Photography by Stephen Perloff

Unseen Color, Part 1
March 10th to April 14th

@ The Light Room Gallery:
2024 Wallace Street, Phila PA 19130

Opening reception: Saturday, March 10th 2-6PM
Closing reception: Saturday, April 14th 2-6PM

Artist talk: Saturday, April 14th 4 PM

Gallery hrs: Fri and Saturday 12-4 PM
all other hrs by appointment only

Click Here for a review from the Philadelphia Inquirer!

In 1986, photographer and Photo Review founder and editor Stephen Perloff had a “30 Year Retrospective” at Haverford College, as he included a picture of his parents he made at the age of eight with his Davy Crockett camera. Perloff actually started seriously making photographs ten years later, in 1966, and has had a lengthy career that has included studies of the built environment of Philadelphia, a rephotographic project in the city (Philadelphia Past and Present), images made in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park, and a multi-year study of the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, which famously had a coal mine fire burning beneath it. He has also made numerous portraits of people like photographers W. Eugene Smith and Emmet Gowin, monologist and actor Spalding Gray, feminist Kate Millett, poet Elizabeth Alexander — who read at President Obama’s inauguration — and dancer Lucas Hoving, among others. Most of those photographs were made with a 4×5-inch view camera. Among his 35mm work are images made on travels to Europe and the Far East and a moving series of the last seven months of his father’s life titled “Dying at Home.”

But except for two SX-70s that were included in a Brooklyn Bridge centennial show in New York City in 1986, the work he has exhibited has always been in black-and-white. Perloff often shot color along with black-and-white, but he never really learned to print color and never exhibited this work.

With the advent of digital technologies, however, Perloff has revisited this work, scanned the Kodachrome slides, which were still pristine, and made new digital prints. “I always knew there were wonderful images among my color work,” Perloff recalls, “but after looking at them a couple of times and maybe having a slide show once in a while for a couple of friends, the work went into storage and was somewhat forgotten. I realized that with a high-quality scanner and printer I could bring these images back to life and the results have been everything I imagined.”

Perloff’s color work goes back to 1966, with images made in Philadelphia, at the West Virginia State Fair in 1978, on those trips to Europe, and especially to the Far East in 1977 and Romania in 1982, as well as trips cross country in 1970, 1978, and 1979.

“This show will have a sampling of some 20 images, but there are many more I hope will be exhibited,” Perloff says. “That’s why I titled this exhibition ‘Unseen Color, Part I.’ We’ll see!”

For more information on the Stetson Shutterbugs please visit www.stetsonshutterbugs.blogspot.com/

WHEN Stephen Perloff launched The Photo Review in 1976, it was a golden age for photography in Philadelphia. More than three decades later, he thinks a new golden age is dawning here. “We’re getting back to the energy and vibrancy of the earlier time. It’s quite heartening,” said the self-taught photographer, whose publication has kept him at the center of all things photographic in the region.

Philadelphia today has three community photo art centers: Project Basho, the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center and the Light Room. It has a commercial photo gallery in Gallery 339. The public can see photography exhibits regularly at academic galleries such as the University of the Arts’ Sol Mednick Gallery and Gallery 1401.

Blue-chip gallery Locks has periodic photo exhibits. So do galleries such as LG Tripp, which closed its fourth-annual abstract photography show last week, and the Print Center, which opens its 86th annual international competition in photography in June. Museums are showcasing photography, too.

What’s more, according to Perloff, young artists are staying here instead of moving to New York or the West Coast, where the fashion and music industries historically provided more jobs. Those industries have changed. Digital photo tools have made photography at once cheaper to work with and more specialized.

“It’s a hard time to get a job as a photographer,” said Sarah Stolfa, founder of the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center in Kensington. Stolfa launched PPAC in 2009 after earning a master of fine arts at Yale School of Art. Tired of running up to New York, she created the digital lab so she and other photographers could scan, print and work within a local, like-minded community. Stolfa, like many photographers around here, also teaches photography, at PPAC and at the University of Pennsylvania.

PPAC is a nonprofit arts center with classes, lectures, movie screenings, a book fair, an exhibition gallery and the closest thing the city has to an annual photo festival. On Philly Photo Day,anyone can take a photo in the city; PPAC prints and displays them during a two-week exhibition.

What the city needs now is an international festival to brand it as a photography hub and bring together artists, collectors, scholars and gallerists, said Martin McNamara. With partner Tom Callan, he founded the commercial photo space Gallery 339 in 2005.

“Since we opened we’ve seen a lot of interesting nodes of activity: two photo centers [Basho and PPAC] and increased activity with universities that offer photography degrees,” said McNamara. “Temple opened their new building – an amazing facility. And, of course, the art museum opened their dedicated photo space [the Levy Gallery] in the Perelman Building. One thing that’s not in place yet is a festival.”

Not that he doesn’t appreciate Philly Photo Day. “I love the democratic event,” he said. “But other cities have multiday or multiweek photo festivals, and it brings attention to the idea of photography.”

