Alina Bliach of West Windsor and Steven Richman of Plainsboro will be honored at the opening reception of the 2003 Mercer County Photography Exhibit on Wednesday, January 21, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the art gallery of the College of New Jersey in Holman Hall. The show runs through Wednesday, February 18. Bliach received a Juror Merit Award for her platinum print “The Ward,” taken at the hospital at Eastern State Penitentiary. It was processed using an alternative process called palladium print that imparts a sepia look.
Richman earned a Purchase Award for his giclee (pronounced jhee-clay) print “Miami.” Giclee comes from the French for “to squirt”; giclee prints, known for their extraordinary color accuracy, are produced through high-resolution digital scans with archival-quality inks.
“It’s always been my dream to go into photography,” says Bliach. “My parents encouraged education but they didn’t encourage arts.” Bliach, born in Cuba, learned English when her family moved to the United States when she was seven. “We all became professionals but it’s not where my heart is,” she says.
Her mother, a pharmacist in Cuba, obtained her pharmacist license in New York. Her father, a businessman who owned three pharmacies and a wholesale medical supply house in Cuba, bought a pharmacy in New York City.
Bliach met her husband, Julius — a Cuban native who has lived in the United States since he was three years old — when they were both in Long Island University’s five-year pharmacy program. The couple have owned Marin Pharmacy in West New York, New Jersey, for over 10 years.
The family — who includes Andrew, 11, a sixth grader, and Stephanie, 14, an eighth grader, both at Grover Middle School — moved to Plainsboro 15 years ago and five years later moved to West Windsor. “Both of them are actually pretty good photographers,” says their mother, who has always read photography books and magazines and has been taking photograph and art history classes at Mercer County Community College.
Bliach is working on a project to present of the mayor of West New York, Albio Sires. He was one of her teachers at Memorial High school. “I try to capture the spirit of the people that live there,” she says. “Many of them are lower middle class immigrants, and they are as happy as can be living their simple life.”
Two of her photographs are on display in the exhibit. “It was the first time I entered anything, and it was very exciting to have one win a prize,” she says. “I called my parents to tell them and they are more supportive now — although my dad still asks, ‘When are you going back to the pharmacy?’”
She usually uses her Nikon, but her “little baby” is a Hasselblad — a gift from her husband for her 40th birthday. While she can develop and print photos from her Nikon at school, the medium format Hasselblad requires special processing that she has done at Taylor Photo on Alexander Road.
She would like to build a darkroom in her home but she lives behind McCaffrey’s where the houses still have septic systems that darkroom chemicals can harm. “When we moved to the house over nine years ago, they told us that we would be connected within nine years,” she says. “We’re still waiting.”
“I’m really lucky that I’m able to do what I want to do,” says Bliach. “This hobby started when I was a little kid wearing a camera around my neck. My hope is to create a nice collection and be able to exhibit in galleries.”
