George DeWolfe & Friends:
Lasting Landscapes – Lasting Influences…
This exhibition honors George DeWolfe who passed away in July 2023, and looks to celebrate his lasting influence on his students, his colleagues, and all photographers. The exhibition brings together work by George DeWolfe and a loose selection of friends and former students who continue to meet monthly. They gather under the moniker, FOG otherwise known as Friends of George to share work and support each other’s ongoing efforts. FOG is; Anne Beard*, Robert Belleville, Lydia B Goetze, Lynn Harrison, Bob Hartung, Jodie Hulden, David Pinkham and John Simmons (*not exhibiting).
Lasting Landscapes, Lasting Influences, is the second in an exhibition series at the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts to provide an updated look at Landscape Photography in the 21st Century. This year’s exhibition presents a loose collection of photographers whose work is influenced by the teachings of, or their association with George DeWolfe. George photographed for many environmental organizations over his career, blending an Eastern approach with Western vistas. George studied with Ansel Adams and Minor White in the 1970’s and earned an MFA in Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Beyond his teaching, largely centered on instilling a contemplative approach to photography in his students, he was also active in the development of many of the digital tools we use today. He was one of the original photographers on the Adobe Lightroom team and a consultant to Epson and Nik among other companies developing improved print and workflow products.
Landscape Photography takes many forms and has always been closely connected to concerns of environmental protection. Ansel Adams, whose name has become synonymous with Landscape Photography, was not the first, or the last to produce work “to preserve, in photographs, a land under threat, or to preserve a view that might not be available to future generations”. This focus on environmental concerns stretches all the way back to Carleton Watkins and William Henry Jackson, who’s early photographs were instrumental in the protection of the Sierras, and the designation of Yellowstone as the first national park. DeWolfe’s early work, continued this environmental protection theme, with one of his earliest portfolios produced in support of the Friends of Acadia. In his later work he added a decidedly Eastern influence with his mantra of “Be Still, Observe Everything, Desire Nothing”, and a focus on combining the structure of ancient Chinese landscape painting with the established structure of the Western landscape and was recognized for Artistic Excellence by The National Park Service.
This exhibition features: A small selection of work by George DeWolfe and the “Friends of George”, Robert Belleville, Lydia B Goetze, Lynn Harrison, Bob Hartung, Jodie Hulden, David Pinkham and John Simmons. Join us in exploring and celebrating the lasting influences, the benefits of mentorship, and constructive feedback through the work of this collection of friends. The contemplative approach George advocated has been adapted, internalized and applied by the included photographers well beyond his focus on the landscape. To be clear, most of the included photographers would not self-identify as Landscape Photographers… but this exhibition is as much about celebrating the connections and contributions made during the making of the work, as it is about the work presented.
George DeWolfe & Friends:
Lasting Landscapes, Lasting Influences…
This exhibition brings together together a small selection of George’s work paired with work from seven photographers who through their association with George have gone on to incorporate his contemplative approach to photography into their own work and process.
George DeWolfe, Robert Belleville, Lydia B Goetze, Lynn Harrison, Bob Hartung, Jodie Hulden, David Pinkham and John Simmons
Exhibition: Thursday, April 18th, thru Friday, May 10th, 2024
Opening Reception: April 18th 5:00 – 8:00pm
George DeWolfe:
About: George DeWolfe
George DeWolfe loved teaching — the people he met, the stories he told and heard, the craft of printing, the reading and thinking that formed the framework. After earning his Master of Fine Arts in Photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology, there were years of commercial photography, writing for View Camera and Camera Arts, and technical experiments — always leavened with time working in and for the landscape — before he found his way to teaching workshops.Beginning with Henry David Thoreau and the landscape, developing his unique style with Minor White, perfecting the craft of printing with Ansel Adams, and arriving at the calm awareness of Thich Nhat Hanh, George found and shared himself in landscape workshops with fellow photographers. His wisdom? “Be Still. Observe Everything.Desire Nothing.”
