Profile: Astrophotography and Lighting with Stephen Shaner

/in ,

Light Work Lab is pleased to present our Instructor Profile series – featuring interviews with our workshop and class instructors. We want you to get to know them, their work and their interests.

Today we interview Stephen Shaner who is teaching both a 5 week workshop on Photography in the Studio as well as a single session class on Astrophotography.

Stephen Shaner started taking photographs while studying journalism in college. He graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in Photographic Illustration / Photojournalism. After graduation, he served as a newspaper photojournalist for six years before leaving to pursue freelance work and teach. Stephen’s photographs have won numerous awards and his work has been published and displayed throughout the U.S.

LWL: What do you like the most about working in the studio?

The studio is a blank canvas; you start with an empty space and an opportunity to transform it to create nearly any image you can dream of. When you strip photography down to its bare elements, as in the studio, you better understand why and how things work, you become acutely aware of light and its relation to the subject and can focus on creativity. That’s refreshing in a medium often bogged down in endless discussions of gear and software. No matter what your primary photographic interest – nature, fashion, documentary, fine art – in the studio you’re able to freely explore that.

LWL: How did you get into astrophotography?

I’ve always had an interest in the night sky and for fun took astronomy courses while in university. It wasn’t until I was working as a photojournalist in the late 90’s and photographed the spectacular comet Hale-Bopp that I wanted to try astrophotography. At the time, however, long exposure, deep sky imaging required a significant investment to achieve modest results. Now technology (the CCD revolution) has evolved to where amateurs with modest budgets can make photos in their backyard which rival those only possible at professional observatories a few years ago. One thing that’s constant, sadly, are central New York’s cloudy skies!

LWL: Who should take your classes?

Anyone who wants to explore their own creativity and interests. When I think back to all the instructors I’ve had the ones who stand out as exemplary are those who, while accomplished themselves, didn’t hold their own artistic sensibilities above everything else and were genuinely excited and passionate about their student’s work.

I’m fortunate to have photographed in so many different genres for work and for pleasure and because of that practical experience I can demonstrate how simple it is to achieve excellent technical results with the gear people already own. But I always emphasize ideas because ultimately that’s what photography’s about.

LWL: Tell us about your personal work.

For the past decade my interest has been in areas of conflict; specifically people who, by accident of birth, live amidst violence in ongoing conflicts. It’s the kind of work I’ve always wanted to do and why I first started taking pictures. The camera is a vehicle that affords you an opportunity to meet people in situations far removed from your own, a way to understand the world and a chance to have what I consider genuine experiences, something increasingly harder to find in a culture where the message seems to be one of security, conformity and reality by proxy.

Astrophotography: Night Sky and Beyond
March 2, 2014 / Sunday 1-4pm
Skill level: Beginner

Photographing in the Studio
March 13 – April 3, 2014
Thursdays, 6-9pm
Skill level: Beginner / Intermediate

Register for Stephen’s class at lightwork.org/workshops

Profile: Book Dummies Workshop with Dan Boardman

/in ,

Light Work Lab is pleased to announce a series of special Instructor Profiles featuring interviews with our workshop and class instructors. We want you to get to know them, their work and their interests.

Today we interview Dan Boardman who is teaching Book Dummies for Beginners – a class on editing, sequencing and laying out book dummies. This class is geared towards photographers who would like to make a book, but are not sure how to go from a group of images to a cohesive and finished product.

Dan Boardman is a visual artist living in Somerville Massachusetts. He was born in Ontario California, and grew up in Central New York. He is a 2013 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship recipient and his work has recently been exhibited at The Bakalar & Paine Galleries in Boston, MA and Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. He teaches photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and is a co-founder of Houseboat Press, a non-profit art press that publishes books with great care and little skill.

LWL: What do you like the most about making photo books?

I love to see an idea take shape right in front of my eyes. Somehow an array of images can coagulate to make an experience that is exciting and interesting. It’s like watching amino acids bump into each other in the primordial soup. When the right combination happens BAM you got something.

