DJ Q&A

CS: I became interested in photography during graduate school at the U. of Pennsylvania, where I studied the growth of blood vessels. I spent countless hours looking at cells and tissues under the microscope, and the intricate structures I saw were like alternate universes with secrets to probe or stories to tell. Soon I began to notice similar structures in the “macro” world around me — in tree branches, running water, cracked mud — and started photographing those too, and I haven’t stopped.

DJ: What was your first camera?

CS: My first camera was a Canon A-1 that I borrowed from my boyfriend in the late 1980s. I’m afraid I never returned it! I used film and printed photos in a wet darkroom until about 2013 when I switched to digital capture and printing.

DJ: Who has helped you develop your craft?

CS: Robert Kato from San Mateo is my current artistic mentor. He asks probing questions to consider, which help me determine how to structure photographs and photo-based works — what materials to use, photo edits, size, etc. — based on what I want to express and help the viewer to feel. My attention to photographic craft was fostered by Stuart Scofield and Jenny Johnson, and insights into developing individual vision by Mark Citret and Todd Hido, among others.

DJ: How has your approach to printing photographs changed over the years?

CS: A major shift the last several years has been my search for new modes of expression beyond flat, rectangular photographs. I now often put photographs on a variety of nontraditional materials, and fold, curve or crumple them into three-dimensional shapes to make unique photo-based objects.

DJ: What is the Bay Area Photographers Collective?

CS: The Bay Area Photographers Collective is a nonprofit organization that provides a support structure for photographic artists and exhibitions of photographic art for the community. Members include recent MFA graduates, product photographers, photography professors, retired tech and biotech engineers, scientists and lawyers. Members photograph with everything from large format film cameras to iPhones, image everything from street and documentary photography to nature, portraits, abstracts, still-lifes and more, and create final works on all manner of media, not just paper. We’re open to new members, so any photographers who are interested should contact us at www.bapc.photo.

DJ: The Collective’s new exhibit, running Jan. 16 through Feb. 20, is titled ‘Magnetic Pull.’ What does that refer to?

CS: When the exhibition’s curators Daniel Nevers (Executive Director, Berkeley Art Center) and Jennifer Brandon (artist and teacher, Mills College) began talking to the collective and viewing members’ work, they explained that they were interested in what draws certain artists to one another to form a community, especially in light of the isolation we’ve all been living through this past year. It seemed important to highlight the collective support it takes to be an artist — the conversation and influences that flow back and forth — and how that can bind people together in a creative spirit.

DJ: One of the pieces you have in the show is entitled ‘Form and Formless IX.” What does it depict?

CS: My Form and Formless series reflects the immense waterfalls of Iceland. In these isolated details of the water, I’ve sought to embody the intense energy and fluidity that I experienced at the scene. In Iceland there were few barriers and I could get close enough to feel the vibration and wind generated from the crashing water. I was frequently soaked by spray and silenced by the roar, and there was something fundamental and timeless that I felt as it all washed over me. I captured the raw images in 2017 on my second trip to Iceland, and have worked over the past year to make the three photo-based artworks that are in the exhibition.

‘MAGNETIC PULL’ PARTICULARS. The Bay Area Photographers Collective presents ‘Magnetic Pull’ at the Arc Gallery & Studios, 1246 Folsom St. in San Francisco, from Jan. 16 through Feb. 20. Open for in-person visits on Saturdays and by appointment, with pandemic precautions observed. A slide show of all the works is online and an innovative technology allows viewers to “walk through” the exhibition online. Details about the opening reception (Jan. 16 from 7-8 p.m. on Zoom) and discussion panels with participating photographers are available at www.bapc.photo/magnetic-pull.

Susan Cohn is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the American Theatre Critics Association. She may be reached at susan@smdailyjournal.com.