Exhibitions
Read about our past exhibitions.
Current Exhibitions
Seasons
Paul Norton
January 15 to April 8, 2012
Reception: January 15, 2012, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Go ahead, reach out and touch it. You know you shouldn't touch a painting or professional photograph--big faux pas. But is it really a photograph or a painting? It looks so real. If you just lightly touch the tips of the gleaming bright crimson berries, casually graze over droplets of slowly melting ice; you are bound to come away with wet fingertips, aren't you? This type of realistic imagery displayed in "Iceberries" is exactly the style that veteran photographer Paul Norton captures so well. This and more than twenty other photographs will be featured in Norton's exhibit "Seasons," opening Sunday, January 15, 2012 at the Westboro Gallery.
Currently a resident of Upton, Massachusetts, Norton first became interested in photography while stationed in Japan in the U.S. Air Force. Reflecting upon those early days when he first discovered his passion and talent, Norton recalls making good use of the extensive hobby shop with darkrooms on the base where he was stationed. While working as a Massachusetts Firefighter in the 1960's, he was drawn to photography in greater depth. In addition to the photographs he took for his own enjoyment, he began doing occasional freelance work, and also pictures to document fire damage for his Fire Chief. It didn't take long for Norton to realize that he wanted to take his art to the next level and learn more of the technical side to photography. He took a leave of absence from his fire company to attend Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. That move proved to be life changing; upon graduation Norton changed careers and returned to Massachusetts, where he went to work in the advertising and catalog commercial photography industry. Norton produced large format transparencies in his work as a commercial photographer, capturing a wide variety of products and food images. He worked in virtually all film formats, including 11x14 for reproduction grade transparencies. After retiring, Norton began to revisit earlier photographs that he had taken, photographs much unlike those he had done in his professional work. He found that nature and landscape images were a recurrent theme in this body of work, and thus began a new journey to produce images of this kind. Norton reflects, "The images that I cared about were personal work such as nature and scenic beauty. These were the only images that I had hanging on my walls." Not surprising, really. Norton's majestic 24x28 framed "Dunbar Trail" and "Sunburst" both are the type of aesthetically pleasing photographs that many collectors would love to (and if fact, do) have hanging on their walls. "Dunbar Trail" evokes a sense of peace and relaxation. A rustic, weather-beaten wooden footbridge immediately draws the viewer in, and evokes a stroll through the quiet, crisp fall woods. "Sunburst" is an explosion of fall colors -- the many shades scarlet, amber and gold rival any painter's pallet.
Frustrated by the fact that much of his work in the corporate world was simply discarded once it had served the clients' purpose, Norton is happy now to create "images that will outlast me and that people can enjoy." When asked to comment on what inspires him, Norton seems to be driven as much by making a positive (such as a color transparency) or image interesting and notes that he "gets great satisfaction in finding a slice of reality to separate and compose into a photographic image."
When asked to identify a favorite piece, Norton is hard pressed to choose, noting that different shots evoke very different moods. He is intrigued with the added level of complexity and interest that the weather can add to a shot.
While Norton now works almost exclusively in digital format and can be found on most days using a Canon 1ds & 5DMark2 with 5 lenses, at times he does miss the familiarity of his "old slow & steady 4 x 5". He also takes advantage of the newer digital tools that have been developed in recent years to creatively manipulate and enhance some of his older photos. He "finds the detail corrections that can be made with the modern digital tools superior to the darkroom", and also believes that "these new tools give us the ability to help make an image convey the photographer's feeling of a place just as painters use their techniques to direct the viewer's eye." According to Norton, "all images are interpretations and just isolating something, or someplace, with a camera is a manipulation of reality." View these interpretations and meet the artist at the opening reception on January 15th from 2-5pm at the Westboro Gallery. The reception is open to the public and refreshments, wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served.