The names Battaglia, Farb, Heilman, and Bowie are recognizable throughout the Adiron-dacks as the most celebrated photographers in the region. Their work can be seen at View’s current exhibit, View Finders.
Clark Lubbs at View with his photograph, Round Pond Dix Mountain Wilderness. Photo by Carol Hansen
But among the photographs of these masters are the works of some newer voices in Adirondack photography, and of note is the landscape and nature photography of Clark Lubbs.
Lubbs, co-founder of Starving Artists Gallery at the busy corner in Old Forge, has been a professional photographer for more than 25 years.
He is a charter member and leader of the Old Forge Camera Club, and has also taught photography for a number of years.
Lubbs said he is very big on composition, which is one of the techniques he not only uses in his own work, but also shares with his students.“Composition, placement and subject matter placed within the frame of the camera are important. Photography is a craft. You learn the rules and you can do some pretty nice stuff. But at some point, you step over that line—is it a craft or has it become art?” he said.
Lubbs uses a Linhof hightech camera with large format 4 x 5 film for the work he exhibits or is interested in selling.
When using the camera, he said he’s very selective of his subject matter, as each click of the camera shutter carries a cost. And once he identifies a subject he takes at least 12 shots of it.
Lubbs described how he camped out the night before he shot, Round Pond Dix Mountain Wilderness, one of his displayed works, so he would be on-site first thing in the morning when the sun came up.
Another photo, Moonset Raquette Lake, measuring 40” x 60”—the largest Lubbs has ever done—was also carefully orchestrated.
“It was about 15 to 20 minutes before the sun came up. When there’s a full moon, the sun and the moon are synchronized and the moon is going down just as the sun is coming up. “Moonset” was the result,” he said.
Lubbs credits his interest in photography to his father, an amateur, but serious photographer, he said.
“My dad did black and white for years and he built his own darkroom. As a kid I’d sit in the darkroom with him and I was interested in going out in the field with him to find things for him to shoot,” he said.
Ironically, Lubbs said he never thought he would become a photographer, yet he was drawn to photography with the passion of an artist.
He plans to continue with his large format photography, and said he would like to produce a 30” x 40” or 40” x 60” print every month.
He’s also hoping that his current showing at View might prompt interest by another arts center to feature a one-man show of his work.
In the meantime, his photography can be seen at Starving Artists Gallery or in the View exhibit until March 3, 2012.
The exhibition also includes the works of Johnathan A. Esper, Lesley Dixon, Eric Dresser, Joe LeFevre, John Radigan and Carl Rubion.
Also on exhibit are the unique stone sculptures of Matt Horner of Keene, who excavated the stone from nearby rivers and mountains.