LWL: Who should take your classes?

Those people who are interested in making a book but have no idea where to start. We will be focusing on editing, sequencing, and strategies to privilege some images over others. Then we are going to talk about how those images get into a book, how that will function, and what it might look like.

LWL: Tell us about your personal work.

My photography and book making tends to focus on little questions, and some very big mysterious ones too. I’m in constant awe of the place we live the the unfathomable
complexity of it. Sometimes I’m struck by the present and the interactions with strangers (72 second window); other times I think about the possible world we are leading to, or leaving behind (The Citizen); other times I think about my very limited perception of the universe (The Family of Man).

LWL: Tell us about Houseboat Press.

The Bell Labs of photobooks! We are entertaining ourselves mostly. Houseboat takes on a few different roles for me. It allows me to be as wild as possible with book making ideas, and to collaborate with artists and other interesting people the world over. We gravitate toward projects that have no shape yet, so we can all find the right path together.

Book Dummies for Beginners
March 22, 2014 / Saturday 1-4pm
Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

Register for Dan’s class at www.lightwork.org/workshops

February 2014 Artists-in-Residence Take Over Light Work’s Instagram

/in

Join Kalpesh Lathigra and Daniel Shea as they take over Light Work’s Instagram feed, sharing experiences during their February 2014 residency in Syracuse.

Here are some of our favorite images already:

Keep up with them at www.instagram.com/lightworkorg

Profile: Black and White Photography with Leah Edelman-Brier

/in ,

Light Work Lab is pleased to announce a special blog installment featuring Instructor Profiles — interviews with our workshop and class instructors. We want you to get to know them, their work, and their interests.

This is the first of that installment and features and interview with Leah Edelman-Brier who is teaching our Beginning/Intermediate level black-and-white photography workshop that goes over the basics of black-and-white darkroom-based photography, including exposing film and developing it in the Lab darkroom.

Leah Edelman-Brier is a Rhode Island native who will be graduating with her MFA in photography this year from Syracuse University. Leah has been teaching introduction to black and white photography for 2 years at the university and is excited to run this spring’s workshop at Light Work.

Light Work Lab: What do you like the most about working in the darkroom?

The darkroom is a calming and peaceful place. Working in one gives the artist a chance to go back to basics and expand their understanding of the medium. It’s almost magical to watch the chemical process render an image. It’s the closest a photographer can actually get to working with their hands and having that feeling come across in the work.

LWL: Who should take your classes?

Anyone interested in the basics of photography or working in black and white as a stylistic choice. The class will cater to all levels of experience.

LWL: Tell us about your personal work.

My work uses an array of symbolism and fantasy to examine female relationships within a family or in nature.

Black-and-White Photography
March 12 – April 2, 2014
Thursdays, 6-9pm
Skill level: Beginner / Intermediate

Register for Leah’s class at www.lightwork.org/workshops

Reception for Aspen Mays: Newspaper Rock

/in ,

January 13 – March 6, 2014
Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery
Gallery Talk: Thursday, January 30, 6pm
Reception: Thursday, January 30, 5-7pm

Join Light Work and Aspen Mays for the reception for her exhibition Newspaper Rock.

Aspen Mays approaches her art-making practice with some of the same methods she learned acquiring a degree in anthropology. By embracing the art and science of photography her projects often begin by tracking down information, ideas, and experts in a variety of fields, including astronomy. She collects, unearths, and creates images and objects that celebrate the complex and sublime beauty of the physical universe. Her images question our capacity to comprehend, while expressing our deep desire to find meaning in the unknown.

Her fieldwork has included a year in Chile in the Atacama desert and in Santiago at the University of Chile’s National Observatory, known locally as Cerro Calán. Because of its high altitude, dry air, and almost non-existent clouds, the Atacama desert of Chile is one of the best places in the world to conduct astronomical observations. In the desert, with only the naked eye, Mays could view the night sky in stunning clarity and detail. “The Milky Way is so bright in the desert that it casts a shadow on the ground,” she says. As she stood in the light she realized, “I knew something that is impossible to know, an awareness of how tiny I am and how connected.”

