Autumn Through The Lens with Friends opens Friday at Tahawus Gallery

Feb. 8—AUSABLE FORKS — "Autumn Through The Lens With Friends" is a workshop exhibition curated by award-winning photographer Rob Fountain at the Tahawus Gallery in Au Sable Forks.

Opening reception is Friday, Feb. 9, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the gallery located at 14234 Route 9N. RSVP is encouraged. Phone 646-734-7151.

The exhibition features 30 works by five photographers — Craig Brashear, Doug Garrand, Heidi Gero, Rebecca Kelly and Brian Prosser — as well as Fountain, a former Press-Republican photo editor and SUNY Plattsburgh photojournalism lecturer.

Now, he photographs for Northern HGL and Northern Exploring Magazine as well and designs and directs arts workshops for children and adults at the Au Sable Forks Free Library and the Tahawus Cultural Center.

FOLIAGE WALK

Last October, Fountain took the photographers on a fall foliage walk to some of his favorite leaf-peeping locations, including Henry's Trail and Fern Lake Narrows boat launch.

"So I took a group of people out on a walk and we went over things like composition, how to take different types of fall foliage photos, so that were not copying everybody else to come up with something a little different," Fountain said.

"I went over composition with them. I went over my approach how I go out and shoot fall foliage."

The participants captured afternoon autumnal images at Henry's Trail and Fern Lake Narrows.

"We just kind of wandered around," Fountain said.

"Took photos. I made suggestions to them. I got to meet a few new people, and we all became friends. Rebecca Kelly thought it might be a good idea to do a small exhibit of the stuff that we came up with. There's some people that never really did it, and there are some people that actually are photographers."

With the improvement of cell phone cameras, Fountain was inspired to help others improve the photographs that they take every day by exploring the concepts of composition, shape, texture, and color.

"During our walks along Henry's Trail and Fern Lake, we talked about not just taking the normal fall foliage picture, but how we could take extraordinary photos by exploring our understanding of the design elements," he said.

"We looked for unusual and tiny, out-of-the-way subjects to create something new. As we explored, and the group became comfortable with each other, they began to discover on their own inspiration while applying the concepts we had covered.

"As a community of photographers, we grew that day. We laughed, we talked, we shared, and we appreciated nature. I witnessed the participants' excitement as they began to look at their surroundings and their work differently. There was a shift in their perspective."

BIOS

Brashear is executive director of Appleby Foundation, Inc. since 2010, the Tahawus Center in AuSable Forks. He retired from performing as a principal dancer of Rebecca Kelly Ballet in 1992, and became its executive director through 2019. Now, he builds and renovates.

Garrand hails from Harkness and is a retired AuSable Forks elementary teacher, who is active in the AuSable Valley swim program. Now, he is exploring arts classes and enjoys maple sugaring and the outdoors.

Gero lives in AuSable Forks and studied drawing, design and watercolor at North Country Community College. Her art journey includes explorations in pastel, color theory, looming, basket weaving, portraits, oil painting, color transfer, alcohol, oink, Eco-printing and photography.

Kelly was formerly choreographer for Rebecca Kelly Ballet in New York City from 1979 to 2020. Kelly develops and curates programs at Tahawus with the goal to identify and support regional creatives. She now lives near the Saranac River and loves to photograph.

Prosser hails from Rochester and originally trained in film and photography. He graduated from RIT with a B.S. in professional photography with a specialty in graphic design. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Prosser says he "was inspired to return to photography. After getting new digital gear, I've been photographing things I love and remembering why I started here many years ago. Looking forward to where this path leads."

'OBSERVE THE ENERGY'

"Autumn Through The Lens With Friends" gives viewers a chance to "witness the newly found passion for the medium and observe the energy that culminated in this amazing exhibit," according to Fountain.

"It is my hope that as you study these photographs, you will notice how each participant incorporated the design elements but applied them in very different ways," he said.

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter@RobinCaudell