Last Chance: Fall Workshops at Community Darkrooms
Sign up now for the last of the fall courses!
Beginning Tuesday, November 13:
Find more info about individual workshops here.
My Last Day at Seventeen: Doug DuBois in The Irish Times
Syracuse University’s own Doug DuBois received a thorough write-up in The Irish Times about his current exhibition My Last Day At Seventeen, which is on view through December 23 at the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, Co. Cork, Ireland.
We’re proud to say that many of the prints from this exhibition were made at Light Work/Community Darkrooms. For more information about printing with us, visit our Digital Services page.
ASMP WNY's 2012 Photography Business Bootcamp in Syracuse
ASMP WNY‘s 2012 Photography Business Bootcamp, a five-part series hosted by Newhouse School at Syracuse University and Light Work. Mark your calendars!
Community Darkrooms Member Spotlight: Ben Cleeton
Community Darkrooms Member Spotlight
Ben Cleeton – Second Generation Member
Nineteen-year-old Ben Cleeton is a second generation Community Darkrooms member, student at Onondaga Community College, intern at the Syracuse Parks and Recreation Department, and a photographer with an impressive eye for detail, composition, and tonality ranges.
When Ben became interested in photography he was quickly steered to Community Darkrooms by his father, Bill Gandino, who first came through our doors in the 1980s when he was a staff photographer at Syracuse University. Gandino has work in the Light Work Permanent Collection and he taught black-and-white courses for Community Darkrooms from 1982–1990. His best-attended class was a Landscape Photography and Wine Tasting course that was supposed to be a few hours in duration but lasted much longer.
Gandino’s guidance to Community Darkrooms proved valuable for Ben – he has flourished both in the traditional black-and-white darkroom, where he enjoys printing class assignments on his favorite paper, and in the digital lab where he applies the skills he learned in the darkroom to his digital files. “I like to be able to come into Community Darkrooms and immerse myself in my work” Ben explains, “someone is always here to help me with technical questions, and it is reassuring to ask for the opinion of another member when I have aesthetic questions about my work.”
Community Darkrooms has the second round of fall workshops and classes starting next week! Take a look at www.communitydarkrooms.com and sign up for a positive do-it-yourself learning experience.
Community Darkrooms Member Spotlight: Bob Burdick
Community Darkrooms Member Spotlight
Bob Burdick has been a long-time Community Darkrooms member, with his first visit taking place in 1977 when co-founders Tom Brian and Phil Block were here to greet him. According to Bob, “The nice thing about this facility is that it is and always has been open to anyone.” He especially enjoys being around the other artists who use Community Darkrooms because he gets to show people what he is doing and he can learn what others are up to. Recently, with the help of CD’s digital expert John Mannion, Bob was able to scan a medium format negative, make adjustments, and output it so he could make the perfect platinum print. Then he and Lab Manager Andy Baugnet took to the darkroom and coated a few sheets of Rives BFK paper and began testing the process with exposure in full sun for about ten minutes. Bob’s persistence and passion resulted in the creation of Cedar Tree, Clark Reservation, 1980.
If you have an interest in learning more about any area of photography, now is the time to investigate all that Community Darkrooms has to offer. Exciting Fall courses are now listed on our website and there will undoubtedly be something to fit your interests and skill level—whether it’s a three-hour Single Session Workshop called Camera Basics on Location which will cover everything from turning your camera on to figuring out the built-in-flash unit, or you want to immerse yourself in a 4-week Firm Foundation Workshop called Fine Art Digital Printing which is for the advanced image maker who wants to make the “perfect” print, or anywhere in between—you can find it here at a great price!
Welcome Andy Baugnet, Lab Manager
Light Work/Community Darkrooms is pleased to introduce our newest employee, Andrew Baugnet, who joined the staff in July as Lab Manager.
Baugnet brings twenty five years of professional photography experience to the position, where he is responsible for managing all aspects of the lab facility. His responsibilities range from direct member assistance and interaction, to course and workshop design and planning, to staff and administrative management, and more.
