Dennis Szerszen

Dennis Szerszen

Photography – Hillsborough

This is one in a series of posts about artists in the Orange County Artists Guild.

What is your medium? Why do you love it? How did you get interested in it?

I have been making photographs since my high school days when I discovered an unused darkroom while playing hookie from class. Since then, I have been fascinated by how photographs can evoke a response in viewers. Photography is all about a balance between the literal capture of a scene and abstraction to the point that the viewer’s memories and imagination inform them of what they are seeing in an image. I also love that process plays an important role. I can make an image on film that looks and feels entirely different than as a color digital image.

Tell us about your process.

In addition to digital photography, I make images with a variety of medium- and large-format film cameras, and print images using several traditional analog processes to print, using platinum, silver, and iron processes in my darkroom. As a portrait and landscape photographer, I look for special moments to capture – the scene, emotional values, time of day, the light. Before setting out to make photographs, part of my process involves describing what I want to capture. I prepare to shoot by describing these things in a journal that I keep with me. Journal entries are the seed for the photo collections I create.

After making photographs, I will evaluate them to decide the best way to present what I am trying to convey. The cameras I use give me a large image that I can print large with great detail. In order to print as a cyanotype, or in platinum/palladium, or gold processes, I need to create a large negative that I can use to make a contact print using UV lights and chemicals in my home darkroom. Each photograph I produce using these processes is unique. The equipment and processes I use are on display in my studio during the tour, and I am glad to give a detailed glimpse into my process.

Do you have formal training in your medium?

I had taken a few photography and art classes while at university, but after retiring, I have been able to work with a number of renowned photographers in addition to taking classes at Penland and Maine Media, among other art schools.

Do you teach?

I teach iPhone photography in addition to the use of Adobe digital image tools through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Duke University (OLLI) – an adult education program.

What is the inspiration for the art you make?

I find myself drawn to nostalgic scenes that convey a glimpse of human presence, which means that my images tend to convey a sense melancholy in addition to joy which we all feel as a part of reflection.

My parents are both immigrants, arriving after the Second World War from Europe. I never felt entirely comfortable among my schoolmates in high school – I was shy and didn’t feel accepted. Once I started taking photographs, I found a way of finding common ground, by taking photos and sharing what I saw with others. This was my way of finding acceptance.

Tell us about your work space.

I am fortunate to have a home with a large basement that I have converted into a studio, darkroom, and wet lab for processing photographs. My studio is converted to a display space during the OCAG tour. I am delighted to be sharing my space with another photographer this year, Cliff Haac. We are studio 7 on the tour.

Pick one tool critical to your process, and tell us about it.

I have a Mamiya 6 film camera. It is small enough for me to take with me almost every time I step outside. As a square format camera, it has taught me to think about composition in a completely different way and has opened my eyes to things I might never have noticed. I’m grateful to be its owner.