About six years ago I founded the Monalog Collective. It seems a long time ago, but when we were getting started I wrote “The Monalog Collective is a group of black and white film photographers who create images using traditional wet printing methods and materials such as silver gelatin paper in the darkroom or alternative processes and papers they coat themselves. Monalog is a group of like-minded photographers operating at a high skill level that has formed to promote black and white analog photography, the industry that supports it. We foster the growth of our community through membership and engagement with others, individually and through broader collaborative activity.”
In today’s digital and mostly color centric world Monalog is still a very unique organization. So last year when Rob Tucher, one of our members moved into a new and large space to support his photographic work it seemed a natural to create a logical outgrowth of what Monalog has stood for … the Center for Analog Monochromatic Photography … or CAMP. You may not remember all of the name, but certainly you’ll remember its acronym! It came to me one morning as I was walking Sparky and I’m actually pretty proud of it!
CAMP’s mission will be to support the healthy existence of black and white film photography and traditional printing processes and to serve as a home to those that wish to work in this wonderful medium. In support of this mission, CAMP will provide a range of learning opportunities including workshops, lectures and critiques, and will house a fully functioning black and white darkroom available to the public and the Last Look Gallery that will showcase the work of talented and important black and white analog photographers. CAMP will be the only organization of its type, serving the Pennsylvania Lehigh Valley and the broader black and white analog communities by bringing together like-minded photographers and supporting their growth and engagement with others through education programing and photographic exhibits. Finally, CAMP will provide opportunities to work with photographers individually and through collaborative activity.
After a lot of hard work and personal expense, Rob is ready to open CAMP with an inaugural exhibit at the Last Look Gallery, showcasing the work of Monlog’s members. I’m very excited about our exhibit and CAMP’s kickoff! My hope is that this will be the beginning of something really special!
The show’s opening reception is this coming Saturday, May 9th, from 5pm to 8pm. The address is 1005 Palmer Street, Easton, Pennsylvania.
The show runs from May 9th to July 11th on Saturdays 12-5pm and by appointment.
Take a look at our announcement for more details and I hope to see you there!
Stay well,
Michael