During his career, Baugnet has produced a broad range of work varying from traditional landscape photographs, to photographic documentation projects for the Historic American Buildings Survey and Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) which is administered by the Library of Congress. His most recent project Picturing the Grange, an ongoing architectural documentation of Grange Halls throughout Upstate NY, has been acquired by the Plowline Images of Rural New York Collection at the Farmers Museum in Cooperstown, NY. Baugnet is a graduate of Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Prior to joining Light Work, he held the position of master printer at Hank’s Photographic outside New York City. His work has been exhibited nationally, and is included in such collections as the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Minnesota and Wisconsin Historical Societies, among others. He studied under photographer Frank Gohlke who taught him the subtleties of black-and-white printing.
Stop by to meet him and learn more about Community Darkrooms!
Become a Member, Get a FREE T-shirt!
Our new Lab Manager Andrew Baugnet wants to offer you a special gift for becoming a member of Light Work/Community Darkrooms this month – a FREE t-shirt!
What does a membership get you?
A Semester Membership includes access to facilities, including the digital lab, black-and-white lab, and studio workspace. Staff assistance by photography professionals is provided, as well as reduced-rate printing and digital services, discounted classes and workshops, and specials for local camera stores, including MQ Camera. Members receive invitations to Light Work receptions and receive the Community Darkrooms Newsletter.
A Year Membership includes everything in the Semester Membership, a free digital subscription to Light Work’s award-winning publication Contact Sheet, plus the ability to use the facilities between Syracuse University semesters.
How do I get a t-shirt?
Just stop into Light Work during the month of August, sign up for a membership in person and pick out a shirt in your size (available in S, M, L and XL). It’s that simple! If you purchase a membership online this month, you can mention it when you come in and get your shirt that way as well.
Note: This offer is only available while supplies last.
Summer 2012 Workshops at Light Work
Registration is now open for Summer 2012 Workshops at Light Work/Community Darkrooms.
Advanced Photoshop
Basic Studio Lighting
Beginning Photoshop
Landscape Photography
Photographing Weddings and Events
Using Lightroom
Using Your Digital Camera
Working on Projects
Black-and-White Photography 1: The Camera
Black-and-White Photography 2: Developing Film
Black-and-White Photography 3: Printing (Part 1)
Black-and-White Photography 4: Printing (Part 2)
Making Digital Negatives for Alternative and Silver Prints
Making HDR Photographs
Making the Most of Social Media
Scanning
Street Photography
Using Your Camera Flash
Visit www.communitydarkrooms.com for info and to register today!
There's No Stopping LaToya Ruby Frazier
We’re pleased to see Syracuse University MFA graduate LaToya Ruby Frazier receiving such great recognition for her intelligent and emotional work. From her feature on Art 21 (see the video below) to her current inclusion in the 2012 Whitney Biennial, LaToya continues to inspire!
Call for Entries: 2012 Light Work Student Invitational
Genevieve Marshall, 2011 Best of Show – Selected by Amber Terranova (Editor,PDN)
The 2012 Light Work Student Invitational will feature a selection of photographs by Syracuse University students selected by our guest juror Jörg Colberg (Publisher and Editor,Conscientious). The selected images will be showcased on Light Work’s LCD screen from March – May 2012. Our guest juror will select the winner of Best of Show and Honorable Mentions. These students will be featured on the Light Work blog and an online exhibition.
Dr. Jörg M. Colberg was born in Germany in 1968. After obtaining his Ph.D., he moved to the United States in early 2000. Colberg is the Publisher and Editor of the popular website Conscientious, one of the most widely read blogs dedicated to contemporary photography.
All interested students should submit via email to shane@lightwork.org:
– 3 images, saved as .jpg, 72dpi, sRGB, and sized to 1,600px on the longest dimension. Title files: FirstnameLastname_01.jpg, FirstnameLastname_02.jpg, FirstnameLastname_03.jpg
– In the e-mail, include your name, major, grad/undergrad, e-mail, and phone number. Please follow the directions carefully. Incomplete submissions will not be considered.
