August 8, 2014
The title is not my own. I swiped it off the poster you see here and I’m borrowing it as a ruse to get you to read something you may not have otherwise.
Reading through my emails this morning, there was one from the Soho Photo Gallery in New York City, warning of an impending deadline, for submissions to the “alternative processes” competition. There was other information, including a short bio of the juror, Geoffrey Berliner, (and this is what caught my eye) Executive Director and co-developer of the Penumbra Foundation in NYC.
I have a bit of experience with “alternative” photo processes, specifically gum bichromate printing and a weekend pinhole camera workshop. I’ll let you do a search for more information if you’re curious, interesting stuff but only, of course, if you’re interested. I digress.
So now I had no choice but to find a website for the Penumbra Foundation and I offer it to you here. Much of the alternative photography world seems to be on offer with workshops and tintype portraits, as well as some delightful posters, including the one shown, in their store. The website also includes pages for supplies and equipment, not yet in evidence but I’ll be returning periodically to see what they’ll have. There’s even a Camera Doctor. And an offer of free tours of the Penumbra facility on the homepage (top right, top button of the 3 rotating images). And at the bottom of the Education page is a list of inexpensive (all things relative) places to stay in the City.
I encourage anyone even vaguely curious to have a look at the foundation website, especially if you didn’t know there was an entire world of photographic possibilities beyond commercial film printing and digital. If this blog was Jeopardy, the answer would be “How photographs were made before modern film cameras” and, further, is it still possible to use those processes? The answer is yes, certainly, and I offer this glimpse and the means.
Back to the beginning, here’s the website for the Soho Photo Gallery with information on their competition, the deadline for submissions 2 weeks from today (on August 22, 2014). Description below:
To read more of PortMoresby’s contributions, click here.
