100 Years of Cameras

The Fleetwood Camera Museum of North Plainfield is exhibiting 100 Years of Camera at the Highland Park Public Library from April 1 until April 30, 2017 in the Main Hall Display Case. Watch the decade to decade changes the cameras underwent as they made their way from professionals to eager beginners.

Some of the antique cameras you will be abe to see are: Eastman Kodak box camera ca. 1900, Autographic Camera ca. 1910, Kodak Rainbow Hawkeye Folding camera ca. 1914, Brownie Hawkeye Box Camera 1949 (Moulded Bakelite Body), Agfa Isolette (popular during the 1950s and 60s), Polaroid Folding camera 1955, Minolta 16 sub-miniature spy camera 1972-74, Twin reflex cameras and Single Reflex cameras, and Edward Weston light meter 1935.

Included also is equipment from early photographic processes: a daguerreotype, a tintype, cabinet cards, and cart-des-visites.

Sara Parmigiani from the Fleetwood Camera Museum is curating the show.

Serenity: Photos by Kenn Krasner

Serenity: New Photos by Kenn Krasner will be in the main hall display case and in the meeting room at the Highland Park Public Library from March 2 to March 31, 2017. An art reception will be held for the show on Sunday, March 5 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM in the meeting room.

Kenn has been a Highland Park business owner for the last two decades. Along with his wife Mary, he is a managing partner of Spheres, a web development company. He also has been taking photographs since 1963.

Kenn participated in Highland Park 2016 September Window Art Walk, and his photos continue to be displayed in the window of Saiff Drugs.

Kenn Krasner photo

Spirit in the Sky by Kenn Krasner

Cuba Now: Photos by David Antebi

Long time Highland Park resident David Antebi is exhibiting photos from Cuba in the Main Hall Display Case at the Highland Park Public Library, 31 North Fifth Avenue, from September 1 through September 30, 2016. He will talk about Cuba: Then and Now on Thursday, September 8 at 7:00 PM at the library.

After 50 years of the US embargo on Cuba, the travel restrictions were lifted last year. David Antebi and his wife Paula took advantage of this opportunity and booked an eight-day trip in January, 2016 with a group called Road Scholar. The trip focused on the arts. The photos in the display case are a sample of his attempt to document what he experienced.

“We visited old Havana, rural areas, tobacco and organic vegetable farms, and a luxury coastal hotel,” Antebi said. “Candid portraits were taken to capture images of people at work. Where ever we went – bus stops, the market place- we were greeted with music and dance groups. We witnessed the creative spirit visiting local artists galleries, dance studios and a modern art museum where we had a chance to mingle and interact with Cubans.”

According to Antebi, Cuban politics were evident at a book fair where pamphlets, and books on revolutionary theory, biographies on Fidel Castro, and Che Guevara, and medals from the Revolution were displayed. Also on display, were vintage music albums of the ’50 and the ’60 from famous Cuban singers of that time period. David and Paula, long time residents of Highland Park, witnessed tourists from all over the world crowding the lobby of the historic Hotel National located in old Havana where they stayed to experience the old and the new Cuba. “For the short time we visited Cuba we witnessed the physical devastation created by the embargo but were captured by the vibrant spirit of the people for life,” Antebi said.

Metuchen Photographer Creates Art Photos

Judy Weinberg, a Metuchen artist, will exhibit her whimsical art photos at the Highland Park Public Library from October 3 to November 25, 2015. Her images printed on pillows will be in the main hall display case. An art reception will be held in the meeting room on Saturday, October 3 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

Judy Weinberg is volunteer co-chair at Transformations Gallery located in the historic Old Franklin Schoolhouse in Metuchen. She was raised in Highland Park and became interested in photography at the age of 11 while participating in a photo club at her Middle School. She creates art photographs using nature, food, found objects, and architecture as her subjects. Sometimes the artist elaborates on a theme by creating series photos, while other times composing “scenes” by combining unusual objects not usually seen together to create a piece.

“I wanted to experiment with my images to see how they would work when printed on different mediums, while also creating art that people can take with them. Printing on metal has allowed the images to hang both indoors and outdoors, canvas adds a subtle texture, while printing on pillows allows my work to still be seen in the home – but now it’s off the wall.”

Photographer’s Eye: Ruth Jansyn Exhibit

Ruth Jansyn’s photo exhibit, the Photographer’s Eye, is on display in July 2015 at the library. Ruth F. Jansyn has been taking photos since she received her first Kodak box camera, graduating to a Nikon, a Minolta 7 and finally a digital camera.

“For me, the most important instrument is my eye, both when I snap the shutter and then when I view the image,” Jansyn said.

Along the way from her journey from high school teacher to college professor she traveled to archaeological sites in Northern Italy, Australia, and Russia and along with her husband traveled across the United States and Europe.

For seven years she studied photography at Long Island University in New York. She has lived in Highland Park for three decades and new splits her time between New Jersey and southwestern Texas.

