PCLFC is teaming up with the Greenwich Historical Society to put together a show to present our interpretation of Greenwich history through photography. Here is the relevant information (this information is available also as a downloadable pdf document)

Title: Greenwich History: The Perspective of Time

Date: Approximately six weeks beginning in the middle of July, 2013

Place: The Bush-Holley House Gallery at 39 Strickland Road in Cos Cob. The Gallery space is made up of three separate nicely illuminated rooms. There is room for about 50 photographs.

Participants: Paid-up PCLFC Members only

Committee: Jean-Marc Bara, Roger Busch, Mike Harris, and Dallas Molerin

Challenge: Unlike most of our previous shows, this project is not about making fine art or shooting street scenes or other subjects we commonly show. Rather, the challenge is to demonstrate our interpretation of Greenwich history through photography. In this sense, it is more of a documentary in which the concepts behind the photograph will play a strong part. Each photo will be accompanied by a commentary of up to 150 words written by the photographer explaining the photographer’s thoughts behind the subject.

Interpreting history can be done in a number of ways. You can photograph historic structures as they appear today such as old barns or stone walls. You can focus on photographing the people who influenced Greenwich history. You can capture French Farm which is an active preserved farm on Lake Avenue. We recognized that history is an evolving concept, and another way to demonstrate history is to identify things which are present today that may disappear in a generation or two. As an example, there were once toll booths on the Merritt Parkway which became historic the day it was announced they were being removed. Current examples might be the policemen on Greenwich Avenue or the recently sold historic Post Office on Greenwich Avenue. You may imagine changes in fashion, life style, architecture, occupations, technology, recreation, etc. Photographs may be in color or black and white. There are only two restrictions. First, all photos must taken in Greenwich and must be current, meaning the photo was taken in 2012 or 2013. Second, photographs should not be altered to the point that they lose their documentary value. In conclusion, Camera Club members are free to let their creative minds go to work.

Historical Society Archives: The Historical Society has stated that their archives will NOT be available to illustrate yesterday as compared to today. We must rely only on current photographs.

Time Capsule: Prints in the show will be donated to the Historical Society with the expectation that they will be shown again twenty or so years.

Process: There is no limit to the number photographs which each PCLFC member may submit. If you feel more than one photo is needed to tell your story, you may require that two or more of photographs be accepted together or not at all. In submitting your photographs please just keep in mind that there is limited gallery space, and we wish to see the works of a large number of Club members juried in. We are asking for digital submissions with the understanding that, if accepted, you will be responsible for later delivering the matted and framed photograph. The descriptions will be transcribed and printed by the Historical Society. We will be setting a spring deadline later but wanted to encourage to get started on the project right away.

Internet Site: We will set up an internet site for posting entries. Once it has been set up, may post your submitted entries and written descriptions on that site at any time. Digital images should be in JPEG format and not wider or taller than 1,200 pixels. Final framed prints for selected images should not be wider or taller than 36 inches (outside of frame).

Judging: The Club or the Historical Society will hire a judge to select the works to be shown.

Fees and Sales: There is no entry fee. Works may be listed for sale, at the photographer’s option, with the entire proceeds going to the photographer.

We are excited to have this exclusive opportunity to showcase works by PCLFC members in a special venue which attracts visitors from a large area. We encourage all members to participate and look forward to seeing your works.

April 28, 2013

Hello Everyone. Our project committee has an update for members.

Now that warmer weather has arrived, we (Dallas, Jean Marc, Mike and Roger) present this memo regarding our upcoming show. As you know, we have teamed up with the Greenwich Historical Society to produce a photography exhibition — Greenwich: A Perspective of Time — that will showcase the work of The PCLFC members. This is an incredible opportunity to show your work and to promote our club. But this will only be a good show if many PCLFC members participate. Remember, this show is exclusively for PCLFC members. Please participate — even if you only submit one photograph. Now that the warmer weather has arrived, below is some guidance to help you plan your photography for this show. In the memo we will:

Express some general thoughts,
Give you the time line of events,
Suggest some topics for those of you who have not come up with your own, as well as topics already suggested.
Tell you how to post your photos and descriptions and
Set up several meeting dates and shooting locations.