Biographical:
As a young man, George loved climbing mountains – the Alps, the Tetons, the Appalachians, and others. While studying at RIT, George spent several summers working for the Appalachian Mountain Club in New Hampshire in various capacities. He was the first Artist-in-Residence at the AMC, building a photo archive for the club. His work was also featured (with others) in “At Home in the Wild: New Hampshire’s White Mountains,” a Friends of the Earth large-format photography book.
George came to MDI in 1995 to create an archive of landscape photographs for Friends of Acadia, loved the place, and never left. He was an early adopter of digital photographic methods and was involved in the development of Adobe Lightroom software, as well as special inks and papers for digital photographic printing. He authored two popular books on the technical aspects of digital printing. George had a national reputation as a printer and as a teacher, and he especially enjoyed teaching workshops at the Santa Fe Workshops for many years. His lively sense of humor found a welcome reception among students and friends.
George and his partner, Lydia Goetze, developed an approach they called Contemplative Landscape Photography, which he and they taught at a variety of locations including China and the American West. His workshop students respected both his artistic vision and his technical expertise. As a result of his contemplative work, one of his students inducted him into the White Plum lineage of Japanese Zen as a sensei (teacher).
George DeWolfe on Contemplative Photography
(Artist statement – in his own words, excerpts from his writings)
Contemplative Photography is a series of simple skills that show us how to express ourselves through the medium of photography. Our photographs become more expressive about the reality we live in. Although it is non-sectarian in scope and practice, it draws upon contemplative traditions of both East and West, the ancient art of Chinese brush painting, and recent scientific research in the psychology of seeing, perception and consciousness.
Still photography is the visual capturing of a moment. The study of a moment is the discipline of mindfulness, an ancient practice that allows us to see the present moment non-judgmentally, on purpose. Mindfulness brings us greater awareness, clarity, acceptance, and mental calm.
Mindfulness puts you on an intuitive path, calms your mind, and makes you aware of what is in front of you at that very moment. It makes the mind an empty vessel, ready to receive new and pure experience. It is indeed the philosophy of a moment, which is what we photograph.
Contemplative Photography practice allows us to:
-
- See what is in front of us, in the moment, non-judgmentally.
- See the Actual physical world directly as well as sense and have access to the Mysterious.
- Be able to photograph both the Actual and the Mysterious at the same time.
- Adjust our technical methods to the new sense of vision that we find in Contemplative Photography practice.
I seek and photography mystery
– George DeWolfe
Works and Reflections from the members of FOG: Friends of George
View the exhibition in this interactive 360˚ walkthrough
Robert Belleville
About: Robert Belleville
Robert Belleville (b. 1946) has photographed since the 1950s as an adjunct to his engineering career in problem-solving, using computers and software. Moving to Silicon Valley in 1974, he was able to meet and study with many influential photographers including Ansel Adams. He grabbed hold of the digital revolution in the early 21st century and has been holding on for dear life ever since.
For the more hardcore:
A Deep Dive into the early development of computer graphics and the Macintosh with Bob Belleville
Influence and Manifestation:
How are we made if not through those who have taught and influenced us? For me, a list of photographic influences spans the alphabet from Eugène Atget to Richard Zakia with a hundred in between.
George DeWolfe holds a special place on that list. He taught me how to improve my black-and-white printing and how to compose an image in what Edward Weston called the best way of seeing. (See the black and white tree branch. (2014))
He validated my own spiritual dimension with contemplative photography. He taught and mentored many photographers, including a group of people who continue today in this show.
In 2014 he and Lydia Goetze, at their home in Maine, blessed me with a mission of moving on from traditional photography to a technique I had discovered nearly a decade before: Intentional Camera Motion, or “Lightfalls” as I call them (I was in Yosemite when they first spoke to me).
The purple/yellow/orange image (2023) is an example of ICM.
Georges’ “Forest Floor” series inspired the golden leaves in Yosemite Valley (2021) with a good measure of Guy Tal’s influence.
An image taken in a church in France in 2010, composited with a macro image of a fallen leaf, celebrates vivid color and life that are always available to awareness.
Both the camera and the computer will, if we let them, call us directly to our present moment.
