Through the Lens: Heart and Soul marks its official opening

I wasn't sure I'd have the time to do justice with pictures at Saturday's reception for photographers that marked the opening of the sixth annual "Through the Lens" exhibit -- this year's theme is "Heart and Soul" -- at the Garfield Park Arts Center in Indianapolis. These images probably support that notion. They are not my best work, and hopefully, not even close. However, they do include my first dabble -- and an unplanned one at that -- using the fish-eye feature on my PowerShot G12.

But, I did want to have something to remember the occasion, the first public display of my work in an exhibit hall. With luck, other members of the Indiana Photographic Society, who also brought along cameras, might have captured some better pictures.

Almost all of my shots were taken early on at the reception; thanks to a nice stream of visitors, I had no opportunity to break away later in the going to do any photography. And perhaps, that's how it should be. The society's images will remain in the main gallery of the GPAC through May 29; anyone is welcome to drop in and view them during the center's normal business hours, which are 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays; and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Members of the Indiana Photographic Society also will hang our work later this year in the Fountain Square Branch of Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce building in downtown Indianapolis (which is along Meridian Street, adjacent to University Park). I'll post dates for those exhibits as they become available.

Before transitioning into the pictures, I want to extend a warm and sincere thanks to those of you who took time out of your day to drop in at Saturday's reception and extend well wishes; it meant a lot to me, and I'll always remember it.

Top, above and below: Visitors and club members alike, mulling around and going through the munchies line.

Above and below: Creativity struck me when I noticed, at one moment, the interesting pattern the sun splashed onto the floor through the Arts Center's west windows (above) and the shoes of some people sitting next to me (below).

Above: Visitors peruse the offerings along the east wall of the GPAC gallery hall. 

Above: Using the PowerShot G12's high-dynamic range feature, resting the camera on my leg as I sat in a chair. 

Above: The G12's fish-eye feature was accidentally engaged, unknown to me, when I captured this shot, but I did like what it delivered, so ... I'm likely to explore it some more in the future.
 

Above: The GPAC kept these draw stations in the hall for toddlers to use if they felt the urge to create. My kindergarten-age grandson Jakob crafted this drawing for me. My grandkids refer to me as Poppy Joe. Jakob came pretty close to the correct spelling with his POPGOe.

Through the Lens: Heart and Soul

This is a bit of an unusual post. Normally I use my posts for submissions; this is a sort of a news blurb. Next month will mark the first opportunity for me to have any of my photographs on display in a public art gallery. Ever since I learned in December that I would have this opportunity, I've been pinching myself periodically to help me realize that this is really happening. I'm part excited, and part nervous. 

I'll be a participating artist -- with fellow members of the Indiana Photographic Society -- in the society's annual "Through the Lens" exhibit in the main hall of the Garfield Park Arts Center in Indianapolis. This year's show, which runs for six weeks (most of April and almost all of May), has the theme "Heart and Soul" and opens officially with a reception for the participating photographers in the center's main hall from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, April 9. Everyone -- and that means any and all of you -- is welcome to attend the reception; our members will provide some munchies and punch for visitors, there will be some live background music performed (a classical guitarist), and most importantly, you'll have a chance to see a variety of photographic work by the 10 or 11 club members participating in the show. You can talk to them -- if you'd like -- about their work, and they'll be tickled and grateful for your interest. And if you've never visited the arts center (a converted community and rec center that has been open as an arts center now for about six years), it would be a great opportunity simply to check out the place. The graphic you see at the top of this post shows both sides of our club's official postcard promoting the show. The image of the tulip was taken by one of our members, who is participating in the show.

A year ago, before I joined the club, I ran a post here in advance of the club's 2010 show, which was titled "Artistically Speaking" and dedicated to the memory of club member Ernest Crowe of Beech Grove, who died in September 2009. 

The arts center recently has asked us to get our pictures hung early (supposedly our work should be in the main hall as early as April 1) to help fill a recent, unexpected void in the center's gallery display schedule. So if you are interested in checking out the work but cannot make it to the reception (and it's OK if you don't or can't make the formal opening; I'm squeamish about those kids of things, too), you'll be able to visit the arts center and see the exhibit anytime during the center's normal business hours beginning about April 1 and running through almost the entire month of May. The arts center's hours are 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays; and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. It is closed on Mondays. 

Our club decided to give members participating in the show great leeway in interpreting the "Heart and Soul" theme. The only condition was that we use some sort of thread to tie together our submissions for the show. I will have eight photographs in the show -- all winter vistas captured in Garfield Park in Indianapolis, which has been the source of so many of my photographic endeavors over the years. 

You'd think that after going to that park so many times to take pictures that I'd have seen and photographed it all by now. But I cannot think of a time when I've had the itch to take pictures, elected to take the easy hop over to the park to do it, and could not find something new or different. So it seemed natural to go to my Garfield Park collection to satisfy the theme for "Heart and Soul." In fact, my most recent trip to the park -- on Feb. 25 of this year -- was responsible for the majority of images I submitted for the show. They will reflect a recent exploration of high-dynamic range (HDR) photography -- the melding of two or more images of the same scene, with each image taken at a slightly different exposure in order to extract optimum detail for the final, single rendering. (If you're a regular visitor to Photo Potpourri, you've undoubtedly seen many of the HDR images that I'm submitting for the show -- Post 1 and Post 2). 

In a side note, members of the Indiana Photographic Society also have been invited -- and we have accepted -- to hang our work later this year in the Fountain Square Branch of Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library and, in a separate show, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce building in downtown Indianapolis (which is along Meridian Street, adjacent to University Park). I'll post dates for those exhibits as they become available.

I hope to see you at the reception on April 9, but if you cannot make it to that (and again, it's OK), do try to visit the gallery at some point during the show's run.

An exhibit inspired: Remembering Ernie Crowe

For a six-week period in each of the past three years, members of the Indianapolis Photographic Society -- a group of people who indulge the craft of photography -- have displayed examples of their work in an exhibit at the Garfield Park Arts Center in Indianapolis. They've used the "Through the Lens" label to identify this annual exhibit.

The society holds its weekly meetings at the center, and in exchange for doing some promotional and public relations photography work for the center, the center gives the society members wall space in its main gallery hall to display their work each year for "Through the Lens."

Saturday, May 8, marks the opening of the society's fourth annual "Through the Lens" show, and this year's is a bit special because the society has dedicated it to one of their members, Ernest Crowe, who died -- unexpectedly, according to his obituary -- on Sept. 8, 2009. He was 61 years old.

Crowe, a retired chemical research employee of Reilly Industries, held degrees in organic chemistry (bachelor's, Purdue University) and chemistry (master's, Western Michigan). The majority of his years in photography he did so in the film medium, although in his last years he did scan many of his prints into digital images. His primary interest was nature -- the zoo, flowers and, as his obituary described it, "unique life forms."

"Through the Lens: Artistically Speaking, in Memory of Ernest Crowe" is free, runs through June 23 and is accessible during regular art center hours: Tuesday through Thursdays, 2 to 9 p.m.; Fridays, 2 to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. It is closed Mondays. The center is at 2432 Conservatory Drive in Garfield Park, just south of the Burrello Family Center.

For related links:

Crowe's obituary

Crowe's gallery at the Indianapolis Photographic Society website