Travels with Camera

The photographs of Margaret Morgan and Martin Schwartz sharpen the eye and heighten consciousness.

By: Susan Van Dongen

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Martin Schwartz’s photograph, "Behind Time," captures Paris from behind the clock at the Musee D’Orsay.


   For many, summer is the time of year to take off on leisurely adventures abroad. In many European countries, for example, some workers are lucky enough to take the entire month of August off to see different landscapes and decompress.
   For those who must remain at home, two new photography exhibits at Gallery 14 offer an opportunity to travel visually.
   Work by Princeton resident Margaret Morgan — Travels with Camera — and Martin Schwartz of West Windsor — Look at, Look Up, Look Through — will be on view May 30 through July 6. There’s an artists reception May 30 and the photographers will be in the gallery to discuss their work June 1.
   The styles of Mr. Schwartz and Ms. Morgan are about as different as their personal lives. Ms. Morgan comes from a noted family of architects and artists, has traveled and trekked all seven continents — including Antarctica — and has been exhibiting nationally for almost 25 years. She uses a medium-format camera and prefers to work with palladium printing, Polaroid and other transfer processes, giving her work a subdued, soft look.
   On the other hand, this is Mr. Schwartz’s first exhibit and he has been balancing his love for photography with a long career in dentistry. He creates vibrant color images with 35 mm negatives and color slide film scanned into a computer, then augmented with digital-imaging programs.

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Margaret Morgan uses Polaroid transfers and palladium prints to capture the Tuilleries Gardens in Paris (top) and the mood of Ireland (above).


   He and his wife have enjoyed traveling and making pictures for quite some time, but Mr. Schwartz was really inspired to make his work more artful after seeing husband-and-wife photographers Sonia Bullaty and Angelo LoMeo’s books on Provence and Tuscany.
   "Their images had a painterly quality to them and that was the direction I wanted to go," Mr. Schwartz says. "For example, there were shots of Provence when the lavender and sunflowers were in bloom that were so striking. We decided to go to Provence to try to catch this but missed the blooming season by two weeks. Everything was either brown or had been harvested."
   Instead, Mr. Schwartz aimed his lens at the many charming windows and doors he encountered in the villages of the French countryside.
   "I’ve seen a lot of photographers using windows as frames, or to highlight an image," he says. "I deliberately shot windows in the villages because different towns have all those different colors and textures to the shutters. I looked for interesting windows and in these villages you just can’t miss.
   "Sometimes I’ll find that just a portion of the image attracts me, so I’ll re-crop it. I’ve also tried to do some reflections in store windows, but they’re harder to do than you might think."
   After a few years, Mr. Schwartz realized he had enough "window" pictures to put together a portfolio, which he presented to Gallery 14.
   "Exhibiting is all new to me," he says. "I’d been putting my pictures up in my office in East Windsor for quite a few years. A patient had a friend connected with Gallery 14 and thought my images had a similar quality. She suggested I get involved.

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Above, "Vermont Smithy" (top) and "Abbey Scape" (bottom) by Mr. Schwartz.


   "I’ve been taking pictures for most of my life, but only in the six or seven years have been involved to this extent," he continues. "I’ve taken quite a few workshops with different photographers, including Freeman Patterson, a Canadian photographer, who does a lot with photomontage and multiple exposures. I went to New Brunswick (Canada) to study with him. I’m also interested in Brenda Tharp’s work — she’s a well-known wildlife photographer. I’ve been to the Santa Fe Photography Workshop and took a workshop in Ireland with Ron Rosenstock. My wife and I do these as vacations."
   With an affinity for Vincent van Gogh’s intensely colored landscapes, Mr. Schwartz says he uses filters and digital technology to try to give his pieces an impressionistic look.
   In addition to the Provençal village scenery, Mr. Schwartz captured a view of Paris seen through a clock in the café at the Musee D’Orsay. Another view from a museum — this time in Italy, through a balcony door in the Uffizi — offered a perfectly framed shot of Florence’s Domo.
   Mr. Schwartz took advantage of a trip to Ireland to capture the lush landscape of County Mayo through a Romanesque window at Ross Abbey. He also enjoys motoring around the back roads of New Jersey, making pictures of old or abandoned homes.
   "It’s amazing what’s around locally," he says.
   Ms. Morgan thinks more globally as a photographer. An avid world traveler, she says she’s always had a camera with her, whether it’s along the slopes of the Himalayas or strolling through a marketplace in Morocco. Some of her most sublime images were taken in Japan and China. Like world-famous photographers such as André Kertész and Henri Cartier-Bresson, she’s made some especially fine pictures in the Tuilleries Gardens in Paris.
   She began her creative career as a painter but gravitated toward photography, becoming interested in printing after a friend showed her how simple it was to set up a home darkroom.
   "I put a darkroom in the cellar and started doing my own printing," Ms. Morgan says. "I learned just by doing it, reading and talking to people."

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Above, "Gentle Breeze," by Mr. Schwartz.


   She also studied at the International Center for Photography in New York, including courses in palladium printing. She attended the Ansel Adams Workshop in Yosemite, Calif., and has spent quite a bit of time at the Maine Photographic Workshops in Rockport, where she worked with Paul Caponigro, among others.
   "I like his work a lot," she says. "He was the one who said the best photographs are shot from the heart and not the brain. I like a lot of Minor White’s work too. I also admire the painter Andrew Wyeth and people have told me some of my things resemble his work.
   "I thought palladium processing would suit the things I liked to photograph," Ms. Morgan says. "I thought the Polaroid transfers sounded like fun, so I tried those too. I do them on a little machine that sits on my kitchen counter. They have a more painterly quality to them, quite a different look than a straight color photograph. I like the softer quality rather than the harsh black-and-white lines. The palladium prints have that softness, too."
   Both photographers agree that the most important thing about their craft is that it sharpens their eyes and heightens their consciousness to see the beauty and humor around them every day.
   "That’s what is so great about photography," Mr. Schwartz says. "It really gives you a way to look at the world differently. Most people pass by things and don’t even see them, but photographers have a special way of looking."
Look Out, Look At, Look Through, photography by Martin Schwartz, and Travels With Camera, palladium and Polaroid transfer prints by Margaret Morgan, are on view at Gallery 14, 14 Mercer St., Hopewell, May 30-July 6. Artists’ reception, May 30, 6-9 p.m. The photographers will also be in the gallery June 1, 1-3 p.m., to discuss their work. Gallery hours: Fri. 5-9 p.m., Sat.-Sun. noon-5 p.m. or by appointment. For information, call (609) 333-8511. On the Web: www.photosgallery14.com. Ms. Morgan’s photography can also be seen at the Witherspoon Gallery, 27 Witherspoon St., Princeton, July 17-Sept. 1. For information, call (609) 279-1592.