{"id":180239,"date":"2023-01-20T09:52:52","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T17:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eugeneweekly.com\/?p=188803"},"modified":"2023-01-20T09:52:52","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T17:52:52","slug":"lenses-of-lane-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/20\/lenses-of-lane-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Lenses of Lane County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI know people who go to a location specifically with a photo in mind,\u201d says Walt O\u2019Brien, a longstanding member of Eugene\u2019s PhotoZone Gallery. \u201cI don\u2019t work that way. I like to go to a place and just kind of wait and see what the light is doing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

PhotoZone Gallery, an artist-run collective, is presenting a group exhibit at the Emerald Art Center through Feb. 3. The organization was founded in 1988 and currently boasts around 35 active members, though this show features work from only 15 to 20 members, O\u2019Brien says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien emphasizes the variety of creative practices among the artists. \u201cSome of our members are strictly darkroom printers, some are digital, some are cellphone,\u201d he says. The genres on display not only include landscape and nature photography, but documentary styles and abstract expression, along with portraiture and pinhole photography.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guy Weese, president of PhotoZone and board president for Emerald Art Center, appreciates the creativity and historical knowledge of its members. \u201cWe had one guy doing gum bichromate printing, which is from the 1880s,\u201d he says. The process gives a painterly quality to the photograph.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the show, the public can view these vintage style gum bichromate prints as well as collaged and 3-D prints, images made from digital capture, platinum\/palladium and traditional silver prints. It also features hand-colored and airbrushed prints.<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien is a landscape photographer who uses primarily large format film, and sometimes only shoots four or five sheets of film a day. \u201cI\u2019m very careful not to waste the material,\u201d O\u2019Brien says. \u201cIt makes you look closer at what you’re photographing if you’re limited.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Other artists have wildly different working methods. \u201cOne of our members is a magnificent bird photographer, and when he goes out he\u2019ll shoot two or three thousand images,\u201d O\u2019Brien says.<\/span><\/p>\n

A benefit of being in the collective is the monthly meetings. \u201cPeople can come and bring work to share \u2014 they don\u2019t have to be a member to do this,\u201d O\u2019Brien says. The meetings provide an incentive to produce and an opportunity to receive feedback from fellow photographers. \u201cSome people get offended, but most of us are learning from each other,\u201d he says. The members critique the photos on a technical level, but also dive into what the photo is about and why it does or doesn\u2019t work, O\u2019Brien explains.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Weese, a member since 1989, says a huge benefit of the collective is bringing out the social aspect of an often solitary art. \u201cWe\u2019ve had field trips together,\u201d he says. Often they will go to the Oregon coast since a few members live there. The trips \u201cwere quite productive,\u201d Weese says. He has fond memories of visiting the Oregon coast with the group: a handful of people traveling along the beach, cameras in hand. \u201cThey\u2019d even photograph each other,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien echoes Weese\u2019s sentiment. \u201cPhotoZone is about the group,\u201d he says. \u201cWe want to go out and shoot together.\u201d According to O’Brien, the COVID pandemic limited these photography sessions, affecting the collaborative nature of the group. \u201cWe\u2019ve only started meeting in person this year, about three months ago,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien says the Emerald Art Center show is the first one for the group in about a year. \u201cWhen I joined, we had a gallery,\u201d he says. O\u2019Brien admits that this arrangement had its drawbacks, as the photographers paid a steep rent for the space, making membership less accessible. With no official gallery, they have more members but exhibit their work less frequently.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the collective faced obstacles in the past, Weese maintains a positive outlook regarding PhotoZone\u2019s future. He only has kind words to say about his fellow photographers and the progress they\u2019ve made. \u201cOur quality has just gone up over the years,\u201d he says. \u201cIt’s amazing. It’s not the equipment; it’s the people getting better.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The PhotoZone Gallery\u2019s group exhibit runs 11 am\u00a0 to 4 pm Tuesdays through Saturdays through Feb. 3 at the Emerald Art Center, 500 Main Street, Springfield. More information at PhotoZoneGallery.com.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI know people who go to a location specifically with a photo in mind,\u201d says Walt O\u2019Brien, a longstanding member of Eugene\u2019s PhotoZone Gallery. \u201cI \u2026 Continue reading\u00a0\u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,3,101,2,76],"tags":[184,185,186],"class_list":["post-180239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts","category-blog","category-ew-extra","category-news","category-visual-arts","tag-emerald-art-center","tag-photography","tag-photozone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}