Photographer Ruth Jansyn has dedicated her photography exhibit in the Main Hall display case to her grandmother, Julia Magnus. Included in the display is Ruth’s mother’s, “Reminiscences of a German Jewish Woman Physician” which chronicles Ruth’s grandmother’s life during the 1930s and 1940s in Nazi Germany.

Tarahumara in Copper Canyon, photo by Ruth Jansyn

Mother of Ruth Jansyn documents — Ruth’s mother’s, “Reminiscences of a German Jewish Woman Physician” about Ruth’s grandmother’s life during the 1930s and 1940s in Nazi Germany

Antique Kodak Folding Cameras Display

The first camera that caught Highland Park Photographer Tom Maugham’s eye was his family’s 1932 Kodak folding camera. His grandfather had given the Number 1 Pocket Kodak to his parents to use for their honeymoon. In that year it cost $17. A considerable amount of money for that decade.

About 30 of his Kodak Folding Cameras, manufactured between 1899 and 1954, are on exhibit at the Highland Park Public Library through the month of June 2015 in the Main Hall Display case.

In spite of his collection, and although his folding cameras are in working condition, Tom Maugham uses a Canon digital camera. He produces his prints in his “digital darkroom” using Adobe Photoshop and an Epson photo-quality printer. Tom is a native of New Jersey where he still lives. His work celebrates bridges, farm scenes, and dramatic factory settings. He has won numerous awards in recognition of his technical and artistic achievements.

maugham antique camera

Photo Paintings of Icons

Although Alexander Agor has been an agent for New York Life Insurance for 14 years, he is also an artist and photographer who in his career covered the Six Day War in Israel, worked for the magazines Harper’s Bazaar and Time Out, did press production photography for the Royal Court Theatre in England, and worked in Italy for Italian Vogue. Along the way he photographed John Lennon and other icons from the 1960s and 1970s.

His photo paintings are on display at the Highland Park Public Library through October 2014 in the Meeting Room.

His diverse career has contributed to many experiments in his photo paintings that resemble large posters. His work has also been exhibited at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, the Perry Art Gallery in Manhattan, and at the Golda Meir Art Center in Israel.

Alexander Agor - John Lennon image

Birds of Highland Park Exhibit

Kathy Wooding’s obsession with birding and photography all started with a few American goldfinches who were eating her mother’s zinnia flowers in a Highland Park garden. Her obsession has grown since 2009 and now she has a collection of photos that include a Red Tailed Hawk, Bald Eagle, Yellow Warbler, Blue Grey Gnatcatcher, Baltimore Oriole, Great Blue Heron, and more – all shot in Highland Park. An exhibit of Wooding’s photos will be in the Highland Park Public Library from October 1 through October 31.

“We loved the goldfinches so much we put out a bird feeder for them, and they’ve been coming back for six years,” Wooding said. “I started taking walks to Donaldson Park and around a five block radius of the park and discovered so many different species of birds in winter and in spring when they migrate.” According to Wooding, when she started looking for birds she was amazed at how many different species of birds there are right under our noses. “I found myself bringing my camera with me everyday and I even saw a Bald Eagle across the river at Donaldson Park during the month of March.”

To see the large variety of birds living in and visiting the borough, visit the Main Hall Display Case at the Highland Park Public Library in October 2014.

Great Egret, photo by Katy Wooding

Global Citizen Exhibits Photos

Carol Brown, a 2013 graduate of Highland Park High School, spent her gap year in Ecuador helping out in special education classes through a program called Global Citizen Year. The organization sends recent American high school graduates to Ecuador, Brazil, and Senegal.

The lifelong Highland Park resident lived with a host family in Archidona, in the Providence of Napo. Throughout the month of July she will be displaying photos in the Highland Park Public Library from her journey.

Before her trip, Carol received training in language, leadership, and sensitivity to other cultures. Because of her experiences, she is entering her first year at the New School this fall, as a sophomore.

“Over my travels, I could easily have been robbed blind on a daily basis, but instead, I have been adopted into generous families, guided by friends, and fed by strangers,” Carol said.

host family

Photographer John Flint’s 50 Years of Travel

Photographer John Flint strapped on a camera 50 years ago and has been snapping photos in America, Europe, and Asia ever since. He will be displaying his exhibit, Sculpted by Nature, at the library in June 2014.

Flint, who is a long time resident of Highland Park, has included photos from his trips to five national parks, Antelope Canyon, in Paige Arizona, Toadstools, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona, and Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. The photos are very intense studies of the rock formations.

He has also included photos outside the country from Spis Castle near Kosice, Slovakia.

Previously, Flint exhibited photos he took during trips to Europe in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and a 2006 trip to Thailand and Cambodia where he spent time with the hill tribes of northern Thailand and also visited the temple ruins of Angkor Wat.

“A visit to Monet’s gardens at Giverny inspired a broadening of subject interests from landscapes to opportunistic shots,” Flint said. After four visits to Monet’s gardens at Giverny, Flint privately published a book of photographic essays.

John Flint photography