Mays’s search for sublime ambiguity took her on a recent cross-country trip through the Petrified Forest in Arizona to view Newspaper Rock, a giant prehistoric petroglyph covered with hundreds of messages, symbols, or stories. Confounded by the meaning of these drawings incised in rock and occurring all over the world with amazing similarity, scientists argue they could be of religious significance or perhaps astronomical guides. Mays was drawn to the mystery and presence of a hand-drawn message from prehistory and began to think about them in relation to her collection of darkroom tools. Cobbled together with tape and cardboard, her collection of hand-made dodging, burning, and masking tools had its origins in the Cerro Calán darkroom. Placing them on photographic paper and working directly with light itself, Mays creates her own abstract patterns, forms and pictograms, enigmatic taxonomies of a disappearing photographic process. In a conversation about this exhibition Mays asked, “Which is more profound, using cameras to image the cosmos or the anonymous woman in a hydrangea garden?” Throughout this exhibition Mays explores this dilemma with great curiosity and delight as she invites us to consider small and big questions we can only dimly comprehend.

Aspen Mays grew up in Charleston, SC. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009 and a BA in Anthropology and Spanish from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 2004. Her solo exhibitions include Every leaf on a tree at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; From the Offices of Scientists at the Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL; Sun Ruins at Golden Gallery, New York; and Ships that Pass in the Night at the Center for Ongoing Projects and Research (COR&P) in Columbus, OH. Mays was a 2009-2010 Fulbright Fellow in Santiago, Chile, where she spent time with astrophysicists using the world’s most advanced telescopes to look at the sky. Mays lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and Columbus, OH where she is an Assistant Professor of Art at Ohio State University.

www.aspenmays.com

Apply for 2014 Light Work Grants in Photography

/in

Light Work is pleased to announce the 2014 Light Work Grants in Photography competition. Light Work began offering grants to CNY artists in 1975 to encourage the production of new photographic work in the region. Three $2,000 grants will be awarded to photographers who reside within an approximate 50-mile radius of Syracuse, N.Y. The recipients of these grants are invited to display their work in a special exhibition at Light Work, and their work will also be reproduced in Light Work’s award-winning publication, Contact Sheet: The Light Work Annual.

In its 40-year history, Light Work Grants have supported more than 110 artists, some multiple times. With the help of the regional grant, many artists have been able to continue long term projects, purchase equipment, frame photographs for exhibitions, promote their work, collaborate with others or otherwise continue their artist goals.

All applicants must reside in of one of the following Central New York counties: Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Schuyler, Seneca, St. Lawrence, Tioga or Tompkins.

Three judges from outside the grant region will review the applications. Their decisions are based solely on the strength of the candidate’s portfolio and completed application. Individuals who received this award in 2009 or earlier are eligible to re-apply. Full-time students are not eligible.

Applicants will receive an email confirming that we have received the application. If you have any questions about the application process, you may write to grants@lightwork.org

Apply online at http://lightwork.slideroom.com

DEADLINE: April 1, 2014

Announcing Spring 2014 Workshops at Light Work Lab

/in ,

Light Work Lab is pleased to announce the roster of Spring 2014 Workshops on variety of topics for all experience levels.

Courses cover everything from the darkroom and technical foundations of photography to digital workflow and practical professional development. Whether you are just starting out or want to expand your skills and creative network, Light Work has the expertise, facility, and community to help you succeed. While enrolled, students have full access to our DIY facility for retouching, scanning and affordable printing.

