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Showing posts with label Photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Photography. Show all posts
Friday, April 19, 2013
Cherry blossom on Long Island by Marzena Grabczynska Lorenc
We have requested a few spring images of Long Island from Long Island photographer, Marzena Grabczynska Lorenc of Thru Marzena's Lens. She had sent us some wonderful shots taken at the gems of Long Island's North Shore - Planting Fields Arboretum and Mill Neck Manor.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Photographer Joan Imhof of Bayville passed away
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| Long Island Sound Photo by Joan Imhof |
Her warmth, dedication to public service, and her volunteering activities touched many.
Our store carries Joan's note cards with beautiful photos of Oyster Bay, Bayville, Centre Island, and Long Island Sound.
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| Centre Island Photo by Joan Imhof |
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Jerry Allen, astrophotographer from Oyster Bay, keeps looking up
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| The Cave Nebula Photo by Jerry Allen |
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| Orion Nebula and NGC 1977 Photo by Jerry Allen |
How does astrophotography differ from regular photo taking? For starters, you need a good refractor telescope with an excellent, special design camera. You will take a series of shots of differing exposure to catch the more or less luminous parts of objects, you will repeat it with different filters. All this while the sky moves above you and forces you to adjust the position of your equipment. You will interpose the images in a photo editing software and eventually produce a final photo.
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| Jerry Allen at his Oyster Bay observatory Photos by Ewa Rumprecht | |
What challenges await an astrophotographer? Light pollution is one. Jerry takes various steps to limit its impact. To block off neighborhood lights he built himself a small observatory in the backyard of his house. Ambient light - the light of New York City, Long Island villages, even the water, is a problem, as well. Jerry acquired various filters to block it off. In spite of all the precautions he still has to post-process his images to remove the noise from them - an arduous task that can take up to 20 hours per image.
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| The Pelican Photo by Jerry Allen |
Why go through all this trouble, you may ask? Beauty, serenity in spite of the dramatic events eons away, humility, curiosity, challenge. You can find it all in Jerry's spectacular photographs.
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| Owl Nebula Photo by Jerry Allen |
What is on Jerry's wish list? Bigger and better equipment, moving his observatory to a darker place allowing for short exposure, crisp images not marred by passing planes. Jerry would love to observe the skies in the Southern Hemisphere to see the famous Small and Large Magellanic Clouds, chaotic and less rhythmic than our own galaxy. In the meantime, he just loves to live by the iconic advice by Jack Horkheimer of the Star Gazer - he keeps looking up!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Alan Henriksen, photographer
Last Sunday, I met with photographer Alan Henriksen at the Planting Fields Arboretum for a working photo shoot session. Alan took a series of photos of plants pushing against the stained and whitewashed glass of the main greenhouse. Most visitors go inside the greenhouse and photograph objects within; it takes a photographer's eye to see a potential for great photos from the outside looking in.
We have here a short video of Alan taking the first shots of the session, a warm-up as he called it.
The image on the right is the first photo taken in the video. You can see stains on the glass and plants inside of the greenhouse. The overall effect resembles an underwater photograph. I guess, this is not how you have envisioned the end result of the take. It was a surprise to me, too. Made me look again and think. And admire.
The combination of natural and man made objects, frequently photographed through windows, are a recurring theme in Alan's latest work. The objects and the reflections in the glass give an interesting sense of space. Check out Alan's website www.alanhenriksen.com to see his portfolio of varied themes, subjects, and locations. The Sunday photos will be making their way there shortly. Alan is also considering submitting them to a photo competition.
Becoming a photographer, Alan's way
Alan Henriksen, a Long Island native, comes from a seafaring stock. His grandfather, Henrik, still holds the world record for Atlantic salmon. Alan's father, Hans, who served as an engineer in the Norwegian navy during World War II, was also an expert fisherman. He married and started a family in the US following WWII. Alan grew up exposed to Long Island's forests and its surrounding sea. His family's homes in Massapequa Park and, later on, Oakdale were adjacent to large nature preserves, which he explored extensively. The family also went on frequent fishing trips, either in the family boat or on occasional outings to Montauk, where they would practice surf fishing in the afternoon and evening, camp overnight on the beach, and continue fishing the following morning. These experiences, on land and water, became a great inspiration for his work.