–
Lydia B Goetze
About: Lydia B Goetze
Lydia Goetze’s photography began as a way to document a life of mountain and sea expeditions and of teaching young people about the natural world. Largely self- taught as a photographer, but also encouraged by two important friend-mentors, she came to a deeper immersion in photography after a career of teaching science and outdoor skills to high schoolers. Experimenting with image-making in the landscape and sharing ideas with others in workshops was the natural outcome.
Find more on her website at Lydiagoetze.com
Reflection & Influence: George DeWolfe as Mentor
Contemplative photography for me means working intentionally and mindfully to create and express my own authentic way of feeling and seeing. Its roots are in a life spent largely outdoors, in a love of experimentation, in meditative practice, and in developing the technical competence needed to express my vision. When digital photography opened up the possibility of adjusting and printing my own color work, it gave my experimentation greater scope, built on long experience with black and white work.
George DeWolfe introduced me to the professional practice of photography – technical competence with cameras and digital printing methods, experimenting with materials and methods, developing consistent quality in vision and in printing. We often went into the field together, critiqued each other’s work, tested papers and inks, debated how best to realize our individual ways of seeing. George was my friend, mentor, and partner in work and in life.
In working with George and developing the ideas for our contemplative workshops together, we explored the biology of visual perception, the techniques of meditative practice, the history of photography, the history and practices of Chinese landscape painting, and many other topics. Together we debated how best to express these in our own work and to convey these ideas to others.
Through my connection to George, I have come to seek mystery and “what else is there” (from Minor White via George); to experiment, especially with moving water and color abstraction as seen here; to think in terms of projects, not just single images. Each of my images here is part of a larger project. I came to say “I am a photographer” and know it is an essential truth of my life.
– Lydia B Goetze
Lynn Harrison
About: Lynn Harrison
Lynn Harrison is a fine-art landscape photographer whose work often expresses her deep appreciation for nature.Her recent publication, At Peace in Nature, is inspired by Lynn’s love for the wilderness, her spiritual home.
Her enthusiasm for photography began when Lynn was a young girl fascinated by her parents’ bellows camera.Santa Claus acknowledged her interest with the gift of a Brownie Holiday Flash camera, complete with Sylvania blue dot flashbulbs!
Lynn’s working career was as a computer programmer and systems analyst.Her final accomplishment in that field was rebuilding the software and hardware used in a small company’s accounting, payroll, and inventory control systems.
Her passion for photography has led Lynn to pursue workshops with nationally prominent photographers, including George DeWolfe.Early in her photographic journey, she exhibited her work in juried shows presented by Maine Photographic Workshops and a solo show at the Edward S. Curtis Gallery in San Anselmo, CA. In 2003, Lynn co-founded the cooperative Gallery 302 in Bridgton, ME and has exhibited her work there from 2003 to the present.
George’s Influence:
George DeWolfe’s influence was instilled in me and my photography when I was a student in his one-week Fine Art Printing class. As a teacher, George impressed me immediately with his sincerity, focus, and deep knowledge of the craft and artistry of photography. When we first met, he asked, “Are you a photographer?”, to which I replied emphatically, “Yes.” My answer to George’s question came from decades of learning and gaining confidence and pride in my artwork. He had invited me to affirm my identity.
I learned from George the value of a reflective process in making photographs, embracing mindfulness, intuition, calmness, and presence. He called this Contemplative Photography. My own path, both personal and photographic, allowed me to fit naturally in this way of seeing, again affirming who I am as an artist.
– Lynn Harrison
Bob Hartung
About: Robert Hartung
My father always had a Stereo Realist strapped around his neck when I was a child.Rarely he would let us take an image.Then in the late 1960s my older brother gifted me a Yashica 35 mm camera he purchased during a port call in Japan.Then as an exchange student between my third and fourth years of Medical School I had a chance to travel in Europe and took a Nikkormat FTN with me.
After Medical School and Internship I joined the Navy.After Flight Surgeon Training, I was transferred to Keflavik Naval Station in Iceland where there was a group of photographers with Land Rovers, a love of getting lost in the Central Highlands, and a first rate B&W darkroom.
