Presenting
the photography of Rich Bergeman
Shirk Ranch
The chair of a rancher who abandoned it many years ago is among man's
historical
imprints on the environment.
Rich discovered this
one at the lonesome old
homestead of pioneers in the
Eastern Oregon high desert.
To get there requires 15 miles of driving a bad dirt road.
Notice the shapes in this image: rectangular, triangular and circular
elements viewed through an old-time-ish round vignette.
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I’m sure Rich has a book - or several - roiling his archives and
his guts, perhaps waiting to hatch in later life. I will be anxious to
read it and get a more definitive grip on what the totality of his work
means when it’s summarized between two covers. Until then, any
analytical
report is merely veneer. Here, nevertheless, is mine.
Rich works in two technical specialties, both of which are
tedious. One is platinum prints and the other is manipulation of
emulsion on Polaroid.
“Shirk Ranch,” above, is an example of his work in the platinum
process, a dangerous way to spend time because it requires a coating on
the paper’s surface with nasty solutions before exposure, and afterward
to be cleared with baths in acid. Rich uses 5X7 and 8X 10 plates and
risks skin allergies, asthma, burns, and God knows what else. The
prints are framed archivally to museum standards, and they don’t come
cheap if you buy one.
Beyond mere difficult technique, his photos have depth of meaning and
this, to me, is most important. He’s recording mankind’s journey during
the past, seeking that which has been abandoned, lost or forgotten.
Here’s
how he once described his work:
“Over the past 20 years I
have been
pointing my camera backward, looking for inspiration in places that put
me
in touch with the melancholy of the vanished past. It started with a
fascination
with abandoned hotels in small Oregon towns, then moved on to older
ruins
- the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi civilization in the American
Southwest,
old Roman towns along the Mediterranean’s Adriatic Coast, ancient
abbeys
in Ireland. One three-year project completed in 1995 retraced the trail
taken
by frontiersman James Clyman through Western Oregon more than 150 years
ago,
using descriptions from his journal to photograph the land through his
eyes.
My current projects are “Tidewaters,” a collection of views along
Oregon’s
Coast Range Rivers, and “East of Eden,” images of Eastern Oregon.
Although
the terrain is very different, in both regions I’m photographing the
same
thing - the leftover imprints of man’s habitation on the environment.”
Rich’s Polaroid print treatment yields a much different effect.
It translates here-and-now objects and scenes to whimsical reality
while emulating techniques of impressionistic master painters of long
ago. Each is truly an exquisite collectible.
Each may also be an excellent investment. Here’s why: The material he
uses is no longer manufactured. He bought as much raw material as he
could, but when that’s gone, he will have to stop production and the
collection of his work - or anybody’s - will be locked down. We’re
talking incredible collectibles, at least as I see it.
A small apple orchard
in Eastern Oregon asked to be photographed because of the way the light
happened to be hitting it,
making the little apples on the ground stand out in the grass.
It was perfect as a subject for Rich’s Polaroid manipulation technique.
I love it.
For more info:
http://www.pegasusartgallery.com
http://www.photoartsguild.org