Alan began photographing in 1958, at the age of nine, with a Kodak Brownie camera. In 1959 he received a small darkroom kit as a Christmas present. The kit included a package of print-out paper, which produced a visible image upon exposure to sunlight, and the trays and chemicals to tone the print and make it permanent.
During his high school years a review of a book of Civil War photographs led Alan to the Sayville Library, where he wandered into the photography section and chanced upon "The Picture History of Photography" by Peter Pollack; Edward Weston's pepper was the first photograph he saw. That moment was an epiphany - Alan decided that photography was the path he would follow. Using savings from his newspaper delivery job, Alan bought his neighbor's camera and darkroom equipment. Later, as editor of the high school yearbook and vice-president of the school's camera club, he had access to a well-equipped darkroom, where he spent many hours improving his printing skills.
In 1966, at age 17, one of Alan's photographs, of a clump of pokeberries against a tree stump, was accepted into the Northwest International Exhibition in Washington state.
The following year Alan began a correspondence with Ansel Adams, who became his mentor. In 1970, after three years of phone conversations and mail exchanges with Adams, Alan attended the Ansel Adams Yosemite Workshop, where he met Adams in person. Many years later, one of Alan's photos from this trip was accepted into the Yosemite Renaissance Exhibition, which toured California, starting at the Yosemite National Park Museum.
From 1974 to 1983 Alan was employed at Agfa-Gevaert's photo paper manufacturing plant in Shoreham, Long Island. He worked primarily as a sensitometrist, someone who is expert in determining the way in which photographic paper responds to light. This led to Alan's collaboration in the late 70's with Adams, along with photographers David Vestal and Paul Caponigro, on Popular Photography Magazine's project to develop better photo paper. In the late 80's Alan put his knowledge of sensitometry to use by authoring ZoneCalc, a software implementation of Ansel Adams' Zone System of exposure and development, which was marketed by Maine Photographic Resource.
Fast forward some years and technological advances. Though fully equipped to photograph and print using multiple film-based formats, Alan now photographs mostly with a digital camera, and has extended his output to include not only black and white, but also color.
In addition to the portfolio, Alan's website, www.alanhenriksen.com, also contains a list of the exhibits and publications. His work has received recognition from major photography magazines and has found its place in serious private collections.
Make sure you read Dean Brierly's excellent interview Alan Henriksen: Contrapuntal Vision.
We have here a short video of Alan taking the first shots of the session, a warm-up as he called it.
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| Photo by Alan Henriksen |
The combination of natural and man made objects, frequently photographed through windows, are a recurring theme in Alan's latest work. The objects and the reflections in the glass give an interesting sense of space. Check out Alan's website www.alanhenriksen.com to see his portfolio of varied themes, subjects, and locations. The Sunday photos will be making their way there shortly. Alan is also considering submitting them to a photo competition.
Becoming a photographer, Alan's way
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| Forest Reflections Acadia, Maine, 2010 Photo by Alan Henriksen |
Alan Henriksen, a Long Island native, comes from a seafaring stock. His grandfather, Henrik, still holds the world record for Atlantic salmon. Alan's father, Hans, who served as an engineer in the Norwegian navy during World War II, was also an expert fisherman. He married and started a family in the US following WWII. Alan grew up exposed to Long Island's forests and its surrounding sea. His family's homes in Massapequa Park and, later on, Oakdale were adjacent to large nature preserves, which he explored extensively. The family also went on frequent fishing trips, either in the family boat or on occasional outings to Montauk, where they would practice surf fishing in the afternoon and evening, camp overnight on the beach, and continue fishing the following morning. These experiences, on land and water, became a great inspiration for his work.
Alan began photographing in 1958, at the age of nine, with a Kodak Brownie camera. In 1959 he received a small darkroom kit as a Christmas present. The kit included a package of print-out paper, which produced a visible image upon exposure to sunlight, and the trays and chemicals to tone the print and make it permanent.
