3 Photographers at CHAW

I attended a presentation as part of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop's Photography Month tonight. It was a presentation of work by locally based photographers Chan Chao, Roberto Bocci, and Franz Janzen, presented inthe reverse order. I am sure I won't do them justice, but just a brief glimpse.
Franz showed work of his that was originally black and white in 4x5 Large format, and then some new work, very compelling, which was from a "looking down" series, and combined at some points some 1100 images shot looking at a floor to create the floor plan of a pub or building. Very intriguing work as a whole, done with a small digital camera.
Robert Bocci had some work which really inspired me, since I am about to get into 4x5. Some of the most intriguing work was large images captured on long, long exposures, wherein he "painted" the canvas of the negative by illuminating certain parts or subjects in the image, many times the body in different poses and forms. Some really dramatic spectral images emerged, in b/w and color.
Chan Chao showed work from Burma, Cypress, as well as nudes. His style was somewhat of an in your face realistic portraiture, which he explained he likes to "leave alone," in order to let the viewer get it. He would have a series of 4 or so images with subtle differences to draw attention to the message in a subconscious way, and it was effective. I initially though I wouldn't like the portraits due to their 3/4 and face front pose, but it works, quite well. He also proved that you can use a 4x5 field camera and carry it, a tripod, film holders, film, etc. with no assistant, though I'm sure that's not preferred.
That's all for tonight. Check out CHAW's other events this month.