Although I have never aspired to have my photographs included in an exhibition, I would first like to thank Andrea for this opportunity.

For the past eight years I have worked in the photography industry; however, my love for this medium began with my father. The many great images of his journeys that he has shared with our family helped me discover how important photography is in my life. For me, it is a way to remember the great times, whether it’s mushroom hunting, fishing, or traveling around the world with the people I love.

There is nothing better than coming across a photograph you took on a great adventure, reminiscing about that moment in your life and then being able to share that moment with others.

 With that said, enjoy the photos!

Lith Prints
These prints were made in a method I learned while studying with the incomparable Joyce Wilson at the Brooks institute of Photography.  She really trained her students to look beyond the traditional, commercial genre that is the Brooks curriculum and to try new and different
techniques to express themselves artistically. 

Lith printing seems at first to be very similar to traditional black and white printing; a normal negative is used, paper is exposed and developed.  The fun starts when we realize that the usual rules of density and contrast control don't apply with this system.  To create these prints, I used kodalith paper developer and a regular fine-art printing paper.  The print development times ranged from five to 15 minutes, and the exposure times ranged from five to 30 seconds.  All of the negatives had relatively similar exposure and development.  The resulting prints are far more contrasty than traditional prints of these shots, and have a texture and color tonality that is unique to lith printing. 

Polaroid Transfers
Polaroid Transfers always look like tiny paintings to me.  Delicate and flawed, each one is unique and cannot be precisely reproduced.  This series is inspired by my love of the natural elements of city living; all but one were taken right here in Berkeley, either in my own backyard or up the street, some even in Tilden Park.  The intimacy of macro photography is well suited to the polaroid transfer with its tiny size and softened colors. 

To achieve the colors and overall atmosphere in these images, I use slow speed slide film at night (usually ASA100) without flash, which necessitates exposures ranging anywhere from 2 seconds to about 4 minutes.  When color film is subjected to such long exposures, the different color emulsion layers absorb light at different speeds, often creating saturated colors that we don't normally see.  This phenomenon is known as 'reciprocity failure'

 Technique aside, however, these images are a record of some of the more subtle and often surreal ways in which we as humans build and shape our environments.  I enjoy pondering the shapes of various structures and machines that don't normally receive attention from passers-by.  Most everything in my images is in some way changed from its so-called natural state, from the dirt piled high by bulldozers, right up to the clouds in the night sky that reflect the bright lights of the city.

About the pieces

Society Grant
This piece is about freedom. The young man is dragging his problems behind him, so it slows down his freedom.

Pink People
A view into the beauty of art & music. The people are looking into their own creative minds.

Me and Bird
This is the bird that tells me things. He is my intuition. When I listen, everything goes well.

Confusion
This is a photo of a manikin--though it looks real. This is the way many people are in life. They are confused about who they are so they live manikin.

The photographs I have chosen to put together are records of scenes I have attempted to document. I am interested in the process of observing and photographing simultaneously. I am always pushing so that when I shoot I am as much as possible concerning myself with the job of observing a scene as it is, rather than changing it due to technical limitations. The more I understand my equipment and the more technical skills I develop the more natural I feel when I am in the moment of shooting.

My pursuit of images has allowed me experiences I think I would not have had if I was not a photographer. I am attracted to scenes which I notice are one time events, and which I feel are passing moments that I am positioned in some way to pause. I like scenes which are mistakes or unplanned as well as events which seem to me to be symbolic of synchronicity.

I would like to thank Andrea McLaughlin for allowing us to put this show up and to all those who ever taught, encouraged or inspired me.

While the staff at Photolab planned this show, made their print selections, cut their matts, shopped for frames and decided on a name for the exhibit, I was not around at all. During January and February of this year I spent increasing time with my mother as she became
more and more ill. Finally on March 21, she died in San Francisco. My sister Marie, and I  were with her to the end. By early April I was back at work, struggling with a back log of work and wondering what I could contribute to the exhibit

Part of my inheritance from my parents, who were both photographers who met each other  in 1948 at the Rochester Institute of Technology, was a handful of their framed prints. And so, this is what I have chosen to show you: photographs made together by my parents.

Here is how my parents worked to make a photograph: my mother was the location scout, my father would then man the camera and take the photo, one or the other of them would process the film and my mother would usually make the final print.

Oakland Storefront Church Project
In an age when "bigger means better" the value and importance of small communities are often overlooked. The OSCP seeks to honor small spiritual communities in this city we love, to draw attention and to raise awareness of their ubiquity and invaluable contributions to the larger community.

Storefront churches, in particular, are "on the front lines, and serve as poigniant icons of urban spirituality. There is, in the juxtaposition of urban life and the longing for transcendence, a serenity and refuge to be found in the confines of these churches, often not so exquisite
on their exterior.

The Project, seeks to preserve a bit of Oakland's history, and document an important aspect of our common life, and will continue over a period of the next two years.

Rev. John Mabry Ph.D.
Photography: Mark Weaner (not Ph.D.)