During his high school years a review of a book of Civil War photographs led Alan to the Sayville Library, where he wandered into the photography section and chanced upon "The Picture History of Photography" by Peter Pollack; Edward Weston's pepper was the first photograph he saw. That moment was an epiphany - Alan decided that photography was the path he would follow. Using savings from his newspaper delivery job, Alan bought his neighbor's camera and darkroom equipment. Later, as editor of the high school yearbook and vice-president of the school's camera club, he had access to a well-equipped darkroom, where he spent many hours improving his printing skills.
In 1966, at age 17, one of Alan's photographs, of a clump of pokeberries against a tree stump, was accepted into the Northwest International Exhibition in Washington state.
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| Mirror Lake Yosemite, 1970 Photo by Alan Henriksen |
The following year Alan began a correspondence with Ansel Adams, who became his mentor. In 1970, after three years of phone conversations and mail exchanges with Adams, Alan attended the Ansel Adams Yosemite Workshop, where he met Adams in person. Many years later, one of Alan's photos from this trip was accepted into the Yosemite Renaissance Exhibition, which toured California, starting at the Yosemite National Park Museum.
From 1974 to 1983 Alan was employed at Agfa-Gevaert's photo paper manufacturing plant in Shoreham, Long Island. He worked primarily as a sensitometrist, someone who is expert in determining the way in which photographic paper responds to light. This led to Alan's collaboration in the late 70's with Adams, along with photographers David Vestal and Paul Caponigro, on Popular Photography Magazine's project to develop better photo paper. In the late 80's Alan put his knowledge of sensitometry to use by authoring ZoneCalc, a software implementation of Ansel Adams' Zone System of exposure and development, which was marketed by Maine Photographic Resource.
Fast forward some years and technological advances. Though fully equipped to photograph and print using multiple film-based formats, Alan now photographs mostly with a digital camera, and has extended his output to include not only black and white, but also color.
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| Windows Bar Harbor, Maine 2008 Photo by Alan Henriksen | Boards and Tarp Searsport, Maine 2010 Photo by Alan Henriksen | Doors and Reflections Bar Harbor, Maine 2008 Photo by Alan Henriksen |
In addition to the portfolio, Alan's website, www.alanhenriksen.com, also contains a list of the exhibits and publications. His work has received recognition from major photography magazines and has found its place in serious private collections.
Make sure you read Dean Brierly's excellent interview Alan Henriksen: Contrapuntal Vision.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Nassau County's Photo Archive Center at Old Bethpage Village Restoration
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| Photo by Ewa Rumprecht |
There are researchers, family members delving into their family tree, book authors, historians, organizations celebrating anniversaries of their activies, whose inquiries constitute the bulk of requests for the many images in the archive.
Of the 250,000 images in the archive, 14,000 are catalogued in an electronic format for an easy retrieval. George William Fisher oversees the project from his office/lab at the Restoration. He is a walking font of information on the Long Island photographers, photo techniques, history and industry of Long Island (he is an avid collector of Long Island soda, beer, mineral water, and medicine bottles). He is perfectly suited for his job or rather passion also for another reason, he has years of experience digitizing and archiving data, from human resource files to county records.
One of the current projects at the center is cataloguing the collection of about 4,000 images by Mattie Edwards Hewitt, a landscape and architectural photographer, from Richard Averill Smith's bequest to Nassau County. Hewitt was a very talented photographer who captured numerous architectural treasures of Long Island. Since she published extensively during her lifetime, her photos of Long Island mansions and grounds brought many landscaping ideas to middle class and thus shaped many a neighborhood on the island.
Archives include works by other major Long Island photographers noted for their historical or artistic merit: Henry Otto Korten, John Drennan,William Pickering, Rachel and Lydia Hicks, George Dradford Brainard, and the already mentioned Richard Averill Smith.
Photo Archive Center is located at the Old Bethpage Village Restoration, 1303 Round Swamp Road, Old Bethpage, NY 11804. Tours and visits, by appointment only, can be arranged by calling 516.572.8410.
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