Publisher to display photo collection at UMFK

FORT KENT - Eighteen Months is the title of the new photography exhibition at the Blake Gallery in the University of Maine at Fort Kent library, by Fiddlehead Focus publisher Andrew Birden, and it refers to the length of time during which the photos were taken.

BATTER FALL - One of the images Birden took is the making of the World's Biggest Ploye at last year's festival. - Birden image

The exhibition begins with photos shot two to three months before the first issue of Fiddlehead Focus and extends through the first year while Birden was the only person working on the infant project.

Birden said it was during this period that he began to see photography as a creative experience.  Before this, he said, he just saw it as a task, not as art.

He said, "Traveling to events, speaking with people and observing the many facets of our community allowed me to understand photography from the perspective of the creative process. I found that many of the aspects of the creative experience of writing, such as the absence of a sense of self, the sense of being in a timeless moment, or the feeling when I revisited a creative piece that it contained more depth than I originally intended, were also present when photographing and editing the images of the world around me."

In academic circles, professionals call this "the psychology of optimal experience", or "finding flow".

Eighteen months is also the gestation period of some species of marine animals, like some sharks and dolphins, which swim in the flow of ocean water their whole lives.

Birden said much of the content of the exhibition, the subject matter, is of people who are themselves in the moment, in the flow of a creative experience.  In the show, this ranges from a biathlete competing for first place and a construction worker repairing a road with a flaming gas torch, to young children playing with a soccer ball, and other subjects.

The artist said the idea for the show was born from people's reaction to his screensaver, a collection of photos that he'd taken that repeated as a slideshow on his computer screen.

"People came into the office," he said. "They were looking at the images for a long time."

The exhibition is on display in Blake Gallery now, and will continue through March 3. Interested attendees can see the show during regular library hours, which vary depending on the day from an early closing time of 4:30 p.m. on Friday to a late closing time of 11:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

The Library will host a meet-and-greet with the artist  Friday, Feb. 17 between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.