Larry Mirarchi
Photography
I grew up in Brooklyn, became enamored of upstate New York, and settled in
Oneonta. In addition to teaching chemistry at Hartwick College, I have
pursued a life-long interest in photography. I have been especially
fascinated with the local landscape, where I find personal meanings and
metaphors in its endless variety and transformations.
At Brooklyn Technical High School I majored in Industrial
Design, which involved the application of aesthetic principles to the design
of objects meant for mass production. There I gained experience in a variety
of media, including lithography, ink, tempera, ceramics, sheet metal and
wood pattern making. Although I have extensive experience in traditional
darkroom techniques, I now work exclusively with digital processing, where I
use layering techniques to apply my darkroom skills with even greater
control and precision. My photos have been shown at local banks and at
UCCCA. My autumnal View from Oyaron was made into the first UCCCA Arts
Festival poster and my winter scene of the Audubon Sanctuary was made into a
postcard for the Delaware Otsego Audubon Society.
I am well acquainted with principles of composition but I may
abandon them in favor of an alternative interpretation of the chaos that
resides in nature. I believe that order and composition are subjective
concepts that we attempt to impose on the natural world in order to bring it
into harmony with our own mental processes. Even in a chaotic scene, the act
of selecting what to photograph, the processing and presentation of the
image, and the subjective reaction of the viewer, all tend to create meaning
out of chaos and satisfy a human need for subjective comprehension.
Most of the color prints I display are from high resolution
scans of 35mm slides. Using digital controls, I make every effort to bring
out the colors and brilliance of the original transparency and to convey my
personal experience of the original scene. This preparation of the digital
file is often the hardest part of my work, but I also need to adjust the
printing process to ensure that I get the results I want. Similarly, the
black and white prints are mostly made from scans of 4x5 inch and 35mm
films, processed and printed digitally.
NOTE:
At this time, The Guild does not sell online or ship items.Please visit us at the shop or contact individual artists with questions.