Upcoming Classes
Four-week Sessions
$110 for members and $165 for non-members

Introduction to Graphic and Layout Design
March 10 – March 31, 2014 / Mondays, 6-9pm
Instructor: Penelope Singer
Skill level: Beginner / Intermediate

Adobe Lightroom 5
March 11 – April 1, 2014 / Tuesdays, 6-9pm
Instructor: Bob Gates
Skill level: Beginner / Intermediate

Black-and-White Photography
March 12 – April 2, 2014 / Thursdays, 6-9pm
Instructor: Leah Edelman-Brier
Skill level: Beginner / Intermediate

Introduction to Adobe Photoshop
March 12 – April 2, 2014 / Thursdays, 6-9pm
Instructor: James Suits
Skill level: Beginner / Intermediate

Photographing in the Studio
March 13 – April 3, 2014 / Thursdays, 6-9pm
Instructor: Stephen Shaner
Skill level: Beginner / Intermediate

Upcoming Workshops
Single and Double Sessions
$50 for members and $75 for non-members

The Dark Arts
February 1, 2014 / Saturday 1-4pm
Instructor: Aspen Mays
Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

Astrophotography: Night Sky and Beyond
March 2, 2014 / Sunday 1-4pm
Instructor: Stephen Shaner
Skill level: Beginner

Introduction to Scanning and Printing at Light Work Lab
Session I: March 8 and 15, 2014 / Saturdays 1-4pm
Session II: May 3 and 10, 2014 / Saturdays 1-4pm
Instructor: Joe Lingeman
Skill level: Beginner / Intermediate

Dummies for Beginners
March 22, 2014 / Saturday 1-4pm
Instructor: Dan Boardman
Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

For a complete list of classes, including those in April please visit www.lightwork.org/workshops

Light Work Receives 2014 NEA Art Works Grant

/in

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa has just announced that Light Work is one of 895 non-profit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. The grant will support Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program and the production of Contact Sheet: The Light Work Annual.

Every year Light Work invites between twelve and fifteen artists to come to Syracuse to devote one month to creative projects. Over 360 artists have participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program, and many of them have gone on to achieve international acclaim.

The residency includes a stipend, a furnished artist apartment, 24-hour access to our state-of-the-art facilities, and generous staff support. Work by each Artist-in-Residence is published in a special edition of Contact Sheet: The Light Work Annual along with an essay commissioned by Light Work.

Acting Chairman Shigekawa said, “The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support these exciting and diverse arts projects that will take place throughout the United States. Whether it is through a focus on education, engagement, or innovation, these projects all contribute to vibrant communities and memorable experiences for the public to engage with the arts.”

Art Works grants support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence: public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and enhancing the livability of communities through the arts.

For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, please visit the NEA website at www.arts.gov.

Get It Framed: Collectible Prints From Light Work

/in

Light Work is pleased to introduce framing options for our Fine Print Program. For only $150, get your favorite prints framed to archival quality for display in your home, office, or as the perfect gift for friends and family.

Select from our 2014 Fine Print Program featuring works by James Welling, Irina Rozovsky, Lucas Foglia and John Chervinsky, or choose from past prints by Duane Michals, Keliy Anderson-Staley, Mark Steinmetz, William Wegman, Kelli Connell, Susan Worsham, and many, many more!

All proceeds from our Fine Print Program go directly to supporting artists working in photography. It’s great art for a great cause!

* Place your order by December 18th to ensure delivery by the 24th.

2014AllSubFramed

Browse the new prints and books online at www.lightwork.org/shop.

Living With Art: A Conversation with Jessica Arb

/in

In this recurring blog series, Living with Art Light Work will feature the homes of interesting people, locally and nationally, who curate and create interesting spaces in their homes, their office, or their studios. What inspires them, infuriates them and excites them about living with art?

This week we speak to Jessica Arb, Syracuse transplant and creator of Ocean Violet. Explorer, creative-type, with a sixth-sense for what’s next.

Of all the art in your home, which piece is your most favorite? (Why?)

This would be like choosing your favorite child! I suppose playing favorites is human nature. Let’s see, If I had to choose, I’d say an original mixed-media by French artist, Max Papart titled “Day and Night.” Centered is a silhouette of person with the sun and the moon on either side and when I look at it, it reminds me of my past, present and future. My grandmother was also one of the premier collectors of Papart’s work and I remember as a child trying to find new details within his works in her home. A soaring bird, a hidden word, or a medium (like a pen or pencil) I hadn’t noticed the last time I looked.

