Jerry McDonnell: Photographer

A long time hobby, photography has become something more since retirement from the teaching profession. The Goderich Co-op Gallery has given me the chance to show some of photos. Which are now in homes from Victoria B. C. to Newfoundland. My interest began when I purchased a simple camera in high school and began to take pictures of old buildings as well as family & landscapes for my own pleasure. Architecture and the decay of buildings is of consuming interest. Entropy is of equal interest to well maintained structures. Decay shows the transitory nature of construction without constant care. It also relates to history and how patterns change. Settlement changes lead to abandonment and alteration of what we consider important. Consider the plantations of lilacs which mark the site of disappeared farmhouses resulting from shifting patterns in agriculture. My interest has always been in composition as opposed to technical processes. Therefore my images have minimal photo shop and most of the work is done when using the camera. There have been experiments with watercolour and fine art papers as well as printing on canvas. A special interest has been infrared photography which utilizes film sensitive to non-visible parts of the spectrum. The results are black and white with some twists. The sky is generally black and any parts containing chlorophyll are white. With the proliferation of digital photography infrared film has almost disappeared. As a result it will be necessary to learn how the effect is attainable with Photoshop. Photography is an artistic expression for me. Enjoy the images.

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