Photography exhibit takes viewers around the world
Posted March 11, 2008
Local photographer Joe Campbell has a fear of heights, so whenever he climbs to the top of one of the world’s tallest buildings he protects himself with his camera lens.
Through the end of the month, Blue Water Area residents can climb a flight of stairs at Studio 1219 and visit the world through the photographs of two local artists, Campbell and the late Barry Tallent.
The photos feature smiling faces and suspicious ones, welcoming terrain and unwelcoming facades, inanimate forms such as trees and rocks and industrial scenes that appear to breathe.
Campbell’s “Chemical Valley Color” captures the living beauty of the refineries across the St. Clair River, but the composition burns as if dipped in acid.
“I don’t like to take pretty pictures … any Ansel Adams pictures,” the 45-year-old Campbell said, but it’s not true.
For every grimy and opaque look at the urban world most viewers inhabit there is a photo like “Surf Rock” taken in LaJolla, Calif., in which a crashing wave breaks in two twin explosions of spray and mist.
While many of Campbell’s prints appear in black and white, Tallent’s images of Buddhist monks, beached gondolas and street entertainers are presented in the same stark color the photographer saw them, a fact that seems more revealing when the viewer considers Tallent’s life, which was lost suddenly while he was in Chile gathering photographs.
Many of Campbell’s skyscapes come from the tops of the tallest building in the world. Recently, he photographed the Manhattan skyline at night from the top of the Empire State Building, which only 7 1/2–years ago became once again the tallest point on the island.
“For some reason, it evokes a lot of emotion. There’s emotion behind those buildings, and (what’s) missing: the Twin Towers,” he said. “I think the second thing, probably the resilience of the city to still be what it is after 9/11.”
And the third is Campbell’s own fear of heights: “I’m sure that fear does come through.”
For more information on the exhibit, visit www.studio1219.com/artists and click on “Come Travel the World.”
Article Image Caption:
TRAVEL SOUVENIRS: Joe Campbell sits Saturday with his “Come See the World” show at Studio 1219 in Port Huron. The photos are those Campbell shot during his business travels. The show also features the work of Barry Tallent, who died last year during a trip to Chile to take photos.
Story originally published in the Port Huron Times Herald by Bobby Ampezzan on March 9, 2008.