Fine Art Photography

A blue supermoon illuminates the damp evening. Hints of summer hang in the soft air and reverberations of crickets and katydids. Autumn is arriving, and with it, new batches of photography students at the colleges where I teach. The academic year has begun!

Inspired by a flurry of interest in My Father’s Pencils (see Current Exhibitions), I have been making large scale darkroom prints from single 35mm film shots. Mix Tape #1, Roots Funk Vol. 2 examines one of my treasured cassette compilations from the mid-1990’s. It will be framed & exhibited at the Burlington City Arts Studios, as part of this year’s Art Hop–which kicks off on Friday, September 8.

Earlier this month, a beautiful brown bat got trapped in my office at St. Michael’s College and died while I was away camping. It provided a starting point for a new roll of “My Father’s Things,” as it played off a rubber toy bat that my dad had among his various Halloween paraphernalia. My father loved bats, and all things dark and spooky. This is how the roll unfolded:

There are several potential grids, of 4 and 9 frames, that I will crop and print as part of my ongoing series.

Click HERE to view a brief video interview about “My Father’s Things, Contact Grids” by artist Fiona Small.

I have processed all the film I shot with 3 different cameras in Europe at the beginning of summer. Below are samples from rolls taken with my plastic medium format camera, the Holga, cropped from the contact sheets.

Since the Holga frames are square, these “6-pack” grids have the syntax of the familiar 35mm film aspect ratio of 2:3. In the darkroom, I have only ever printed medium format images as single frames. Here’s to new possibilities!

I bring my Holga nearly everywhere. Its simplicity of use invites a sense of immediacy. The wide angle plastic lens vignettes the frame with dark corners and creates a dreamy loss of focus around the periphery.

Click HERE to view a gallery of Holga prints

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Art Hop at BCA Studios

September 8 – October 29, 2023

“Wheels” at the Museum of Everyday Life

Glover, Vermont.

My photograph (above), from last year’s exhibition “Coming Clean,” is part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Click HERE to view more of “950 Starlight Rd.”

Selections from “Of Gavin”

Burlington Muffler & Brake, South Burlington, Vermont.

Extended through October, 2023

Click HERE to view my video interview for CCTV by videographer Charlie Giannoni from the opening of the “Vermonters’ Views of Cuba” exhibition at Burlington’s Fletcher Free Library, which closed in July.

THIS MONTH’S PRINTS FOR SALE

One of each of these signed and archivally wrapped prints is available, on a first come basis. They can be window matted and/or framed for additional cost. To enquire or purchase: jordansamdouglas@gmail.com

WHAT’S NEXT…

In one month, the Harvest Moon will bring me to the dunes of Cape Cod to scatter my father’s ashes into the ocean of his dreams. I will bring my Holga!

The September newsletter will feature prints from the Europe rolls, more single frames of objects, a glimpse into the burgeoning series: “My Mother’s Things, Contact Grids”, and a new batch of select prints for sale.

See you next month!

Contact: jordansamdouglas@gmail.com

jordandouglasphotography.com