Noted photographer set to teach local workshop

Suzanne Bach, workshop coordinator at Mat-Su College, interviewed award-winning instructor Barry McWayne, a Fairbanks photographer and curator emeritus of the Museum of the North. McWayne will teach a three-day digital photography workshop at the college on Trunk Road May 12-14 called “Digital Photography: From Camera to Print.”

Bach: What have been some challenges for you with digital photography?

McWayne: I’ve found the transition to digital easier than I thought it would be. After spending more than 40 years working with film and chemicals, I was delighted to discover how straightforward and flexible this new technology is. Admittedly, there is plenty to learn, but one can make decent pictures almost immediately with even the simplest of these new cameras. If one is moderately conversant with the world of computers, digital photo skills can improve very quickly compared to film cameras. There’s also one tremendous advantage to digital photography over the “old” technology that really speaks to me: instant gratification. With film, we had to wait days or even weeks until we saw how our pictures turned out. Now, the LCD screens on the back of digital cameras tell us right away how we did — if we got the exposure right, if the composition works or if aunt Betty has her eyes closed in the group picture. I’ve found students advance much more quickly with this little tool than they did in the days of film. It’s very exciting and I love teaching digital.

Bach: Tell me about outdoor vs. indoor photography.

McWayne: If we’re speaking about photographing with available light, the new digital cameras dramatically reduce the difference between shooting indoors and outdoors. With film, making pictures indoors required flash or auxiliary lighting. Film just wasn’t very light sensitive compared to the new digital gear. Now, even modest digital cameras have high sensitivity and can make good pictures in normal interior light — without the need for supplemental illumination. And outdoors, this higher light sensitivity allows a photographer to capture action, using fast shutter speeds to freeze motion. It also makes things like aurora photography more successful. Another thing I’ve noticed in my own landscape work is that the excellent high sensitivity sensors in my digital cameras have made the tripod an optional tool in many situations, allowing for quicker response time to rapidly changing light and cloud conditions. It’s also easier hiking into difficult terrain without the tripod appendage!

Bach: What are some of your most memorable experiences as a photographer?

McWayne: Throughout my long career in photography I’ve had many interesting experiences. I’ve been fortunate to travel widely and visit a host of fascinating locales. Perhaps the most memorable site I’ve photographed is Antelope Canyon in northern Arizona (before it became a tourist attraction). My shooting buddy and I had the place to ourselves for an entire afternoon. It’s a red rock slot canyon with beautiful water-carved swirls and curves and unusual formations, mysterious and aesthetically exquisite in the warm, soft light. Wonderful. Every year I travel out of Alaska for a couple weeks to shoot landscape, usually to the Southwest. I’ve seen and photographed some amazing places. But I have to say that I still find it most satisfying to photograph this state’s grand landscape. I never tire of it and find the experience continually inspiring.

Bach: Tell me about your honors, such as Alaska Positive. ( I saw your work at the Dorothy Page Museum exhibit this month.)

McWayne: I believe that it’s important for an artist to get his work out there so it can be experienced by the public. Over the years, my photography has appeared in over 200 exhibitions in and out of Alaska. (I’ve been at this a long time.) Sometimes I’ve received special awards in various of these shows — like the honorable mention in this year’s Alaska Positive 2010 juried exhibition. That’s always gratifying. But it is especially meaningful to me when an organization makes a presentation that recognizes my long-term commitment to photography and art. In this realm, I’ve been awarded an Artist Fellowship by Alaska State Council on the Arts, a Rasmuson Grant, the Alaska Photographic Center’s Lifetime Achievement in Photography Award and the International Gallery’s Ken Gray Award for Contributions to the Arts in Alaska.

Bach: Anything else you want to say about your passion for life and art?

McWayne: What I love most about the medium of photography is that it compels me to get out into life. Compared to painting or sculpture or other studio arts, photography requires that you be there; photographs are created by light bouncing off real things. You can’t make grand landscapes, for example, sitting on the couch eating bonbons; you have to get out there. Getting “out there” drives my inspiration and has afforded me an exceptional opportunity to experience some life’s most extraordinary moments.

For more information about the workshop May 12-14, contact Suzanne Bach at sbach@matsu.alaska.edu or 745-9755. Registration is available on line at matsu.alaska.edu under Summer Schedule or call 745-9774 Option 2 to register with Student Services by phone.