Leonard Hellerman

I am constantly composing. I believe that good composition is equally the imperative of the photographer as that of the artist who paints although achieving a good composition is somewhat different for each. Most artists begin with an empty canvas whereas the photographer begins with a full canvas and must crop, eliminate, and simplify. They are complementary practices
Although I enjoy and do create monochromatic imagery, I tend to print mostly in color. Monochromatic photography, I believe, is often construed as more artistic as the lack of color makes the image less representational and therefore more appealing to some. Although monochromatic photography has traditionally been much more archival, the practice of printing with pigment inks and acid-free papers has made color printing approach that of the monochromatic print in permanence.
A few years ago the Smithsonian Institution sponsored a traveling exhibition entitled "Barn Again." One of the three venues in Connecticut was the Windsor Historical Society. As I had a considerable collection of barn photographs, I was asked to exhibit photographs o flocal iconic, noteworthy barns and sheds. ( "Shed” being the preferred terminology for a tobacco "barn.")
The uniqueness and the transformative nature of the shade tobacco fields of the Connecticut River Valley have been a focus of interest for me in recent years. The cloth-covered acreage has been somewhat my private domain, as I know the tobacco growers who, otherwise, are generally very private and loathe to allow access to their fields. Taken by the wind, the swirling stretches of billowing cloth form constantly changing, beautiful compositions. The red, bulky sheds, the workers imported for the season from Mexico and Central America, both provide interesting additional imagery. A few of these images are included in this exhibition.