What Shannon Gerrity loves most about photography is “the magic of synchronicity.”
“You’ve got the right light, the right moment, the right click, the right aperture. You’ve captured some sort of magic,” Gerrity says.
Gerrity works with cameras, but she loves to use her iPhone, too, because it reflects that synchronicity.
“I’m really interested in the ‘decisive moment’ of Henri Cartier Bresson … the moment where all the elements combine to capture a story that’s not staged by any means,” she says. “The iPhone allows me to go about my sleuth-like way without being so easily detected.”
Gerrity, who just recently moved back to her native Tolland from the Netherlands, contributed four photos to the new West Hartford Art League exhibit. The second annual show showcases photographers whose photos were taken using the Instagram app.
Gerrity loves Instagram, too, because the filters let her manipulate the images to the way she wants them. Her photo “Church,” which won best in show, was taken at a George Clinton concert in Amsterdam. It was taken in color, but Gerrity liked black-and-white better. “I think it hearkens back to what I love about old concert pictures, like Annie Liebovitz’s early work on the music scene,” she said.
Roxanne Stachelek, executive director of the West Hartford Art League, says that in its second year the Instagram exhibit has attracted many submissions that use other photo-processing apps, such as Photo Splash and Snapseed, as well as the Instagram app. All the submissions are from photographers from Connecticut.
In addition to Gerrity, the artists on show are Jessica Lent, Sandra Myers, Ira Halliday, Lee Fenwick, Nels Highberg, Nick Galac, Jamie Bannon, Ruthie Harrison, Emma Chozick, Anita Balkun, Joyce Darling and Mark Mirko.
SECOND ANNUAL INSTAGRAM EXHIBIT will be in the Saltbox Gallery at West Hartford Art League, 37 Buena Vista Road, from Thursday, Jan. 7, when it will open with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m., until Jan. 24. westhartfordart.org.
