Photo exhibit puts talents, emotion on display

“When I turned around and saw the old truck, it gave me kind of a sad feeling — lonely even,” said local photographer Skip Fields. “That’s what I tried to bring out in my photograph.”

Fields’ photo, “Trapped by the Jungle,“ is one of three by him being shown along with a host of other photographers’ works in the Middle Georgia Art Association’s annual photography exhibit.

The exhibit theme is “Rustic.”

“I saw the truck all grown over and thought, ‘You know, this truck worked hard for years then a little something went wrong and it was left there. Then it got trapped.’ I know it sounds silly, but I felt kind of sorry for it being deserted like that.”

Fields said he tried to capture those feelings when he took the photo, the first step, and then during the modern process of manipulating it through imaging software, the second step.

“I like minimal color,“ he said. “Not just black and white but suppressing colors and then bringing out just a few for the feel I want.”

A retired educator, Fields, 78, said he’s been a hobbyist photographer for years but became serious after his wife, Glenis, died. She was a painter and longtime association member. He said following her death other association members encouraged him and taught him to be a better photographer.

They even asked him to do a show of his work.

“Honestly, I was having a hard time after she died,” he said. “I realized what they were doing was giving me something to focus on to keep me from depression. Even if I wasn’t creative I’d still want to be associated with these people. They’re not only creative, intelligent and extremely helpful to other artists, but genuinely caring, too.”

Rachel Gambill, the art association’s board president, said the photography exhibit starts with an Aug. 18 reception from 6 to 8 p.m. It’s free.

“We award prizes at around 6:45 p.m. at the Friday reception so that’s a great time to be there,” Gambill said. “This is one of 11 juried shows each year with the others in all medium, plus our Winter Arts Festival in December. Check our website for art classes, educational programs and other events.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2017 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Photo exhibit puts talents, emotion on display."