Jeffrey Yuan of Plainsboro is one of the featured photographers in the alternative photography exhibit opening at Princeton Alliance Church’s Art Way Gallery on Sunday, August 24. The show includes historical photographic methods still in use today, even with digital equipment available.##M:[more]##
“We’re using the photograph as a point of departure and then using an alternative process to produce a picture that expresses our individual creativity,” says Neil Larsen, curator of the exhibit. “We may even use Photoshop as part of the creative process, but in the end the main part of this process will be using an alternative process before, during, or after the image was taken. Many of us just like the hands on process. It’s more personal, it’s our signature.”
Yuan, who has been a Plainsboro resident for 10 years, lives with his wife, Michele Minter, director of development at Princeton University. Their son is a freshman at North, and their daughter is a fourth grade student at Community Middle School.
Yuan, who has his bachelor’s degree from Yale University, and his doctorate in molecular biology from Rockefeller University, did a post doctorate at Princeton University. He is a regulatory scientist with Food and Drug Administration, where he oversees development and writes applications.
“Work is a nice contrast to my hobby,” he says. For more information about Yuan visit www.jyuanimages.info.
He has been interested in photography his whole life, but became serious about four years ago. Yuan uses both digital and film cameras.
“It is a marriage of 19th and 20th century processes using the best of both worlds,” says Yuan, who learned Palladium, a 19th century printing technique, through reading books. He has a room in the house with black light bulbs — not a dark room, and develops film using a changing bag.
Yuan’s process includes large format pictures, creating and printing negatives, scanning the image into a computer, and using an ink jet printer. “Washing the image gives me the tonality that I like,” says Yuan, who also uses hand made paper. “Every print is hand-crafted and each one is different.” — Lynn Miller
Art Exhibit, Princeton Alliance Church, Scudders Mill & Schalks Crossing roads, 609-799-9000. www.princetonalliance.org/gallery . “Alternative Photography Exhibit: Historical Photographic Methods in Use Today.” More than 60 photographs by 15 photographers. Opening reception and gallery talks are Sunday, September 7, from 3 to 5:30 p.m.
Gallery hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 3 to 8 p.m.; and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
