darkroom

Gen Zers are asking tough questions about God and life. But we need the right tools to engage them. Jon interviews author and speaker Leigh McLeroy about Darkroom, a new curriculum for Gen Z focusing on answering the tough questions.

One of the greatest challenges facing the church, the home, and youth ministry today is the need for effective Christian nurture and discipleship that will lead kids to a deep faith that informs all of life for the rest of their lives. One necessary component in these ministry efforts is to welcome and answer the kinds of doubts and questions teenagers express about Christianity. Darkroom is a brand new series of free videos and support resources marked by quality in production and content, designed to be used by church and home to spark deep and meaningful conversations about the issues kids face today. Stick with us as I chat with Darkroom content creator Mary Jo Sharp, about this free new evangelism and discipleship resource, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Considered one of the world's best darkroom printers, Robin Bell is my guest on the Photowalk this week. For the walk I'm in Berkshire, England with your letters about what photography means to you. Today, photography as a healing force, the Photowalk Retreat 2022 officially opens to all listeners, Christmas gift ideas that won't require you to sell Granny, photos from around the globe from your own adventures and inspirational words from former guests including YouTuber and landscaper photographer Thomas Heaton. Supported by MPB.com and our patrons. See the pictures on the SHOWNOTES PAGE.

I think it’s common for most creatives to dream about the day when they garner recognition, find gallery representation and starting to get shown internationally. I don’t believe I ever have had a full understanding of what these things would (or could) mean to an art practise or how an art practise needs to be in constant motion to keep evolving and fresh.

Speaking with Deanna Pizzitelli was a real pleasure. Her experiences in starting as a photographic printer then evolved her practise to shooting and is now into the realm of education demonstrates how she is constantly striving to make her voice heard while challenge herself both aesthetically and intellectually. For me, this conversation really demonstrates the necessity of consistent dedication when building art practise and that mentorship and community are integral to being a success.

In my opinion, this conversation is a seminar about starting a career as a fine artist. It has given me so much inspiration and helped me gain some focus and direction for my own practise.  

I hope that you enjoy this conversation.

"La oscuridad revitaliza" - Samara del Valle de las Flores.

Este nuevo episodio contiene la conversación junto a Samara del Valle de las Flores sobre lo que vives, descubres, aprendes y experimentas en un retiro de oscuridad y silencio, como el que tuve la oportunidad de realizar el pasado fin de semana.

En el podcast Samara explica qué es un retiro de oscuridad y silencio, por qué hacerlo, qué es lo que sucede durante y después, y al mismo tiempo, voy alternando lo que ha sido mi primera experiencia en la más absoluta oscuridad, facilitado y asistido por Samara.

"La oscuridad es un buen lugar donde buscar la alegría" - Samara.

Índice de contenidos

1. Intro.
2. Samara del Valle de las Flores.
3. La oscuridad, por qué.
4. Para qué hacerlo.
5. Sensaciones.
6. Anatomía de un retiro de oscuridad y silencio.
7. La alimentación.
8. Melatonina y glándula pineal.
9. Prácticas y terapias en la oscuridad.
10. Desarrollo de percepción y otras ventajas.
11. Fin.

Notas del podcast

• Experiencia sobre el último curso Vipassana.
• Dark Room Retreat - Andrew Durham.
• Email Samara: lidercrea8@gmail.com.
• Whatsapp Samara: +34 676 907 775.

It is important to be reminded of the power of photography to educate and explore, and to be a vehicle of self-expression, even self-realization. Equally crucial—through process and through memory—photography’s ability to bring people together, to share and to collaborate, is vital.  On this week’s episode of the B&H Photography Podcast, we welcome a photographer who has built her life’s work around this idea of education through creative collaboration. For more than forty years, Wendy Ewald has lead documentary “investigations” and collaborative projects that encourage the participants to use cameras to examine their own lives, families, and communities, and to make images of their fantasies and dreams. During these projects, she also photographs—normally with a 4 x 5 camera—and asks her students and subjects to then manipulate her images and negatives, further engaging with the process and adding to the authorship of the final work.

