The grand opening exhibit at the Studio Montclair Virginia Block Gallery at Academy Square includes work from my WALD series.
The opening reception will be Friday September 24th, 2010 from 6 pm to 9 pm at the gallery at 33 Plymouth Street, Montclair, NJ
Map of location

The show runs from September 24th 2010 to January 2, 2011. The show also includes work by Ekaterina Ermilkina and Ruth Bauer Neustadter.

I will be showing 9 original unique Ilfochrome 10″x8″ prints, four enlarged archival inkjet prints and one 40″x32″ archival inkjet collage of 9 of the images.

These pinhole pictures of the trees Wald explores how the forest stimulates the human imagination evoking emotions from fantasy to fear through 8”x10” monoprint pinhole camera images of the forest canopy. Entering the forest we are mere observers of natural processes. Photographing Wald required me to allow the composition, exposure and development processes evolve naturally on their own. The work gives up control over the photographic process in the same way that man cannot control nature.

The Wald pinhole images are made by placing the camera in the woods and exposing Ilfochrome or silver gelatin photographic paper in the pinhole camera from 2 to 8 hours. The Ilfochrome paper is an archival direct positive color print material. The silver gelatin paper makes a black and white print with a negative image.

The camera’s field of view is a rough guess, the light changes during the extended exposure, the subject moves and sways in the wind. People and animals can move through the image without leaving a trace.

Across cultures and throughout human history the forest has inspired man’s imagination as expressed in fairy tales, legends, stories, and art. The woods have been a fertile starting place for the mind’s eye as long as man has told stories. The forest represents mystery, danger, growth and the unknown as well as beauty, serenity and solitude as expressed in literature, drama, poetry, painting and photography.