Fun With Film: Highlights From SF Camerawork’s First Exposures Program

The latest edition of our collaboration with SF Camerawork and their First Exposures program features the photographic work of Marcus Wong and Llara Eslava. Marcus, 18, recently graduated from School of the Arts and is heading to San Francisco State University this fall. We wish him the best of luck in life and photography!

The below photographs were captured by 14 year old Llara Eslava, who joined First Exposures two years ago after attending the Tenderloin Afterschool Program. This year a double exposure image by her and Mariana Castro was selected as a collector print for Camerawork’s fine print program.


These Kids Take Great Photographs!

Since opening our C-41 color negative processing department last summer, Dickerman Prints has been developing and scanning film for SF Camerawork’s First Exposures program. The weekly photography class for underserved youth aged 11-18 has been a staple of the San Francisco photographic community for years and we’re proud to be part of the team.

The above sun flare photographs featured on this page were shot by 17 year old Mariana Castro in the East Bay. A member of the First Exposures program for four years, Mariana enjoys expressing her creative side through photography. “The camera I shot these with was my small pink 35mm camera that is able to take dynamic wide angle shots. I absolutely adore it and have been using it ever since I first got it,” according to Mariana.

Below, 15 year old Blanca Reyes uses a point and shoot camera to capture a an alley in downtown San Francisco as well as some beautiful flowers during a First Exposures field trip to Pie Ranch on April 23, 2011. Blanca is one of the program’s newest members, having just  moved to the City from Honduras. Bienvenidos!


Dickerman Prints Gallery presents: Jan Tiura

HULLS: THE ART OF DECAY IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY

jan tiura, photographer

Photographed from the unique and dynamic vantage point of a tugboat’s deck - Jan Tiura’s HULLS is an up-close character study of working vessels from around the world by the first female tugboat captain in San Francisco Bay history.

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During a career that has spanned 35 years as a US Coast Guard-licensed tugboat captain, Jan Tiura has driven every type of tug from dinky single-screw tugs to towering pusher boats with enough horsepower to tow Alcatraz off its moorings.

From Tiura’s vantage point on her tugboat’s deck, lines, shapes and colors take on a painterly quality in her images. Through them, Tiura examines the intersection of form, function and the fury of the sea.

“Photographing from a working tug has allowed me to explore my fascination with vessels, a fascination which stems from a childhood spent living next to the sea and feeling its pull,” says Tiura. “Although I have photographed hulls throughout my maritime career, it was the advent of small, high-quality and consumer-grade digital cameras that finally allowed me to capture these images on the Bay while operating my tug.

HULLS was collaboratively prepared by Tiura and Seth Dickerman. Together, these two artists transformed a series of low-resolution files into large-format exhibition prints of the highest quality: a testament what one can create using modern photographic technology.