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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Analog Photos Highlight the Ordinary

Every once in a while, we need a reminder that our progression to a more digital world does not erase the value of analog works. Currently adorning the white walls of the center of Johnson Memorial Building are dozens of mostly black-and-white images of natural scenery, various nooks and crannies on campus, humans caught in spontaneous poses and everything in between. Sponsored by the Program in Studio Art, this photography display is part of the cumulative mid-semester project of Visiting Assistant Professor of Studio Art Gigi Gatewood’s class ART 327: Black and White Darkroom. From Thursday, Nov. 12 until Tuesday, Dec. 1, all are welcome to venture into Johnson Memorial Building to view students’ explorations in the alternative and the traditional.

Black, white and shades of grey and blue are the dominating colors in the room. Papers and fabrics hang from clear thumbtacks on the blank white walls, with each students’ body of chosen works arranged in artful clusters. Some have white borders, some have black and others are contained by nothing at all. A panoramic stroll through the display will evoke recognition in viewers at certain points and curiosity at others, as the images range from familiar scenes in Middlebury to mysterious shadows and shapes to truly ambiguous abstractions. Put simply, it is a documentation of students’ expanding knowledge of foundational photographic practices.

Gatewood’s class is designed to examine the foundational theories and methods of black and white photography, as well as the evolution of photography from traditional to contemporary practices. This fall, students began by studying antique processes that deal solely with light, using the sun and objects around them to create pictures. Next, they moved on to photograms, which are camera-less, silhouette images made by placing an object directly on light-sensitive paper and exposing it to light from an enlarger. Then, students learned to make their own pinhole cameras – small, light-proof boxes with a black interior and a tiny hole in the center of one end instead of a lens. Light from a scene travels through the tiny hole to project an upside-down and backward image on the 4-by-5-inch piece of reactive photo paper on the opposite wall of the box.

Hannah Hudson ’18 used the laborious pinhole technique to capture a photograph of a small fire that broke out in one of the art studios.

“It was really smoky, so I went in, opened up my shutter, took the picture and evacuated,” she said. “I didn’t love this project, but I liked what came out of the process.”

The result is a dark, haunting and slightly blurry image that evokes the sense of an opening scene from a horror movie. There exist a myriad of interpretations for the scene, since it is not clear that flames are the source of the white light pouring from behind the open door. Arranged in a row alongside two other photograms – the first of a bike resting against a brick wall and the second of a girl gazing off in the distance while perched on the steps outside Johnson Memorial Building – the smoky image could be the ambiguously ominous fate of an abrupt three-part narrative.

Photograms around the room appear to have provided an intriguing creative outlet for students. Works range from straightforward to abstract, from delicate white silhouettes of flowers and ferns set against grey backgrounds to a textural manipulation of fabric and salt particles thrown onto photo paper. The effect of the latter piece is dreamy, celestial and slightly chaotic – a testament to the richness of works that can flourish from processes as simple as that of the photogram.

Lucas Onetti ’16.5, an art history major, used the photogram technique to conjure an image that could pass for a scene from reality. Knowing that the more time photo paper interacts with light, the darker it becomes, he organized the placement of eight cardboard cutouts so that each one was exposed to light for increasingly longer periods of time. The resulting image is a landscape reminiscent of the Green Mountains, idyllic in its in steadily darkening shades of gray.

The uncertainty underlying every step of the analog process can be a stumbling block at times, and a spontaneous blessing at others. The delayed nature of image production in these foundational photographic methods often leads to unexpected lighting, sizing and cut-off points in the final prints, since photographers are not able to view an immediate projection of the scene when working with photograms or pinhole cameras. Hudson described the shadow of a hand that accidentally ended up in one of her photos as “a happy, or unhappy, accident.”

“It’s a funky process, and you have to learn how to embrace the mistakes,” Hudson explained. “I went through sheets and sheets of photo paper, reprinting and reprinting. It’s very time-consuming, and you just have to accept that.”

Gatewood sees the lengthy trial-and-error procedure as an integral part of the artistic experience.

“It’s important to get in touch with the mystery inherent in the photographic process,” she said. “You can know technically what you’re doing and frame what you’re doing, and there’s a scientific explanation for everything that’s happening, but there’s still this sense of mystery when you’re in the darkroom developing your print.”

Student endeavors in these photographic mediums were guided by an emphasis on seven different elements: light, composition, mood, line, perspective, texture and space. Lucas Onetti found himself drawn to familiar scenes on campus while exploring these features. One of his shots hones in on the ledge adorned with dead vines outside of Coffrin. The right-hand side of the picture appears in crystal-clear focus before blurring out in the distance, where the fuzzy outlines of bare-branched trees stand tall. What time of day is it? Who is around? And what is happening beyond the ledge? The flexibility of interpretation behind this work shrouds the scene in intrigue, causing the mood to waver between misery and hope, doom and rebirth.

Another more unconventional work by Onetti features the new art installation outside of Axinn. Taken five feet away from the looming structure, the photo is purposely cut off at the edges.

“When I looked at the negative, being closer up added a chaotic nature to it that I didn’t want to contain by adding a border to it,” Onetti explained. “I wanted to let it flow off.”

Subjects of other works in the room include a spider web, a looming storm, a swing set, dew-covered grass, the river by the train tracks and a dozen other everyday scenes in and around Middlebury. While putting the finishing touches on the display, Gatewood commented on the uniqueness of vision inherent in each person.

“One of the first exercises I do is take the class outside,” she said. “Everyone takes ten steps, takes a photo and then shows each other what we have. “There are no two same images. Everyone has their own perspective. I don’t have to do anything. All of this is being created out of the individual.”

The breadth of pieces featured at the exhibit hints at the stunning potential of photography to document the world around us in a way that is insightful, imaginative and thought-provoking. It is reassuring to know that even while society moves around us at a million miles a minute, people are still taking the time to capture ordinary scenes that might otherwise flash through our lives unnoticed.


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