tested the paper by printing the traditional glass plate negatives and also used digital negatives made with an inkjet printer.

The article begins….
“In a time that seems long ago and far far away, the earliest photographers made prints which appeared magically without developing. They would rinse and fix to display and extend the life of the image. More recently in the 20th Century portrait photographers used similar technology to make proof prints that would fade as they aged.

Now we make archival digital prints and have nearly forgotten the art of chemical printing. Many photo- graphers have gladly forsaken silver-gelatin printing for the control ease and simplicity of inkjet. But many of us still enjoy the chemical processes—we cherish the journey as well as the destination. We can still buy 20th Century silver printing materials and an ambitious photographer can mix the chemicals necessary for 19th Century processes. Photographers who want to make prints using a historic style print- ing out paper (but don’t want to “roll their own”) now have a source for a new collodio-chloride printing-out paper (POP).”

I recommend buying the magazine, but the article can also be downloaded from my website. The magazine is edited by Wendy Erickson.

Montclair Times writes about MANUAL

Elizabeth Oguss of The Montclair Times writes about my book Manual and the book signing this Saturday October 22 at 1pm at Watchung Booksellers, 54 Fairfield Street in Upper Montclair http://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/132220423_Bill_Westheimer_shows_off_his_handiwork.html

Booksigning at Watchung Booksellers

On Saturday October 22 at 1pm I will be on hand signing books. (sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun) and making hand shadows that look like Elvis. OK, maybe only one of those two things will happen. Please come by to say hello and see which one is real. I will be signing all four of my books: MANUAL, ODDYSSEY, MOMENTO, and VISIONS IN THE DARK.

Please come visit, and maybe even buy a book or three.

Upper Montclair NJ’s delightful independent bookshop Watchung Booksellers is now selling my books. Located at 54 Fairfield St. in Upper Montclair, Watchung Booksellers is a community institution that has a great selection of books and a helpful pleasant staff who can talk about books and find what you want.

Watchung Booksellers

Upper Montclair NJ’s delightful independent bookshop Watchung Booksellers is now selling my books. Located at 54 Fairfield St. in Upper Montclair, Watchung Booksellers is a community institution that has a great selection of books and a helpful pleasant staff who can talk about books and find what you want.

They have on hand signed copies of MANUAL, ODDYSSEY, MOMENTO, and VISIONS IN THE DARK.

On Saturday October 22 at 1pm I will be on hand signing books. (sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun) Please come visit, and maybe even buy a book or three.

Indie Photobook Library adds 4 of my books

The Indie Photobook Library added four of my books to its collection. The additions include MANUAL, ODDYSSEY, MOMENTO, and VISIONS IN THE DARK.

The Indie Photobook Library (iPL) was founded in 2010 by Larissa Leclair. It is an archive that strives to preserve and showcase self-published photobooks, photobooks independently published and distributed, photography exhibition catalogs, print-on-demand photobooks, artist books, zines, photobooks printed on newsprint, limited edition photobooks, and non-English language photography books to be seen in person through traveling exhibitions and as a non-circulating public library. Having a specific collection dedicated to these kinds of books allows for the development of future discourse on trends in self-publishing, the ability to reflect on and compare books in the collection, and for scholarly research to be conducted in years, decades, and centuries to come.

Founder: Larissa Leclair
Logo Designer: Clay Lipsky
Website Developer: Simply Binary
iPL Ambassador: Nathalie Belayche
Intern: Kaitlin Jencso
Former intern: Stephanie Obernesser
Special thanks to Matthew Gamber, George Slade, Nick Turpin, Blurb, and Insomniac Design.

ADVISORY BOARD
Andy Adams, Editor / Publisher, Flak Photo
Darius Himes, Co-Founder of Radius Books
Shane Lavalette, Photographer and Founder of Lay Flat
Gabrielle Reed, Massachusetts College of Art, Godine Library

Abecedarian Gallery representing my books

Abecedarian Gallery in Denver CO is now selling my books.