Efforts to organize a festival have so far come up short. But Tsuyoshi Ito of Project Basho, around the corner from PPAC in Kensington, has decided to create a one-day, festival-like event in conjunction with his center’s annual emerging artists’ exhibit, “Onward.” Scheduled for Feb. 11, the day the exhibit opens, the event will feature speakers, portfolio reviews and other activities. Tickets are $65, and organizers hope for 200 participants at what they hope will be an annual event.

People in the field talk about the collegiality among players in the local photo scene, though there’s also healthy competition.

Al Wachlin Jr. is a founder of the oldest, yet most under-the-radar photo art center, the Light Room in Fairmount. The 10-year-old member organization has a darkroom, a small digital lab and a gallery space. Its mission is to serve its members, so they refer non-members to other spaces, Wachlin said. “We’re definitely trying to support each other.”

That shared sensibility follows an all-boats-rise philosophy. “We’re all in a really big city, and we’re all really small,” said Grisha Enikolopov, Basho’s coordinator of marketing and events. “The more people who are interested in photography, the better for everyone.”

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20120113_Photography_clicks_with_Philadelphia.html#ixzz1jMJVc2IQ
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Tis the season . . .

1. The Gift of Life Family House (anytime)
401 Callowhill Street Philadelphia, PA 19123

2. The Gift of LIfe Family House Website (free shipping)

3. Melanie’s Place in Old City
53 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA
Framed Images are for sale there.

4. Contact the Light Room

5. At the closing of Two Cultures, Friday December 2nd from 5-9, Light Room Gallery 2024 Wallace

12 cards and envelopes (2 of each) are in one pack for $20.

All proceeds go directly to the house.

This Photo Salon will feature work by Philadelphia photographer, Erin Yard. Erin will be showcasing his recent series of work focusing on Fishtown, a neighborhood in Philadelphia.  The photographs of this collection attempt to give insight into the people and the surroundings of a neighborhood that is in flux; the neighborhood is currently experiencing gentrification and revitalization.  Despite the change to the demographics and landscape of Fishtown, there still remains a character that is incomparable to other neighborhoods of Philadelphia; however, there is also a sense that this neighborhood could be a neighborhood from Boston, Detroit, or Baltimore.

Photographers, you are encouraged to bring your own portfolio to share with other peers and photography enthusiast in attendance.

http://erinyard.photoshelter.com/

Two Cultures Exhibition Highlights Two Photographers and their Connections to their Homelands

Photographers Tony Rocco and Ranjoo Prasad will be exhibiting work from their respective homelands, Colombia and India, in an exhibition titled “Two Cultures” at the Light Room Gallery from Nov. 5th – Dec. 3rd, with an opening reception on Saturday, Nov. 5th, from 5 – 9 PM.

Rocco and Prasad, both longtime Light Room members, share a deep sense of cultural identity that is a continuing inspiration for their work. “Two Cultures” showcases new photographs that both photographers created from their most recent trips home.

Rocco continues his exploration of his mother’s native Colombia, this time concentrating on the small farming town of La Florida, where the people have begun to lose touch with the land. He uses his practiced, intimate, documentary style to create stark black and white images that capture the independent spirt of La Florida and it’s residents. Rocco has also spent the last two years teaching photography to children in La Florida, having them learn how to use the camera to investigate and better appreciate their rich farming traditions.

Prasad will be sharing a glimpse of her birthplace and parent’s native India: the remote, rural, and conservative district of East Champaran, in Bihar, the poorest state in India with the lowest literacy rate. Prasad has created a passionate series of lush color photographs that resonate with the love, understanding, and appreciation of her culture.

Opening Reception: Saturday, Nov. 5th, 5 – 9 PM
Closing Reception: Friday, Dec. 2nd, 5 – 9 PM

Located at 1909 Wilcox St. is our darkroom and “Garage Gallery”
featuring the work of veteran members like Ron Corbin,
Josh Marowitz, and Al Wachlin Jr.

Located at 2024 Wallace St. the “Light Room Gallery” featuring
work of newer members like Richard Boutwell, Genevieve Coutroubis,
Annarita Gentile, and Erin Yard.

Check out more info here

Click here to see link to our facilityThis is the first weekend for POST, Philadelphia Open Studio

This Photo Salon will feature work by Philadelphia photographer, Glenn Bizewski. Glen will be showcasing his recent series of work entitled “Urban Lith”. This unique series of work is created using the traditional darkroom technique of Lithe Printing.

You are encouraged to bring your own work to share with other photographers in attendance.

Featured artist Glen Bizewski’s website:
http://www.glennbizewski.com

Saturday, April 16, 6 – 9 PM
Artist talk at 7:30
Event is free.

The Photo Salon will take place at the
Light Room Gallery
2024 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130.

Participating Artists:

Glenn Bizewski
Richard Boutwell
Mary Anne Broderick-Pakenham
Ronald Corbin
Annarita Gentile
Ranjoo Prasad
Jesse Pryor
Tom Sheeder Jr
Harvey Stern
Al Wachlin Jr

Opening Reception
First Friday, August 5, 5 – 9 PM

Artist Reception
Sunday, August 7, 2 – 5 PM

Closing Reception
Sunday, August 28, 2 – 5 PM

Gallery Hours:
Wednesday – Sunday 12 – 5 PM