She has the name of a star and the talent to go with it. A Fulbright Scholar to the University of Missouri master’s program in the School of Journalism, the young Romanian photographer has developed her thesis project on a theme of “Chautauqua Dream World.”
Twelve-year-old Max Lerman has been coming to Chautauqua all of his life, but this summer is different. Now, he’s not only a part of Chautauqua Institution’s physical community, but its social media community as well.
Just inside the Bestor Plaza entrance to the Brick Walk Cafe, four children are intent on nine picture boards arrayed for their inspection. Fronting one group of boards is a smaller placard offering the free photographic services of “Uncle Howie” Schiller. Pictured are a caricature of Schiller by longtime Chautauqua cartoonist Ed Harmon, as well as Schiller’s contact information.
Annie Griffiths is giving more than a just a voice to the voiceless — she is illuminating the darkness they are shrouded in by showing the world who they really are, one photograph at a time.
Standing under a photograph that he took of a shirtless, 15-year-old street kid high on industrial glue, National Geographic photographer Tyrone Turner recalled the destitution that he encountered while photographing the lives of “glue kids” in northeastern Brazil in the late 1990s.
“Food transforms the world’s landscapes,” said Dennis Dimick, executive environmental editor at National Geographic. “Forty percent of the land area of the Earth has been transformed for agriculture.” Those transformations and the many faces behind it were vibrantly presented to the Amphitheater audience on Monday as Dimick, joined by National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson, showed photographs from their 25-year collaboration exploring the world’s agricultural systems.
Steve Piper, longtime Chautauquan and popular Chautauqua Institution speaker, will open the Archive’s Heritage Lecture Series today at 3:30 p.m. in the Hall of Christ. His presentation is titled “Discovering George Eastman: A Kodak moment.”
After retiring in 2007, Piper developed an interest in Eastman and wanted to become a docent at the George Eastman House, a film and photography museum in Rochester, N.Y. Piper had taught health science in the Rochester area for many years, but it was not just the Rochester connection that attracted Piper to Eastman; the Institution also provided a common ground. Eastman had visited the grounds a number of times, often to visit with Thomas Edison, son-in-law to Institution co-founder Lewis Miller.
“Contemplative Photography” is the theme for Jennifer Schlick’s Lake Walk today. Schlick is program director at the Jamestown Audubon Center and Sanctuary. She has exhibited photographs in several group shows, and her spring wildflower photos were presented in a solo show in 2011 at the James Prendergast Library in Jamestown.
Schlick said that individuals should bring a camera, beginner or advance — even an iPhone — and let their creativity flow. The group will first consider the differences between a conceptual and a perceptual approach to photography. The conceptual approach has its place, but during the walk, ideas will be discarded, and attention will be directed to pure perception.
The walk begins at 6:30 p.m. today on the covered porch at the Heinz Fitness Center (below the YAC) on South Lake Drive at the corner of South. The Bird, Tree & Garden Club sponsors the program in partnership with the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy. A portable sound system is used so people can hear the speaker.
A local photographer’s visual interpretations of Pakistan may lend insight into a culture few Americans have seen before, during Week Five, themed “Pakistan: Straddling the Boundary Between Asia and the Middle East.”
Kiran Khan, whose family has come to Chautauqua for years, will have her photos displayed in the Hall of Missions throughout the week. Khan is Pakistani and lived in the city of Lahore for four years.
Khan took the photos almost a decade ago while she was studying photography at the State University of New York Fredonia. Khan made several trips to Pakistan while growing up to visit family, but she has not been back in seven years.
The Chautauquan Daily 