DEADLINE: MARCH 1, 2012
* Download a PDF of the flyer here.
Another satisfied artist
We received this note from an artist who recently made the transition to digital printing here at Light Work/Community Darkrooms. This is exactly the place to make that change and have it be fun. Read on to hear about Michelle’s experience in her own words.
“. . . I hope to be back in Syracuse next weekend or early the following week. I haven’t felt this excited in a long time! I basically came up to Syracuse with a vague notion of wanting to make a tightly edited portfolio of ten to twelve 16 x 20 prints. The images are from a project I’ve been working on for the past ten years—a mix of medium and large format film.
I have never seen a photograph printed larger than 8 x 10. I think I just wanted to see what these images looked like big. I do have a darkroom at home that I could have used, but I often find it difficult to stay focused when I am at home with so many distractions. . . . Last Monday, I spent close to ten hours printing in the artist’s [black-and-white] darkroom. I have been printing for thirty years. I couldn’t even begin to calculate how many hours of my life I’ve spent in the dark, hovering over trays of chemicals. By the end of the day I was exhausted and frustrated. I couldn’t face the thought of spending another minute printing in the darkroom. By late Monday evening, I had made up my mind: my [traditional black-and-white] printing days were over.
I’ll admit, the Imacon scanner was intimidating. The process of creating a proper scan and then prepping the file for printing in Photoshop felt overwhelming. On Wednesday, I learned that most of the scans I had done the previous day weren’t very good. I had clipped both the shadows and the highlights. I felt like crying and calling my mother to come pick me up, which wouldn’t have been practical as she lives in Florida. [Digital Lab Manager] John Mannion just smiled and said, “It would be easy to give up right about now. Go back in there and get a proper histogram.”
Wax on, wax off, Grasshopper. I dialed up James, one of the Light Work mentors. It took him all of ten minutes to materialize. I’ve waited much longer for pizza delivery. He held my hand through two or three scans. Everyone helped with Photoshop suggestions. [Customer Service Manager] Vern Burnett even got me to re-think one of my images, which changed the way I ultimately cropped it. By Friday, I felt like I was finally getting the hang of it: producing scans that preserved all of the detail in the highlights and shadows, at least where the detail was relevant. I was making nice files in Photoshop using adjustment layers.
The highlight of the week was attending Rachel Herman‘s opening reception [for Imp of Love]. I connected with her and her work immediately. We spoke at length. DC has no shortage of photographers, but most of the photographers I know essentially wear one hat: the wedding photographers shoot weddings for the sake of booking more weddings; the newspaper and wire photographers shoot for their respective employers; the commercial photographers are working for ad agencies and corporate clients. I know very few photographers whose work-for-hire is used as a means to an end. I often feel like I’m working in isolation.
This past week was transformative. It literally changed my life. I’ve learned a new set of skills and an entirely new way of working. Light Work for me is like an oasis!
Sincerely,
Michelle
Covering photography
The Special Collections Research Center at Syracuse University’s Bird Library, which is right down the street from Light Work, contains an amazing 100,00 printed works and 2,000 archival collections. As part of its Spring 2010 programming, the Center is featuring the exhibition Covering Photography: Imitation, Influence, and Coincidence. The show’s guest curator, Karl Baden (Light Work Artist-in-Residence, 1985), is the founder of the web-based archive Covering Photography. Both the website and the exhibition explore the relationship between the history of photography and book cover design. Comparing the book covers to their “source” images, this relationship ranges in strength from direct appropriation to the possibility of subconscious influence on the designer.
Light Work’s Digital Lab Manager John Mannion worked closely with Baden and the Center to realize the various prints that are staged with the actual books and covers in the show. This project is a great example of the focused, project-specific assistance available through our digital services in Community Darkrooms.
The exhibition runs through April 30, and Karl Baden will host a gallery talk about the project on Tuesday, March 2 at 5pm.
Covering Photography: Imitation, Influence, and Coincidence
January 19-April 30, 2010
Special Collections Research Center
Bird Library, Syracuse University
111 Waverly Avenue
Syracuse, New York 13210