"Off Season": Q&A With Eric Johnson

MEG member Eric Johnson talks about “Off Season,” his new exhibit at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA:

Off Season features compelling landscapes of beaches and beach towns. Most people see these places only in the summer – what drew you to photograph them in quieter times? I have always enjoyed visiting the seashore in the off season - there is much less traffic, and I find it easier to enjoy the natural environment of these places without the summertime crowds. In this project, my goal is to capture the tranquility of these locations during their less-visited months and depict a view rarely seen by a seasonal visitor.

Where did you shoot these images and why did you choose these specific locations? When I was younger, my family would go to Wildwood, NJ or Ocean City, MD several times each summer, and those trips would be one of the highlights of the season for me. On my way back to Washington after Christmas in 2008, I decided on a whim to detour through Wildwood. It had been well over thirty years since my last visit, and I was curious to see how it had changed. It was a foggy, drizzly afternoon, and I spent two or three hours exploring and photographing the deserted boardwalk and beach. In the images that I shot I tried to convey not just a personal nostalgia, but the uniquely peaceful character of the town at that time of year.

     As I continued to revisit the images that I shot that day, the idea for the Off Season project gradually evolved, and I started to consider what other locations would fit into the project. Block Island, RI is one of my favorite places, and I travel there almost every year in early June before the summer season gets fully underway. The image in the exhibit from there, which was really more "shoulder season" than "off season", was taken on a stormy day, giving the beach the same feel as it has in the winter months. The photographs from Ocean City, MD were taken on a winter morning in late February of this year. and the images from Coney Island were taken on Easter Sunday this year. The latter was an unusually warm spring day, and while the boardwalk was as crowded as on a summer day, the water was cold enough that there were relatively few people on the beach.

Your use of black-and-white in this exhibit adds to the haunting quality of many of the images. Did you shoot them assuming you would print them in black-and-white? If so, did it influence or change what you focused on when shooting? I consider myself to be primarily a black-and-white photographer, so most of what I was shooting for this series were previsualized as black-and-white images. As such, I try to emphasize the form and patterns in the subject as the primary compositional elements of each image.

The images are from more than one place, yet the exhibit is very cohesive. What did common threads/themes did you look for when selecting the images you included? While I wanted to convey a sense of quiet and emptiness, I did not want to give the impression that these places are complete ghost towns. That's why I included people, or signs of their recent presence, in several of the images. In addition, I tried to achieve a similar tonal range in all of the images I selected, which was a bit of a challenge, considering that the available light ranged from dense fog to strong winter morning sunlight.                                   
What other projects/portfolios are you working on today? While I have obviously had to suspend work on the Off Season project for the summer, I think there is still more that I would like to do on that theme. I also recently returned from a trip to Alaska, which was one of the most visually spectacular places I have ever visited. I have literally thousands of images to sort through - some landscapes, some abstracts - and that will keep me busy for quite a while!

Coffee + Critique + Conversation Time Change for 8/28/11

The Torpedo Factory Arts Center plans to open at noon tomorrow (Sunday, 8/28) instead of 10am so Coffee + Critique + Conversation at Multiple Exposures Gallery will take place from 12:30-2:00 pm. Check our Facebook page before you go just in case there are further changes.

"Forgotten": Q&A With Sandy LeBrun-Evans

 MEG member Sandy LeBrun-Evans talks about, “Forgotten,” her new exhibit at Multiple Exposures Gallery:

“Forgotten,” features images from two abandoned Utah towns, Thompson Springs and Cisco. Why did you photograph them? I have always been fascinated by abandoned/lost things, places and towns. I saw some photos of Thompson Springs and knew I had to photograph it. I checked to see if there were other ghost towns in the area and I found Cisco.

Are these towns truly abandoned or do some people still reside in them? Cisco was truly abandoned; Thompson Springs still has a small population – 39 people in the 2010 Census.

Thompson Springs started as a station stop on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad in the late 1800’s. Later it thrived as crucial railhead for nearby coal mines, but it fell on hard times when mining declined, I-70 was built just two miles to the south and the passenger train station was relocated to another Utah town.

Cisco was also once an old Western Railroad watering stop and its demise came with the end of the steam engine. It survived into the 20th century long enough to acquire a zip code, but not much else. Today, vandals have damaged most of the town and its relics. They also seem to use it for target practice -- while photographing, I picked up at least 20 discharged gun casings.

Is it true Cisco was once a filming location for the movie Thelma & Louise? I’m obviously not the only one that finds that town haunting. Cisco was the backdrop for a number of scenes in Thelma & Louise.

What was your biggest challenge when photographing the towns? Going through places where I knew life existed and not feeling as if I were trespassing. Of course, I was also hoping I wasn’t disturbing any animals -- four-legged or two-legged!

Several of your most popular images in the series contain graffiti that add humor and humanize otherwise desolate scenes. Did you pick up on that when you were shooting or did that come to you when you saw the images later? I definitely picked up on the writing when photographing and I made sure they were part of the images.

This isn't the first series you've done featuring gritty scenes of abandonment (your Eastern State Penitentiary series leaps to mind). What draws you to them? I think it’s the loneliness of the images and the leftovers of a life once lived.

What’s next for you? I am working on some mixed media projects and there are some more abandoned/forgotten places that I hope to photograph soon.

“Forgotten,” Through October 2, 2011 at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Arts Center, Alexandria, VA. Sandy LeBrun Evans: http://tinyurl.com/3wze7qp

New Exhibit - Eric Johnson and Sandy Lebrun-Evans

Off Season - Eric Johnson
Forgotten - Sandy Lebrun-Evans
Exhibition Dates: August 2 - October 3, 2011Opening Reception: Sunday, August 7, 2011  3-5pm

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