This is my introduction to Black & White Photography.After two years in Japan where the Navy Exchange Nikon Salesman and I became friends, I returned to the US.Three years later I was in a Naval Diagnostic Radiology Residency at Naval Hospital San Diego.At that time all of Radiology was shades of gray and thus my affinity for Black and White.
I was hooked on Black & White as my expressive medium.
Reflection & Influence:
I first met George at a workshop he taught at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre. Then up until his passing, I have attend his workshops in Southwest Harbor, ME; Death Valley, CA; and Bishop, CA. I began mentoring with George after the third workshop. The most important thing I learned from George, beyond the mechanics of post-processing digital photography, was the concept of Contemplative Photography; that the quite mind was always more open to truly seeing what was before us than a mind in turmoil. This was my introduction to meditating before beginning to photograph.
I have stayed with Black & White as It is more expressive than are color prints, which leave less to the imagination. The subject or scene is boiled down to the essentials of form, line, shape and luminosity (Shadow and Light). In post processing I try to convey what I was feeling when I made the image.
– Bob Hartung
Jodie Hulden
About: Jodie Hulden
Jodie Hulden is a fine art, contemplative photographer whose work focuses on the visual poetry of intimate spaces. Her work is influenced by Asian philosophy, aesthetics, and poetry. She has a degree in art from San Diego State University. Jodie began working in black and white film photography in the 1970’s, switching to digital capture in 2001. She completed a mentorship with photographer George DeWolfe in 2013. In 2017 she completed a month-long artist-in-residency at Zion National Park. She was an award winner in 2018 at the Center Choice Awards in Santa Fe, NM. In 2019 she was selected as one of the 200 Critical Mass Finalists for her Seeing Silence portfolio. She published a book with Dark Spring Press of her interior Bodie images, titled Left Behind. She has exhibited her work nationally at the Center for Photography Arts, the Center of Fine Art Photography, the Yosemite Renaissance Exhibition, Photo Place Gallery and the Photographer’s Eye Gallery. Internationally she has shown work in the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards exhibition in Barcelona. Her work has been featured in On Landscape Magazine, in Black + White Magazine (UK) and BETA developments in photography magazine.
Artist Statement:
I regard my photography as “visual haiku” because of its poetic and contemplative quality. I have always been drawn to Asian poetics, art and philosophy, so it is no surprise that those aesthetics appear in the photography I make. I also love texture and pulling out of chaotic scenes the essence of some small beauty that I find there. My experience is that when beauty crosses our path, whether grand or humble, thought can disappear, and a quiet stillness descends. In this way the experience of beauty is like a meditation, no matter how brief the encounter. Making these images is my way of honoring those moments when we are offered such gifts of beauty.
Reflection & Influence:
In 2013 I completed a photography mentorship with George. He gave me an assignment that he called “Hard Travel to Sacred Places”. I was to choose a location within thirty minutes of my home and photograph at least twenty images there every day for three months. If I skipped a day I would have to start over again!
This was a challenging assignment, not only because of the time commitment, but because I wasn’t sure what George was looking for. The perfect image? What was that? I often came away discouraged and feeling like I was on the wrong track, but I was finally able to get to the other side of those doubts and learn to trust what I was seeing and feeling. But this took a long time.
Towards the end of the 90 days, when George said I had found what he was after, it was because I had reached a point where I had discovered the simple joy of just doing it – nothing more. I spoke with him about the day when I had burst out laughing from the absurdity of it all and the utter pleasure of just being out there, making images.
I learned from George how to photograph with confidence in my own vision, and not be ruled by that of another. He helped me to find my own internal passion for photography. My time spent with George was fundamental in recognizing my own authenticity and voice. It has never let me down.
– Jodie Hulden
David Pinkham
About: David Pinkham
I photograph wonder. Wonder is a feeling of surprise mingled with delight at something perceived to be rare or unexpected that touches the heart.
Reflection & Influence:
George’s influence on my photography – and me as a person – was significant and timely. I say timely because I had reached a point where I understood the technology surrounding digital photography as much as was needed at the time. But I needed some artistic direction.
