A summer exhibition in The Bill and Joan Alfond Gallery at The Waldo celebrating Jeremy Barnard’s nearly six decades behind the lens

 

The Bill and Joan Alfond Gallery at The Waldo Theatre is proud to present A Photographic Life, a retrospective exhibition of photographs by Jeremy Barnard, on view June 1 through July 13, with an artist reception during Artwalk Waldoboro on Friday, June 26 from 4–7pm. The exhibition honors Barnard’s nearly sixty-year devotion to photography and traces a deeply personal creative journey from the era of film and darkrooms to the contemporary possibilities of digital and infrared image-making.

 

Born from the inspiration of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s seminal book The Decisive Moment and long hours spent printing in a makeshift bathroom darkroom in Allston, Massachusetts, Barnard’s passion for photography began early and never left him. A Photographic Life reveals the winding and often unconventional path of that obsession, charting decades of experimentation, technical mastery, and artistic self-discovery.

 

Primarily known for his black-and-white photography, Barnard is self-taught, shaped by the work and writings of photography’s great masters. His hands-on commitment to craftsmanship has remained constant throughout his career, from image capture to post-processing, mounting, matting, and framing.

 

“My love affair with photography began when I developed my first roll of film and created my first print,” Barnard says. “I fell in love with the process, the magic.”

 

Though once skeptical of digital photography, Barnard eventually embraced the medium as the technology evolved. Today, much of his current work explores infrared photography, capturing light beyond the visible spectrum and transforming familiar landscapes into striking, otherworldly studies of shape, tone, and atmosphere.

 

A longtime resident of Friendship, Barnard has deep family roots on the Maine coast. His family cottage in Friendship has stood since 1901, overlooking Muscongus Bay. The photographs he has made there over many years form the emotional center of his portfolio and reflect what he considers a lifelong project.

 

Barnard’s imagery often exists between realism and abstraction, emphasizing form, texture, and mystery. While people rarely appear in his fine art work, traces of human presence often remain. “I like to make pictures that ask more questions than they answer,” he says.

 

Artist and writer David Raymond once wrote in Art New England that Barnard’s photographs “not only convey a sense of place, but a sense of time transcending place... his work is poetic in unexpected ways.” A Photographic Life offers viewers a rare opportunity to experience the evolution of an artist who has spent a lifetime chasing light, form, and meaning through the camera lens.

 

An artist reception will be held during Artwalk Waldoboro on Friday, June 26 from 4–7pm. The exhibition can also be viewed during performances, or by appointment: info@thewaldotheatre.org.

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