With support of the most prestigious fellowships, from universities, NGOs, even from camera and film manufacturers, Ewald has directed photography programs in South America, India, Africa, Canada, and most notably in Appalachia. In the 1970s, Ewald worked with schools and the Appalshop media center to teach photography to children living in rural Kentucky and in 1985 published the groundbreaking book Portraits and Dreams: Photographs and Stories by Children of the Appalachians. This book has been an inspiration to countless educators and community photographers and this year, Mack Books has published an expanded edition, which includes updates on the lives of several of the original students. Also, Ewald has co-directed a documentary film on the project and the reunion with her former students, which recently aired on the PBS program POV. 

Join us as we speak with Ewald about teaching in Kentucky and elsewhere, about the power of collaboration and creative expression, and about reuniting with her former students and the making of her powerful documentary.

Guest: Wendy Ewald

Photograph © Russel Akemon, from the book, "Portraits and Dreams" by Wendy Ewald

It is important to be reminded of the power of photography to educate and explore, and to be a vehicle of self-expression, even self-realization. Equally crucial—through process and through memory—photography’s ability to bring people together, to share and to collaborate, is vital.  On this week’s episode of the B&H Photography Podcast, we welcome a photographer who has built her life’s work around this idea of education through creative collaboration. For more than forty years, Wendy Ewald has lead documentary “investigations” and collaborative projects that encourage the participants to use cameras to examine their own lives, families, and communities, and to make images of their fantasies and dreams. During these projects, she also photographs—normally with a 4 x 5 camera—and asks her students and subjects to then manipulate her images and negatives, further engaging with the process and adding to the authorship of the final work.

With support of the most prestigious fellowships, from universities, NGOs, even from camera and film manufacturers, Ewald has directed photography programs in South America, India, Africa, Canada, and most notably in Appalachia. In the 1970s, Ewald worked with schools and the Appalshop media center to teach photography to children living in rural Kentucky and in 1985 published the groundbreaking book Portraits and Dreams: Photographs and Stories by Children of the Appalachians. This book has been an inspiration to countless educators and community photographers and this year, Mack Books has published an expanded edition, which includes updates on the lives of several of the original students. Also, Ewald has co-directed a documentary film on the project and the reunion with her former students, which recently aired on the PBS program POV. 

Join us as we speak with Ewald about teaching in Kentucky and elsewhere, about the power of collaboration and creative expression, and about reuniting with her former students and the making of her powerful documentary.

Guest: Wendy Ewald

Photograph © Russel Akemon, from the book, "Portraits and Dreams" by Wendy Ewald

One of the remarks that stuck with me from this week’s episode of the B&H Photography Podcast was Alison Rossiter’s casual mention, “I know how to rock a tray.” Rossiter is noted for her cameraless fine art photo prints, often made on expired photographic paper, some sheets dating back one hundred years or more. Her comment was a simple reference to how she guides developing solution over paper in the darkroom, but understanding the time and dedication she has put into her darkroom techniques, it seemed the ideal understatement for her refined yet simple processes, which include traditional photo printing, photograms, light drawings, and her current exploration, which enables vintage photo paper to speak for itself, processed and fixed, but free from the bullying dominance of projected light.

With her ongoing exhibit, Substance of Density 1918-1948, at the Yossi Milo gallery, through September 26, 2020, Rossiter presents a “chronology of assemblages” made of expired photographic papers from her personal collection. Papers chosen from specific years create a minimalist narrative through three specific decades of the 20th Century, suggesting a relationship between these photographic “leftovers” and historical events of those years. The exposed photo papers are grouped and presented in such a way to form dynamic abstract compositions, made more contemplative by the paper’s own history. The work is a creative comment on a range of themes fundamental to 20th-century film photography: archival preservation, industrial production, physical and chemical degradation, social justice, and even the medium’s creative response to painting and sculpture.

With Rossiter we speak about her darkroom techniques and supplies, about her evolution to cameraless photography, about sourcing expired paper, and the incredible gifts she has received in that regard. We also discuss the thrill of developing paper to find the clues of previous owners and the “fails” of the aged emulsion.  Primarily, we revel in imagination and the stories that can be told when the past speaks to us through the still verdant magic of the darkroom. Join us for this unique episode.

Guest: Alison Rossiter

Photograph © Alison Rossiter