Diana Hooper Bloomfield lecture: "Pinhole and Alternative Photographic Processes", NC, US

Preeminent photographer Diana Bloomfield will discuss her craft at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 31 [2007] at UNC Asheville’s Rhoades-Robinson Hall, room 125 [Asheville, NC, US]. A question-and-answer session will follow the talk, which is free and open to the public.

Bloomfield specializes in pinhole and 19th century printing techniques, including platinum and palladium, cyanotype and hand-tinting. She received a New Jersey State Visual Art Fellowship, several United Arts of Raleigh Regional Artist Project Grants and the Maine Photographic Workshop’s Golden Light Award.

Via Pinhole Visions

Wet plate collodion workshop with Kerik Kouklis, Philadelphia, US

Here’s a very interesting-looking workshop with Kerik Kouklis (I have it on good authority that his workshops are excellent):

Wet plate collodion, one of the earliest photographic processes, has been experiencing a resurgence of interest in recent years. This resurgence is primarily because of the beauty and uniqueness of the images created. In this workshop, you will learn how to create wet plate positive images (Tintype and Ambrotype) as well as wet plate negatives. Through a combination of discussions, shooting sessions and darkroom time, participants will learn how to incorporate this process in their own photography.

Cameras and wet plate holders ranging from 4×5 to 8×10 will be available for students to use. Students are also encouraged to bring your own view camera as well. This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in 19th century techniques.

The one-weekend workshop runs 9 am – 6 pm, May 5–6, 2007, at Project Basho, 1305 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA, US.

Check out the complete workshop schedule at ProjectBasho.org, including a two-weekend pinhole workshop with Scott McMahon for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day.

Abelardo Morell, "Camera Obscuras: 1991–2006" show, NY, US

cam.era ob.scu.ra – a darkened enclosure in which images of outside objects are projected by their own natural light through a small opening and focused onto a facing surface.

For the last 15 years, Abelardo Morell has been quietly building one of the great ongoing photography projects – a view of the world through rooms that have been turned into camera obscuras. At once pictorial and conceptual, these pictures address issues of science, art, topography, landscape, and architecture. Surprisingly, this will be the first New York exhibition devoted exclusively to Morell’s Camera Obscura series.

The initial idea for the work came out of Morell’s demonstrations to his photography students at the Massachusetts College of Art in the mid-1980s where he turned his classroom into a Camera Obscura. The exercise was designed not only to elicit a sense of awe and wonder, but also to connect students to the precursive roots of the medium. It was not until 1991, however, that Morell decided to document the process on film, and he began by taking pictures in his own house in Brookline, Massachusetts. In order to capture the elusive projections, the exposures had to be about eight hours long, but the initial results charged Morell with possibilities. The play between the inside and outside world, the tension between the right way up and upside down, the surreal contrast of buildings and beds, trees and walls, formed a miraculous and original vision of a magical but still real world.

Over the ensuing years, while continuing to make photographs of a number of different subjects, from still lives of books to the backstage of the Metropolitan Opera, Morell has continued the Camera Obscura series venturing further and further afield to different cities and states and then to England, France, Italy, and Cuba. He has photographed in simple cottages and in some of the world’s great museums, in the homes of the rich and in public libraries. 60 of the photographs were recently published in a monograph: “Camera Obscura – Photographs by Abelardo Morell.” and the work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Victoria and Albert Museum, and more than forty other museums and institutions around the world.

This exhibition was produced in association with the Bonni Benrubi Gallery.

For further information please contact Danziger Projects at the above number or at: info@danzigerprojects.com.

The show runs 3 March – 7 April, 2007, at Danziger Projects, 521 West 26th St., New York, NY, US

Via Pinhole Visions

“Cheap Shots: The Silver Dreams of Plastic Cameras” show, MI, US

Cheap Shots show flyer

“Cheap Shots is an exhibition of photographic art created with cheap, plastic cameras, old cameras, pinhole cameras, and Polaroids. In an age of expensive, hi-tech equipment, these simple cameras offer a refreshing, lo-tech view of the world in our time. The work in this show was created by seventeen artists from the Michigan area who call themselves the Krappy Kamera Club. This will be their first public showing in Ann Arbor.”

When: Cheap Shots will run from Friday, March 23rd to Friday, April 6th, 2007. The opening is March 23rd from 7:00pm to 10:00pm.

Where: Gallery 4, 212 Nickels Arcade, Ann Arbor, MI [US]. On the second floor above Arcade Barbers.

The gallery will be open during the show Thursday and Friday from 3pm to 7pm, Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5pm, and by appointment. The show is free and open to the public.

More info on the show from Matt Callow.

Here’s a larger version of the flyer.

f295 Symposium registration information

Tom Persinger writes:

f295 is pleased to announce registration information for the The f295 Symposium on Lensless, Alternative and Adaptive Photographic Processes on Friday 27 April 2007. The registration for the lectures and round-table discussion will be handled by Conference and Event Services at Carnegie Mellon University.

We’re offering an early bird, discounted registration rate of $100 to all of those who register by phone before March 1. Students (w/ valid ID) are being offered a discounted rate of $70.

Rates are as follows:
Early Bird Discount Registration before Mar 1: $100
Registration before April 1: $120
Registration April 1 – April 20: $165
Late Registration and in-person (April 20 – 27): $200
Student rate with ID: $70

After March 1 the rate increases. The online registration system will also be available at that time. I’ll forward the URL at that time.

To take advantage of the early bird rate please call:
Conferences & Event Services
Phone: 412/268-1125
confserv@andrew.cmu.edu

Your registration fee includes:
This includes admission to all events of Friday 27 April including the 8 lectures and 2 round table discussions (9am- 5pm), name badge, coffee/tea/snacks during breaks, a program of the days activities, and access to the sale of books by symposium speakers.

Complete, up to the minute symposium information may be found on the website: www.f295.org/wordpress

See you in Pittsburgh!

Best,
Tom