While everyone has vacation photos to share, the exhibit of photos from John Baer’s road trip on display at West Windsor Library through July 31, stand out. Baer, a graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, Class of 1986, is a professional photographer with credits in photojournalism, unit photography, construction, architecture, studio, and environmental portraits.
“Road Trip Across the USA” features photos from his three-month journey across the country, including Niagara Falls, Yosemite National Park, Cooperstown Baseball Museum, North Dakota, Ohio, Mississippi River, and Illinois. Photos from the exhibit are available in a series of 16 greeting cards that feature striking scenic images from across the United States.##M:[more]##
Baer’s career began in 1989 as a photojournalist at the Times of Trenton and continued with the Associated Press, the Trentonian, and as a freelance news photographer. In 1997 he began working on feature films and television shows in New York City, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Honolulu.
Films and television photo assignments include “As Good As It Gets,” “Apt Pupil,” “Kate & Leopold,” “Requiem for a Dream,” “The Way of the Gun,” and “North Shore.” As a publicity photographer on television and movie sets, his subjects have included Jack Nicholson, Meg Ryan, Benecio DelToro, Ellen Burstyn, Marlon Wayans, Steve Guttenberg, and Shannon Dougherty.
Baer’s clients have included Sun Cabo Vacations, StructureTone, Gillespie, Washington Township Fire Department, Pacific Basin Communications, Eye of the Islands Photography, American Hawaii Cruises, Details magazine, Fortune magazine, Classic Sports Cards, City of Portland (Maine) Fire Department, University of Maine, and Kovatch Mobile Equipment
After working as the executive editor of the Oahu Island News in Honolulu, Hawaii, Baer returned to the world of freelance photography.
His recent works include “Road Trip Across the USA,” currently on display at the library, and Cops & Dogs 2007, a full color 12-month calendar featuring law enforcement officers and their K9 partners, including West Windsor Police Officer Tom Moody and his K-9 partner, Eddy. The calendar includes pictures of six German Shepherds, three Labrador Retrievers, one Belgian Malinois, one German Rottweiler, and one Bloodhound. The 2008 calendar, available in August, features pictures of law enforcement officers from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, as well as from throughout the country.
“All of my photography work is now being done using digital technology — my hands-on experience and extensive research has convinced me that digital technology is the way of the future and the most efficient and economical way to work as a photographer,” Baer says on his website.
“I have lived and worked in many different places over the years but I always consider West Windsor home,” says Baer. He considers himself a lifelong resident and returned to his roots two years ago. — Lynn Miller
Road Trip Across the USA, West Windsor Library, 333 North Post Road, 609-799-0462. www.johnbaer.net and www.policedontmove.com. Photographs from a road trip across the United States by West Windsor resident John Baer. On view through July 31.