George learned under the tutelage of Minor White. A quote from Minor sums up what I learned from George. “The spirit always stands long enough for the photographer it has chosen.”
I became a more contemplative photographer. I waited for the image to appear to my heart and eye. There were many occasions when I would sit, or stand, or lie and wait. I waited for the unexpected to touch my heart.
My photography is ever changing. But the goal is always there. I keep waiting for the “spirit” to find me. Thank you George. And Lydia.
– David Pinkham
John Simmons
About: John Simmons
John is a deliberate, contemplative photographer of nature and landscapes. His interest in nature is lifelong.At one time or another he has been an avid bird watcher, collector of insects for mounting and display, collector of rocks and fossils, hunter of small game, fly fisherman for trout, and amateur gardener and botanist. The experiences of these pursuits taught him to savor his moments in nature with intensely focused calm observation and curiosity. These are the essentials of his photography to create images of both discovery and mystery.
His interest in photography began with summer employment at Eastman Kodak where they kindly lent him a camera, all the black and white film he could use, and the use of a darkroom where he learned to develop and print his photographs. During a 40-year career of chemical and aerospace engineering his photography was limited to photos of family and friends with an occasional landscape. After retirement in 1996, he returned to serious photography, joined a local camera club and purchased his first digital camera in 2007. His photographs have been collected by individuals and exhibited in galleries and art venues in New Mexico and New York.
His current interest is finishing a portfolio of photographs rendering the beauty and mystery of the Rio Grande and its Bosque in the vicinity of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Reflection & Influence:
Through my many workshops with George DeWolfe I learned the art of seeing and to have patience for light while photographing nature.I met George when I attended his workshop on authenticity in Santa Fe.Subsequently, I participated in his contemplative workshops in the Eastern Sierra and other locations. Lastly, I did a one-year mentorship with him. At the beginning of my mentorship he had me take 150 casual photographs of natural landscape scenes that attracted my attention.Casual meant “from the hip” without composing through a view finder.From this exercise he showed me what I see; my gestalt(s) are lines and repetition.
These four images are examples of what and how I see landscapes as influenced by his teachings. “Mesa Tectonic” was made shortly after completing his Santa Fe Workshop class titled Black and White Master Print.I was especially mindful of his techniques of enhancing details. “Connections” is part of a series of what he called “Infinity Landscapes,”landscapes that lack perceived depth.“Cottonwood Arches” is part of a series of about the Rio Grande Bosque, which I began under his tutelage. “Leaf Ring,” also from the Bosque series, explores the mysteries of the Bosque landscapes.
– John Simmons
George DeWolfe & Friends:
Lasting Landscapes, Lasting Influences…
This exhibition features: George DeWolfe, Robert Belleville, Lydia B Goetze, Lynn Harrison, Bob Hartung, Jodie Hulden, David Pinkham and John Simmons
Exhibition: Thursday, April 18th, thru Friday, May 10th, 2024
Opening Reception: April 18th 5:00 – 8:00pm
The Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, 118 N. Main St. Providence, RI
Located in the heart of Providence, RICPA was founded to inspire creative development and provide opportunities to engage with the community through exhibitions, education, publication, and mutual support.
RICPA exists to create a diverse and supportive community for individuals interested in learning or working in the Photographic Arts. We strive to provide an environment conducive to the free exchange of ideas in an open and cooperative space. Members should share a passion for creating, appreciating, or learning about all forms of photo-based media. We work to provide a platform for artistic expression, that fosters dialogue and drives innovation in the photographic arts.
The Gallery at the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts is a member of Gallery Night Providence https://www.gallerynight.org/
Want to become a RICPA Member? Membership brings many benefits and discounts, for more information and to find the membership level that fits you, visit our website at https://www.riphotocenter.org/membership-info/ You may become a member at entry, member benefits begin immediately and run 365 days from your start date.
Questions: Contact gallery@riphotocenter.org To learn about other RICPA exhibits and programs, visit https://www.riphotocenter.org/.
Leave a Reply