How did it find its way into your home?

My fiance surprised me with it as an anniversary gift last year. He got homemade key-lime pie. I think we both won.

Tell us about your Light Work piece and its entry into your collection.

Rather serendipitously. I was first introduced to Carrie Mae Weems through her “Obama Video Series” but ultimately fell in love with her Kitchen Table Series. After moving from New York City to Syracuse in August, I found out Weems was a past artist-in-residence at Light Work which is how I came to know about the organization. I attended the 40th Anniversary gallery opening where Weems’ limited edition print was going to be available for purchase. That morning it was announced she had won the McArthur Genius award, and all signs just pointed to yes – I knew I had to have one of her Kitchen Table Series pieces for my collection.

How did the shape of your home shape your art collection?

I never buy art to fit my home. If I’m drawn to it, I will find a place.

Where and when do you find the best light in your home?

Late afternoons, after lunch when the sun is a little more golden than yellow. Most of my art hangs in the front room where the sun shines best.

You need one very special piece of art to make your collection complete, what is it?

Easy. A Nick Cave soundsuit to greet friends and family as they enter our home. Who needs a welcome mat?

Why do you collect art?

Simply, I love looking at art, travelling to find new artists and learning about their inspirations behind each piece. I learn as much as I can about the artist and try to understand their path, that way my home becomes more of a story as well.

Stayed tuned for our next feature, each week following someone living with great art.

Announcing the 2014 Light Work Artists-in-Residence

/in

Every year Light Work invites between twelve and fifteen artists to come to Syracuse to devote one month to creative projects. Over 400 artists have participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program, and many of them have gone on to achieve international acclaim.

The residency includes a $5,000 stipend, a furnished artist apartment, 24-hour access to our state-of-the-art facilities, and generous staff support. Work by each Artist-in-Residence is published in a special edition of Contact Sheet: The Light Work Annual along with an essay commissioned by Light Work. Work by former Artists-in-Residence is also part of the Light Work Collection.

We are pleased to announce the 2014 Light Work Artists-in-Residence!

Kalpesh Lathigra

Daniel Shea

Rose Cromwell

Ben Huff

Robert Benjamin

Jessica Labatte

Rory Mulligan

Kristine Potter

Keren Shavit

Gregory Halpern

Keisha Scarville

Wayne Lawrence

Mary Mattingly

—

See past Artists-in-Residence at www.lightwork.org/air
Applications are now open for 2015. Apply at lightwork.slideroom.com

2014 Book Collectors Offer: Peter Mitchell’s Strangely Familiar

/in

Peter Mitchell
Strangely Familiar
Nazraeli Press/Light Work, 2013
Hardcover, 68 pages with 47 four-color reproductions
ISBN: 978-1-59005-353-9
First Edition
Signed by the artist

Light Work is pleased to offer signed copies of the highly-anticipated monograph Strangely Familiar by Peter Mitchell. In the 1970s, Mitchell was working as a truck driver in the English city of Leeds, and he photographed the city during his rounds. This work depicts the factories and small shop owners of Leeds, all photographed, with the aid of a stepladder, in a formal manner. In 1979, the photographs were shown at Mitchell’s one-person exhibition at Impressions Gallery in York; this was the first landmark color photography exhibition in the UK. The work was later included in the seminal exhibition How We Are: Photographing Britain at Tate Britain in 2007. Despite being widely exhibited, collected, and written about since the 1970s, Peter Mitchell’s photographs of Leeds – where he continues to live and work – have never before been published as a monograph. Strangely Familiar presents 47 color plates, beautifully printed, and the book opens with an introduction by photographer Martin Parr.

All proceeds from our Fine Print Program go directly to supporting artists working in photography.

Take advantage of the 2014 Book Collectors Offer. Order a signed copy of Strangely Familiar by Peter Mitchell and you will also receive a one-year subscription to Contact Sheet (a $115 value) for only $75!

Browse the new prints and books online at www.lightwork.org/shop