2011.053

Foster, Robert

Gift

Gift of Robert Foster.

Shaughnessy, McKevin

1st

Litemotifs

2011

English

Copy No.: 1

Notes: 2011.053.0001, text page [5]: AN INTRODUCTION I grew up in Waukegan Illinois. My father was the designated picture taker so I didn't really get into photography until high school. By then, we had moved to Graystake, II. and I started taking black and white pictures for the school yearbook. It wasn't long before I was also in the darkroom developing the prints. Quickly I realized two things: the darkroom is where the magic happens and secondly eventually I had to get one of my own. After many months saved I spent all my short-order cook wages from Dog 'n' Suds buying my first SLR KX Pentax camera. Over the summer, I took a college credit in escrow course down in Normal, Illinois, (yes, that's a real town) and it had a lasting effect on my creative approach to photography. As my camera was the single most expensive purchase to date, I was in the habit of taking it with me everywhere. At the end of the course, we all received honorary awards in addition to college credits. Mine was the "Camera-Grows-Out-of-His-Navel" award. By the next spring I had a Vivitar enlarger, 3 trays, a cropping plate, and took over the second floor bathroom-curn-darkroom. I remember I stuffed a blanket around the edges of the door to plug up the light leaks. The enlarger sat precariously on the toilet seat while the trays of developer, wash and fixative were an arms-reach away in the tub. In college coming east to transfer into Cooper Union, I again took black and white photography classes. After graduating, I worked as an assistant to Photography Professor Gene Tulchin who produced silverized prints in his own custom-built darkroom. The one thing I came away with from him was the importance of the "happy accident" and inventive experimentation. This series is a return to black and white, of which I can thank my wife for having the faith in me and this book. While all of the images were taken in color, I'm using Photoshop's arsenal of tools to convert them into black and white images. Once again I feel compelled to go out and get the shot, unencumbered by the feeling of being self-conscious while behind the lens of the camera. As evident by the title, most of the photographs were taken in Hoboken. The balance of the other shots were snapped in New York City, neighboring Jersey City, Hawthorne, NJ and Brookyln [sic - Brooklyn]. Travels in Upstate New York and Maine also provided additional settings ripe for the taking. — McKevin Shaughnessy Status: OK Status By: dw Status Date: 2011-10-21