Joseph Flack Weiler:
Gloucester in Black & White
Photography
June 10 – 30
Reception : SAT June 13, 6-8pm
I first visited Cape Ann in 1950. I stayed with my Aunt Margery Flack. The memories of climbing under and over the huge seaside boulders have been etched into my mind forever. I can still vividly smell the salt water fragrance of the crab shells I collected.
Later, I was inspired by my Uncle Stow Wengenroth’s monochromatic lithographs. Black and white allowed me to explore an abstract world of shapes, forms and textures. My wife Patricia and I enjoyed our 25 seasons at the Weiler Gallery on Rocky Neck. I was free to photograph this wonderful area and we connected with many new friends.
In 1965, when I started exhibiting my photography, 35 mm film cameras dominated the world of journalism. Thirty-five millimeter film was high tech! Today I still develop my own film and make my black & white gelatin silver prints with a 1970’s enlarger. I feel that an artist creates best with the tools that help create correspondences between artist, subject and viewer.
I studied both journalism and fine-art photography. Some of my images are straight Documentary images and some are Equivalent images. The Equivalent image explores the unconscious of the artist, finding subject matter that reveals and helps define the unknown.
I studied at Rochester Institute of Technology, School of Photography and Syracuse University, School of Journalism. I have worked as a book designer, art critic, and photographer. My curiosity about the world took me to Europe, the Middle East, Afghanistan and Gloucester. My Faces of Afghanistan photographs were exhibited at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield.
Enjoy my images of Gloucester!