28-JUL-2015
Drumbeats, The Amphitheatre, Chautauqua, New York, 2015
Practice can sometimes be as intense as a performance. This timpanist listens intently to each beat as he practices before the concert. A multiple selection of timpani mallets lead the eye through this image. The choice of mallet is usually a matter of preference and the nature of the music itself. The timpanist uses a set of four drums to create the appropriate sounds.
28-JUL-2015
Reunion, The Amphitheatre, Chautauqua, New York, 2015
I had just finished making the previous image of a timpanist at practice when suddenly another member of the orchestra rushed towards him with open arms. This spontaneous greeting characterizes the spirit inherent in an orchestra itself. The expressive gesture and enthusiastic expression seems to have caught the timpanist by surprise. He still holds on to his mallets.
27-JUL-2015
Tuning up and shutting down, The Amphitheatre, Chautauqua, New York, 2015
I photographed two orchestral tune-ups at Chautauqua. (I was not permitted to make any pictures during the actual performances, but the head usher kindly allowed me to make these images of practice prior to the concerts.) In most of my orchestral images, the performers were wearing their summer whites. But in this one, which I made on a different evening, the orchestra appears wearing traditional black. Four out of five of these performers are intently working on their art here, while the fifth incongruously takes a moment to check his cell phone. In a few moments, the house lights will dim, the conductor will enter, the music will begin, and I will reluctantly have to put away my camera for the rest of the evening.
30-JUL-2015
Not a techie, Chautauqua, New York, 2015
Dr. Ori Soltes currently teaches theology, philosophy, and art history at Georgetown University. I spent a full seven and a half hours of my week at Chautauqua learning about the historical relationship of art to politics from Dr. Soltes. I was part of a 50 person “Road Scholar Adventure in Lifelong Learning” group that had him as a study leader. Dr. Soltes offered a dynamic presentation to launch each of our five lecture days at Chautauqua. While his mastery of visual art and political history was awe inspiring, he was humbled by the vagaries of audio-visual technology needed to supplement his teaching. In this image, Dr. Soltes finds only frustration as he tries to link a laptop to digital projector. Many of us can understand exactly how he feels at this moment.
30-JUL-2015
Connection, Chautauqua, New York, 2015
Our Chautauqua study leader, Dr. Ori Soltes, who we met in the previous image as he struggled to link a computer to a projector, presents an entirely different side of his teaching skills in this image. More than just a lecturer, Dr. Soltes spent a considerable amount of time in individual dialog with his students before each talk, during breaks, and even afterwards, when some lingered to ask questions. I made this image of him going one-on-one with a fellow participant well after he had concluded his presentation. This image characterizes him as not only a dedicated and passionate teacher, but a good guy as well.
30-JUL-2015
Having fun, Chautauqua, New York, 2015
In this, the third in a sequence of images that I made of Dr. Ori Soltes, our group study leader at Chautauqua, I express the essence of his personality. He has a delightful sense of humor, and I caught it here as he responds to a witty question from his audience. When we add this image to the two previous photos of Dr. Soltes, we get a cumulative look at his strengths (and frustrations) as a teacher.
29-JUL-2015
Actress, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Chautauqua, New York, 2015
At first glance, this photograph offers a candid portrait of a person whose mind seems to be elsewhere at the moment. She also appears to be incongruously lost amidst a sea of leaves that fills the frame. Everything changes, however, when I add additional context. My image is actually a photograph of a photograph. The subject is an actress, featured on an advertising poster on the front porch of Chautauqua’s Bratton Theatre, where she performs. By obscuring much of the poster and photographing the subject out of its normal context, I am able to change meaning entirely, and open the image to further interpretation. I convert my photo to black and white, covering much of the poster with leaves. I also place the subject in the lower left hand corner, where she seems to be trying to turn away and flee from the frame.
29-JUL-2015
Bratton Theatre, Chautauqua, New York, 2015
This building, built in 1885, is one of the oldest structures at Chautauqua. Originally a schoolhouse, the building was called Normal Hall. Fifteen years ago, a major renovation created the new 269-seat Bratton Theatre within the original laminated beam structure of the old Normal Hall. The building is the home of the Chautauqua Theatre Company, the resident theatre of the Chautauqua Institution. I photograph this green painted theatre, surrounded by green foliage, from a corner. This angle produces the rhythmic repetition of the posters and pillars that carries the eye through the image. The varied emotional content of the posters express the range and personality of the Chautauqua Theatre Company’s eight week summer season.
29-JUL-2015
Silent house, Norton Memorial Hall, Chautauqua, New York, 2015
I made this photograph inside the Chautauqua Opera Company’s Norton Memorial Hall, home of the Chautauqua Opera Company since 1929. It is North America’s oldest continuously operating summer opera company. In this image, I contrast the flow of empty theatre seats to a stage waiting to host a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. An elegant chandelier hanging within a silent symbolic forest adds a touch of incongruity to the scene. The vertical thrust of my frame repeats the rhythms created by the vertical flow of receding armrests, delicate trees and the vertical frame of the stage itself.
29-JUL-2015
Turning day into night, Norton Memorial Hall, Chautauqua, New York, 2015
Historic Norton Memorial Hall was a gift to Chautauqua from Lucy Norton as a memorial to her husband, Oliver, and her daughter, Ruth. It opened on July 19, 1929, with Henry Ford and Thomas Edison among the audience. (Mrs. Norton stipulated that all operas performed in the hall be in English.) She also told Chautauqua’s management that she “would build whatever you want, as long as it is beautiful.” Part of its beauty can be found in its architectural details and embellishments, such as this simple but elegant Art Deco lamppost, one of two that stand before the hall’s entrance. I made this image in the early evening, and used spot metering to turn day into night. By exposing for the glowing light bulb, the shadowy foliage in the background gradually fades into darkness.
30-JUL-2015
Lake Chautauqua, Chautauqua, New York, 2015.
When the Chautauqua Institute was founded in 1874, the only way to get there was to take a train to a town at either end of 17-mile long Lake Chautauqua, and then board a steamboat to get to the Institution’s grounds. Dozens of wooden steamboats carried thousands of visitors to and from Chautauqua into the 1930s, when automobile and bus service took over the task. The steamboats have passed into history – only one, a replica, survives as a tourist attraction. Yet this small wooden pier remains as a reminder of the days when the lake played a central role at Chautauqua. Today, visitors use this pier for recreation and relaxation. In this image, five Chautauquans are catching some sun and enjoying the waterfront atmosphere. I stress the horizontal thrust of the pier by placing it within a horizontal frame, and waited for an oncoming motorboat to roar past it. I incongruously stop the boats progress just as it reached the center of the frame.
29-JUL-2015
Finding their way, Chautauqua, New York, 20`5
Navigating the 700-acre Chautauqua campus can be a challenge for new visitors. Yet there are hundreds of old-timers on hand to help first-timers find their way around it. In this image, an experienced Chautauquan orients a pair of newcomers. She extends an arm and throws back her head emphatically. The newcomers seem tentative and somewhat vulnerable at this moment of decision. In the background, a row of empty rocking chairs on a porch add local context. Yet this image gives us the feeling that somehow everything will work out well in the end.