Crickets Title Page

Crickets Title Page

Alicia Bailey‘s wonderful gallery located at 910 Santa Fe St. in Denver’s Santa Fe gallery district specializes in artist’s books. She is handling my CRICKETS collaboration with Leonard Seastone, my handmade limited edition book MANUAL, as well as the limited edition ODDYSSEY, and the trade books MANUAL, The Personalities of Hands; MOMENTO, Capturing moments and memories; ODDYSSEY – The Billiad; and VISIONS IN THE DARK the catalog of my Camera Obscura collaboration with Charles Schwartz.

Lens Culture features The Manual Project

Lens Culture is featuring The Manual Project

Portrait of Eugene Brennan

Lens Culture is an online magazine celebrating international contemporary photography, art, media, and world cultures. Discover photography from all continents and various points of view: documentary, fine art, photojournalism, poetic, personal, abstract, human, and street photography.

  • Read essays, analysis and criticism about photography and culture.
  • Listen to audio/video interviews with more than 40 photographers.
  • Participate in international photo workshops, awards and events.
  • Buy very cool 21st century photography at our online store.
  • Lens Culture attracts visitors from more than 100 countries every day.

New York City: In Focus Vol.2

NYC-sunset-panoramaMy 70″ wide panorama of New York City’s Central Park Reservoir at sunset is included in the second New York City: In Focus traveling exhibition.  Organized by the NYC Health and Hospitals Corp.  Art Collection, the show opens on Thursday June 23, 2011.  The reception for the artists is on June 23  at 5:30pm at Bellevue Hospital Center, Main Lobby/Atrium, 462 First Avenue New York 10016.  The show is on view at Bellevue through July 14, 2011.  It will travel to other locations.

Featured artists are:

Ansel Adams, Malliha Ahmad, Tanya Ahmed, Barbara Arnstein, Anthony Barboza, Dawoud Bey, Irma Bohorquez-Geisler, Trang Bui, Edwin Cadiz, Mara Catalan, Lia Chang, Lynda Churilla, Jeffrey Clark, Linda Cummings, Marisol Diaz, Victor J. Duran, Rachel Elkind, Roberto Falck, Maria Frolyak, Raymond Gibson, Arlene Gottfried, Jose Gutierrez, Alex Harsley, Aehee Kang, Kitty Katz, Omar Kharem, Damien Kim, Michael Lettera, Roxanne Lowit, Gregory Mahabee, David Markel, Monika Merva, Chi Modu, Linda Morales, Chi Wang Ng, Patrick Pagano, John Perra, Larry Racioppo, Lita Riddock, Eva Ritchie, Sherlock Robinson, Mick Rock, Geno Rodriquez, Anna Sawaryn, Jamel Shabazz, Nancy Siesel, Ming Smith, Rebecca Swanson, James VanDerZee, Nicholas Walster, Bill Westheimer, Bo Zhang

To RSVP for the June 23rd opening please call 212-341-0025

For the techies among us…. The photograph was taken from the location of the Camera Obscura which I used in collaboration with Charles Schwartz to create our views of the city.  This photograph was taken as a series of jpegs with a Canon SD800IS and stitched together in Photoshop.  The print was made with an Epson Stylus Pro 9600 printer using Ultrachrome inks on Epson Ultra Smooth Fine Art paper.

Going to Church

Basilica-S-Maria-sopra-Minerva

I had so much fun “going to church” on my recent visit to Rome that I have to share the pictures. I am not inclined to post my vacation photos for the world to see, but I think these are worth sharing. We visited so many churches that I might have a chance of not going to hell when I die. The churches of Rome are usually nothing special on the outside but when you go inside it is a “whole ‘nother story.” I loved the ceilings in particular.

there is a gallery of the images on my website

for the techies in the crowd, these were shot with a Canon 5D Mark II, saved as RAW files and processed in PS CS4.  Hard to believe but in most cases I dialed back the saturation in Camera Raw.  The high quality at higher ISO speeds was important for shooting in these dark places.  Another example of how digital imaging has made it possible to capture pictures that would have been nearly impossible on film.