1. GENERAL THOUGHTS

We have asked that each photograph (or set of photographs, if they are related) be accompanied by a short paragraph (max 150 words) expressing the photographers thoughts on the photograph. Some people have expressed that writing a paragraph may be holding them back. We strongly encourage written thoughts. If you come up with the photos, we can help with the writing.

We have said that old photos you may have taken are not acceptable. On re-considering, the centerpiece of your entry must be a current photograph, but you may you photos from the past if they help to tell the story of the current shot.

We encourage you to visit the Bush Holley House to get an idea of what a unique space we have for this show.

We are dedicating one room (about 12 X 12) to Greenwich Avenue. Jean Marc has created a composite of 300 photographs he took in the morning on New Years Day. The panorama is 12 feet wide and 3 inches high. It will run from one end of a wall to the other. Below the panorama will be Historical Society photos of some of the buildings in the panorama. We will ask club members to submit current photos of those same buildings. The remaining walls will illustrate other views of what is happening on the Avenue. Let’s all be inspired by Jean Marc’s incredible effort.

Your Committee is here to help make this a good experience for each of our members. Please call any of us if you feel you need support. We want this to be a hugely successful exhibition.

2. TIME LINE

June 9- last day for you to digitally submit photos and descriptive paragraphs. We encourage everyone to get works submitted as soon as possible.

June 10- works are juried by a single judge

June 11- members are notified of jury results

June 15- all descriptive materials must be delivered to the Historical Society to be sent out for printing. The Committee reserves the right to edit submitted written work to guarantee uniformity in the show.

July 5, July 6 and July 8, each day between 9:30 and 4:00-members deliver matted and framed works ready for hanging to the Storehouse Gallery at the Historical Society.

July 8-12- Dallas and Committee work with Historical Society to hang exhibition.

July 16- opening reception from 6:00 to 7:30.

July 17- show open to the public.

3. SUGGESTED TOPICS

Greenwich Boys and Girls Club- Sandy Gennrich

Greenwich Country Day- Sally Harris

Byram Pool- the old and the new

Telephone poles, etc- Jean Marc Bara

Outdoor art and murals on buildings- Dallas Molerin

Disappearing neighborhood bars- Mike Harris

Tobacco shop- Mike Harris

Central Greenwich Fire Station and neighborhood stations- Mike Harris and Jean Marc Bara, but we welcome others, the role of the volunteer fireman.

Tomac Cemetery- Dallas Molerin (but note there is a meet up for others).

Other cemeteries (see meet up at Putnam Cemetery)

French Farm

Structures such as old and new Town Halls, meeting halls, churches, National Registry sites (see the attachment)

Greenwich Avenue-Policemen, pocket parks, buildings, changes, new stop signs.

Fashion-Casual dress, kids clothes, tattoos.

Lifestyle-Commuters today versus the past, McMansions, private clubs.

Recreation-skate parks, kids playgrounds, sports teams.

Stone walls-the old winding ones and the new large ones.

Bookstores-are they disappearing.

Occupations

Attached to this email is a reference for photographers. It includes:
– a list of the 33 Greenwich sites that are part of the National Register of Historic Places
– detailed maps showing the location of each one of these sites
– a list of all churches in Greenwich and respective maps
– the direction of sunlight at sunrise and sunset this month

4. MEET UPS

We have tentatively set dates:

to meet on May 4 at Tomac Cemetery with Dallas. See the attached history of this location.

to meet on May 11 for breakfast to gather ideas and head out to shoot.

5. IMAGE SUBMISSIONS

Images should be jpegs no larger than 1024 pixels wide for a horizontal image or 768 pixels for a vertical image, at 72dpi.
File name should be Maker_Title.jpg.

You can include that in the email to Dave, rather than a separate Word document. Dave will copy and paste the text from the email into the website gallery.

Images and descriptions should be sent to DHFore@hotmail.com.

Stamford Photography Club

PCLFC Club Project — Greenwich: The Perspective of Time