"Friends' Houses (I cannot visit)" and Isolation / May 17, 2020 by John Ritchie

I can’t begin to express the shock and upheaval we all feel at the onset of the Coronavirus and subsequent societal shutdown. Like every other artist on the face of the planet, this is impacting the work I’m doing and how I do it. As someone interested in photographing the life of people, my photographs will of course be affected by the changes in those people and our society, and we’re already seeing big changes. My methods will need to adapt to new constraints such as social distancing and the difficulty of socializing with the people I’d like to photograph. New topics will present themselves, too, as the crisis spawns artistic creativity around the world.

One example of that is the Willamette Valley PhotoArts Guild’s “Socially Distanced Photo Excursions” project, which challenges PAG members to find ways to create photographs under the constraints of social distancing, bans on travel, and shelter in place measures. This project has resulted in hundreds of photographs and gained local press attention.

“Friends’ Houses (I cannot visit)” is a photo collection I created as part of the PAG’s Excursions project. In this collection I portray the sense of loss and isolation felt when I go by friends’ houses but cannot visit them.

Isolation In the Age of Pandemic

Although art galleries are closed world-wide, many of them are hosting limited viewing or online exhibits, and Coronavirus-inspired themes such as “Isolation” and “Social Distancing” are hot topics right now. Such is the case with LightBox Photographic’s “Isolation In the Age of Pandemic” exhibit. This is a “jury of peers” exhibit, where people submitting photos vote on which pictures are included in the show. My photograph was one of 20 images selected for the physical exhibit.

“Isolation” opened May 15 and can be viewed online. Access to the physical show in the gallery, located at 1045 Marine Drive in Astoria, will depend on the evolving status of the state’s social-distancing rules. The gallery hopes to be able to hold a reception in June or July. The exhibit runs through July 11.

Work in Two Juried Shows - Portland and Astoria / February 28, 2020 by John Ritchie

I’ll have two of my favorite photographs in two different exhibits during March.

Black Box Gallery in Portland

One of my favorite whimsical photographs will be on display in the Black Box Gallery for their “Focus: Shadow and Light” exhibit.

Black Box Gallery is located at 811 East Burnside St. #212 Portland, Oregon. The exhibit runs from March 1st to March 20th with an artist reception from 6-9 PM on Friday March 6th.

LightBox Gallery in Astoria

I’ll have another favorite on display in the “A Jury Of Your Peers” exhibit at Lightbox Gallery. The theme for this exhibit was interesting - artists submitted work, then participated in the jury process to select which images were included in the show. It was educational and really difficult, giving me new respect for jurors faced with selecting works from large pools of excellent images.

LightBox Photographic Gallery is located at 1045 Marine Drive, Astoria, Oregon. The exhibit will be on display from March 14th through April 7th with an artist reception from 5-8pm on Saturday, March 14th.

“The Evolution of Surfing” was an example of the kind of created luck that makes street photography so rewarding. I was people watching on the beach when this man came down to surf. Each of the people in this photo gradually moved into place and I was ready with my camera when the composition momentarily came together. I still get a rush just looking at this and thinking about it!

Dreaming In Color at LightBox Photographic / October 28, 2019 by John Ritchie

I’ve long been a supporter of LightBox Photographic in Astoria and have been in several Member’s Shows, but for the first time I’ve actually been juried into a show there! And not one, but two pieces! The juror is Jody Miller, whose beautiful work you can see here: www.jodymillerphoto.com.

Jody says this about the show (full description here): “Color is a very personal issue for most of us photographers. It’s also a completely individual experience, since not one of us sees color exactly the same way as anyone else. Our perception of color informs our choices as photographers and creates our emotional language. “Dreaming in Color” is about much more than our dreams. It is an invitation to explore your own uses of color in your photography and tell us how it influences your decisions in image making. I look forward to seeing what you have to say, (in color).”

“Yard Car” is very colorful as one would hope. I love the color, texture and light of this photograph and have worked hard on the print to make it especially tasty. IMO, that doesn’t mean pushing saturation over the top. I have both a mental and technical struggle with oversaturation, a feature of many photographs these days. But I also want it to pop, so instead of relying on saturation I’ve worked on local contrast all throughout the image. I think it came out really well, but I’m biased. :)

“Night Geometry” really hits the mark of the exhibit prospectus: it illustrates the beauty and use of color in my personal photographic space, night photography. This is one of the best examples I’ve shot of the way multiple different colors of light cast overlapping shadows at night, and how those overlaps combine to make new forms, shapes and colors that you’d never see during daylight hours. A technical description of this photograph would be: shadows cast by (I think) three light sources as they combine under a stairway. The artistic description could be: an explosion of geometric shapes in varying shades of pastel colors. This is one of my favorite photographs and I’m delighted to be able to share it.

I hope you get a chance to see the Dreaming In Color exhibit, it should be an extraordinary and beautiful show. I plan to be at the opening, maybe I’ll see you there!

Exhibit Dates: November 09, 2019 through December 10, 2019 with an opening reception Saturday, November 9th from 5-8PM

LightBox Photographic

1045 Marine Drive, Astoria Oregon

Two Members Exhibits: PhotoArts Guild and LightBox / December 3, 2017 by John Ritchie

Members Exhibits can be a good way to showcase things you want without having them accepted by a juror. I'm in two member exhibits in November and December: the Willamette Valley PhotoArts Guild's biennial exhibit, and the LightBox Photographic's annual Member Show. Both exhibits feature excellent photography by amazing photographers.

For the Love of Oregon: Willamette Valley PhotoArts Guild Members Exhibit

The PhotoArts Guild does a biennial themed members' exhibit at the LaSells Stewart Center on the OSU campus in Corvallis. The theme for this year's exhibit is "For the Love of Oregon." For my entry, I selected three photographs depicting the diversity of Oregon's residents.

For the Love of Oregon will exhibit from November 3rd to December 8th.

LightBox Members Exhibit 2017

I've blogged before about how special LightBox Photographic in Astoria Oregon is. Once again, I'm privileged to be part of its annual Members Exhibit. For this show I submitted two of my long-time favorite photographs.

The exhibit will be from December 9th to January 9th with an opening reception on December 9th from 5 - 8pm. LightBox Photographic is located at 1045 Marine Drive in Astoria Oregon.