Worcester’s Ron Rosenstock Bridges Gap Between Two Eras of Art

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Jeffrey Starr, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Ron Rosenstock showing his work at the Worcester Art Museum.

Worcester's Ron Rosenstock sees himself as a bridge between two distinct generations of photographers, those of the "silver" age and those of the "digital" age.

The advent of digital photography opened a whole new world of possibilities for the photographic artist, allowing him to experiment and play with, manipulate and mold, his work like never before to reach his goals. But there is still a quaint beauty to that "older", original form of photography. There is a truly authentic and natural feel to a piece that digital photography cannot seem to achieve, and since a truly exceptional piece that can be properly classified as "fine art" took so much more time, struggle and effort to produce, the silver age photographers truly needed a vision and a passion for the art, something that those artists brought up in the relative ease of the digital age may forget.

"My goal now is to continue to promote fine art photography with the same vision, but with a different technique," says Rosenstock. In other words, Rosenstock hopes to combine the "vision" of the silver generation fine art photographers with the unique opportunities brought to bear by the digital generation.

One of the ways Rosenstock accomplishes this is through teaching people about this glorious past. He is co-leading a one day teaching seminar in Thomaston, Maine on October 12. His partner at this NANPA Road Show is Paul Caponigro, a man who has worked closely with such legendary photographers as Ansel Adams and Minor White, and himself continues in the silver tradition.

Simply put the seminar will "give participants an opportunity to gain insight into what has motivated the Masters" thereby allowing attendees to "gain insight and inspiration" that will hopefully lead them to "formulate their own photographic goals with greater clarity." You can read more about this class here.

Rosenstock's Life and Work

For Rosenstock personally, photography in all its forms, has been a life-long love since his birth in 1943, in the midst of the art's silver generation.

"By the time I was six years old, I was the family photographer. In 1959, when I started High School in Great Neck South High, on Long Island, I went into Manhattan with a friend to see an exhibit of photographs by Edward Weston at the Museum of Modern Art. This was the beginning of the rest of my life," he remarks.

Stone Circle

"Something in me woke up. It was if my life's purpose flashed before my eyes. Instead of a life review at the end of one's life, I had it in the beginning."

He almost immediately saw himself as an heir to a great tradition of fine art photography, made famous by Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, Minor White and Edward Weston. He became consumed in the creative process.

Elements from Rosenstock's own life have certainly influenced his personal artwork. In 1967, while living in Cambridge and working at Ferranti Dege, a camera store in Harvard Square, he had an experience that changed his life.

"One day Minor White came in and left a stack of brochures for a workshop he was going to give. I signed up for that workshop and it was the beginning of the rest of my life," he says.

At the workshop, Rosenstock gained great insights into the creative process and great opportunities in the Worcester area soon began to present themselves thanks to connections made at the workshop. He began teaching at the Worcester Art Museum and then Clark University which he did for 30 years.

All the while, his photographs have sought to "show the beauty, the magnificence and the miracles in our world." He has gone around the world to capture those fleeting moments in time that only pictures can capture, including in as far off places as Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Santorini, The Czech Republic, Cuba, Bhutan, Morocco, New Zealand and more locally, Death Valley.

"When I get the "ah ha" response from someone on a photo tour with me, I know I'm doing what I set out to do. I want people to experience the world through new eyes," he says.

And there is not one single subject he focuses on. He can find this beauty anywhere.

"I have many photographs of landscape, people and architecture. I enjoy it all but I must say that my heart has always been in landscape, the beauty of our earth."

For the future he hopes not just to travel but exhibit his photographs more internationally. In fact, he has a show that will open at the National Museum of Iceland in Reykjavik May 10th, 2014. He also had an exhibit in Ireland last August, one that was praised by the Irish Minister of Tourism, himself.

Rosenstock was born, brought up and taught while carrying on the tradition of the silver generation, and now, in the midst of the digital generation, Rosenstock is still going strong, bridging the two periods, while keeping in mind those motivations, that passion and energy of days gone by.

For more information on Ron Rosenstock and to view his work please visit his website.