Love’s Labor Found

They met at the Greater Lynn Photographic Association, and for over 30 years Marilyn and Rick Cloran have shared a love of photography, nature and travel. Although arriving at expertise by different routes, in that time each has achieved an impressive mastery over the art of taking pictures.

This expertise will be on exhibit in March as they mount “American Travels,” a collection of over 40 pictures, at the Gallery at Grosvenor Park in a month-long show that kicks off with an opening reception Sunday, March 4, from 3-5.

I first encountered Marilyn Cloran’s work while visiting the Greater Lynn Photographic Association’s current exhibit at the Gallery at Grosvenor Park. A photo entitled “Stranded Boat” caught my eye.

In it a wooden boat is tipped on its side amidst a field of bright pink and purple lupines. The flowers in full bloom occupy most of the frame, and a cloudy sky in the upper left feels far from the colorful ground. Something about the casual placement of the abandoned boat feels both ephemeral and fluid, the opposite of staged and stiff.

Marilyn, who was first an oil painter and still works in watercolors, explains her approach; “A picture for me is a moment in time.”  And, although she spent her career at General Electric in Lynn as a computer programmer, she says, “I don’t do a lot of post-processing.”

At this a glance passes between husband and wife as she adds, “I don’t use Photoshop.”

Rick laughs. He is a fan of Photoshop, and in a clear and precise manner that makes it easy to see why he is in such demand as a photography teacher, explains how Photoshop is just a modern way to do what black and white photographers have been doing for years to bring color into their pictures.

He goes on to say that photographers in darkrooms using chemicals had to put their black and white prints through red, then green, then blue filters to achieve a color photograph. Photoshop imitates this process yet skips the chemicals, the dark room, and the time constraint — whereas once a photo needed a large block of time to be printed in all three colors, in Photoshop you can do it in stages.

Rick, who worked as an auditor and then in finance at Liberty Mutual in Boston, agrees that his artistic process differs from his wife’s. While she prefers to capture what is there in an instant, he focuses on the image after the shot is taken. His goal is “to bring out what I see in my mind.”

Together they have racked up a long list of awards and accomplishments, including Master rank in the Photographic Society of America, awards at the Marblehead Arts Festival, and frequent exhibitions. In addition, Rick is the treasurer and Marilyn is in charge of exhibits at the Greater Lynn Photographic Association, a group they highly recommend to photographers of all levels, from beginner to master.

The “American Travels” show is a collection of photos from their travels, including local areas as well as visits to a number of National Parks, including Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, the Great Sand Dunes and Maroon Bells in Colorado, and parks in Oregon.  

Rick adds, “We love the outdoors, so nature, scenic spots and wildlife photography is what we do most of.”

With difficulty, each ventured to pick a favorite photo from the exhibit.

Rick favors a picture he took of the Air Force Chapel in Colorado Springs. The “blend of spiritualism and architecture” drew him to the location, and the resulting image is “an example of HDR — high dynamic resolution — which is multiple exposures of the same image that together create a tonal range you can’t achieve in one shot.”

Marilyn mentions a shot she took in Montana of “a Mormon barn with the Tetons behind it. We went there at sunrise and a herd of buffalo happened along.” A single buffalo wandered into the shade of the barn, and the result was “beautiful.”

Another favorite of Marilyn’s is of a rainbow in Monument Valley in Utah. Just after a dust storm, the couple was waiting for sunset; as it showered in the distance, a rainbow appeared. She laughs at the memory — I was “racing around with my tripod.”

American Travels runs March 3 through March 29 at The Gallery at Grosvenor Park in Grosvenor Park Nursing Center, Vinnin Square. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 to 7; weekends, 10 to 6. Photographs are available for purchase, with prices ranging from $50 to $250.

For more information on the Greater Lynn Photographic Association and to see the schedule of their monthly meetings and events, please visit: www.greaterlynnphoto.org or call 781-592-9922.