'The Defining Moment'
Community show opens at Open Shutter

“Play,” by photographer Bob Zahner, was created by scanning two images of television screens and then merging them in Photoshop. The image depicts a young Richard Burton in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?” next to a static-filled screen. Zahner’s work, as well as that of other local photographers, is on display at Open Shutter Gallery’s “The Defining Moment” exhibit, which runs through Feb. 14./Courtesy photo

by Jules Masterjohn

Many visual art forms portray a moment in time. The instant that the sunlight glints off the mountaintop or the few seconds of a lavender hue that is visible in a cast shadow offers the viewer an artist’s impression of a fleeting observation. This chronicling of “the moment” is most clearly depicted in photography, where the camera is the perfect tool for freezing a nanosecond of time. The photography exhibition, “The Defining Moment,” currently on display at Open Shutter Gallery, proves that the events and scenes that can be documented by a camera in one-500th of a second, can linger long in the mind’s eye.

The title for this year’s community show title was chosen as a reference to influential French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose exhibition of photographs, “The Decisive Moment,” was the first show of photography to be presented in the galleries of the Louvre in Paris. Cartier-Bresson’s slice-of-life images depict a photographic sensibility for capturing a moment that insinuates a much larger story.

With an avowed love for Cartier-Bresson’s work, the staff at Open Shutter Gallery chose the show title in honor of the master photographer and as an enticement to the community to bring in photographs that portray a snippet of life.

As is typical of her generous spirit and the gallery’s mission to support local photographers, gallery owner Margy Dudley has given over the white walls for a month once again this year, to the 50-plus photographs displayed in “The Defining Moment.” All forms of photography – film, digital and alternative processes – were accepted. The only requirements were that the images be framed behind glass and reflect the exhibit title.

The Open Shutter community show is intended to give opportunity to those who are new to exhibiting their work. Dudley observed that a few people who entered the show seemed nervous about their participation. “One person came back three times to change the title of his piece … others seemed uncertain about how to price their work.” For Dudley, these are exactly the reasons she makes her gallery available: to provide novice exhibitors the chance to experience these professional concerns. Brandon Donahue, the gallery’s manager, reinforced Dudley’s intention. “We purposefully geared the annual community exhibit to those new to showing their work, to generate enthusiasm and support for the new photographers, and to inspire others to explore the medium.”

Certain subject matter lends itself easily to the title of the show. Sports photography is well represented with images as thrilling as Jerry Hazard’s “Skills,” a black and white image of a bicycle and its rider turned sideways, caught by the camera, high in the sky. Nature offers many amazing moments to photographers as captured by Paul Jancar’s “Autumn Mist,” or Stephen Eginoire’s “Spin Drift at Chattanooga.”

More in the tradition of Cartier-Bresson is Joel White’s, “Choices,” a portrait of relaxed tension as two cats sit facing each other with a wooden post directly between them. This image expresses Cartier-Bresson’s idea that “the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms gives that event its proper expression.”

Some works interpret the show’s title less literally. Heather Leavitt presents “My Chop,” a close up shot of what appears to be a wad of pink gum stuck on the sidewalk, impressed with the marks from a shoe’s tread. Like Leavitt’s photo, Nancy Richmond’s “Self-Portrait” begs examination. The black-and white image of the forest floor, with a few hand colored leaves fallen to the ground, slowly reveals a nude figure emerging from or sinking into the dirt.

One image in the show that is noticeably different from the other images, not only for its mixed media approach but also for its subject matter, is Thaddine Swift Eagle’s “Postcards from the Deep: Subway Blues.” A self-taught visual artist, undefeated amateur boxer, and recent transplant to Durango, Swift Eagle has created a gritty portrait of the New York City subway train experience. “I wanted the viewer to get the feeling of what it’s like to ride the subway, with its different worlds coming at you. Riding the train is a part of life and you deal with it.” The piece incorporates drawing, collage, and text with photographic images taken on the trains. The mixed media work is confrontational with its underground, urban imagery and especially attention getting amidst the more traditional works on the gallery walls.

Another intriguing image, though not obviously stated in its physical form yet conceptually rich, is “Play,” by Bob Zahner. Created by merging two traditional photographs taken of a TV screen, Zahner scanned the photographs into the computer and then worked with them using Photoshop. “Play” depicts the young actor, Richard Burton, in the film, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?” on the left side of the image and a static-filled TV screen on the right. The word, “PLAY” is printed on Burton’s forehead. Zahner explained, “I played the video on my TV, the video was based on the play, ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf,’ and I’m really just playing with the media.”

From the photojournalistic approach to mixed media collage to conceptual photography, the exhibit “The Defining Moment” presents a broad spectrum of local talent, offering a bit of something for nearly everyone. •