Allan Barnes

Golden Gate Park 150th Anniversary

I began my photographic journey as a photographer of a place, Detroit, Michigan. It was the early 1980s and I had grown up watching a once prosperous city gradually disappearing. Both the jobs and the architectural splendor were going away, first slowly, then quickly.

My instructor at Wayne State University, Jim Raymo, encouraged me to borrow a 4×5″ camera. After producing a body of work, I morphed into a photojournalist and photographed people and events in 35mm. A couple decades ago, I started using a large format camera again, but still to photograph people. Over a decade ago I became enamored of the the wet plate collodion
process. But still to photograph people.

However, when I moved to Northern CA in 2014, I gradually started to photograph the landscape. I don’t live in SF, but I am lucky enough to be able to access it. It was a gift to be invited to be a part of this exhibit, as I began to spend some time in Golden Gate Park, a place that I had previously only driven past. The more time that I spent in GGP, the more time I wanted to spend there, so I think that I will eventually make more of these.

They were made with a 150 year old lens and 170 year old process, in a 40 year old Toyota Camper which serves as my mobile darkroom.

Enjoy.