Photo Essay - The Carl Siembab Series

During my last year of Art School, during the Winter of 1972 I completed a photo essay regarding the demise of the rail system as a means of moving goods and passengers in the northeast. Black and white images shot on 35mm and 2 1/4 x 21/4 formats

I heard that Mr. Siembab was very supportive of young artists perusing photography, so I decided to call him to see if he would look at my work and possibly give me an opinion of it..

He agreed, to my surprise. It was common for artists and photographers to have occasional casual gatherings at the gallery.

Carl shuffled through the photographs rather quickly. His response was a rather bored, "okay, so what?”

He went back to reading his newspaper. A bit disappointed I apologized for wasting his time (and mine) and gathered up the photos and headed for the door.

Carl stopped me however before I was out the door. He called me back and told me he liked the compositions on some of them, and that I was on the right track. He told me to just go out and keep taking pictures.

Then to my surprise, he told me to feel free to come back any time, preferably when I had more to show him. I did, and even attended a couple of his evening photographers sessions. (Listening only).

These are those photos.

Here is an interesting link I found about Mr. Siembab.

https://www.berkshirefinearts.com/03-02-2007_carl-siembab-january-5-1926-february-27-2007.htm