Bio and Notes about the Process

"Photography has been a central part of my life since I picked up my first camera in a pawn shop in Ocean View, Virginia. I was 18 at the time and began learning the craft, on my own at first and in a more comprehensive fashion while a student at the State University of New York. Later, I participated in a Master Class led by Eva Rubinstein at the Maine Photographic Workshops in Rockport, Maine. The vast majority of my training, however, has been in the field with a variety of cameras and in several darkrooms beginning with a temporary affair set up in my apartment's bathroom, to my current location sitting in front of a computer loaded with Photoshop, where I work in a digital darkroom. Among the many notable photographers who have influenced my work are Ralph Gibson, Galen Rowell, David Fokos, Eva Rubinstein, Ansel Adams and Jerry Uelsmann."

Barry Lobdell lives in Saranac Lake, NY, where he is a member of the Adirondack Artists Guild and Gallery.  His photographs are regularly on display in the Guild’s gallery and on their website, www.adirondackartistsguild.com.   

His work has been shown at the Gallery of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, FL, the Housatonic Museum in Bridgeport, CT, the Cambridge Art Association in Cambridge, MA, the Arts Center in Old Forge, NY, the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, VT, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalacian State University in Boone, NC, the Boston Athenaeum in Boston, MA, the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, NY, the Frederick Remington Museum of Art in Ogdensburg, NY, ForArtsake Gallery in Malone, NY, the Central New York Community Arts Council’s Red Room Gallery in Utica, NY, Photo Place Gallery in Middlebury, VT. , The Frederick Remington Museum in Ogdensburg, NY, The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, NY., the Amanda Smith Gallery in Johnson City, TX and at The Schweinfurth Museum in Auburn, NY.

He was the first recipient of the Barbara Johnson Parnass Art in Public Spaces Program Prize in Saranac Lake in 2003. In the same year, he won the Best in Show/Purchase Prize in the North Country Regional Juried Art Show at the Gibson Gallery in Potsdam, NY. He won First Prize for Photography in the 2010 Adirondack Life Juried Exhibition at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts, a competition in which he won Second Prize in 2003 and the Best in Show award in 1997.  He claimed Best in Show in the Northwind Fine Arts Gallery's Juried show in 2014.

The photographs are produced using the finest materials and technology.  Images usually begin as digital files from a Nikon DSLR. Fuji and Sony digital cameras are also used occasionally.  For the past few years, with cell phone technology improving rapidly, he has incorporated phone cameras in his work as well. Once downloaded into the computer, images are refined using Adobe Photoshop to make adjustments required to bring forth the photograph which was visualized at the time of exposure.  

When the image is ready for printing, it is exported to a large format archival inkjet printer. Today's photographic inkjet printers are renowned for producing prints unmatched for their longevity and image quality.

Photographs are guaranteed to hold their quality for many years to come. In the case of black and white prints, over 200 years. To achieve this longevity, it is important that the photographs are framed and displayed under proper conditions. Direct sunlight, excessive heat, cold and humidity should all be avoided.