You wouldn't think Pennsylvania and Africa would have much in common, but similarities in the two landscapes become apparent in a new photography exhibit at the Juniata College Museum of Art.
"Father-Daughter Photography: The Landscapes of Steven Barbash and Lauren Reid" shows recently discovered photographs of the Pennsylvania forest area now covered by Raystown Lake, taken by Barbash, alongside contemporary prints of landscapes in Zimbabwe, taken by Reid.
The exhibit will be on display through Sept. 3.
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Steven Barbash and Lauren Reid appear at the opening of their exhibit.
Barbash - a former art professor at Juniata, from 1961 to 1970, and one of the first studio artists to teach at the school - lived on a farm in a heavily wooded area where he photographed the forests near his home.
The area Barbash called home is no more - it's under Raystown Lake.
When he was cleaning out his studio in recent years, Barbash, who has since moved to Ithaca, N.Y., discovered the old negatives and decided the photos would be good material for an exhibit, especially at his former stomping grounds.
Fact Box
If you go
What: "Father-Daughter Photography: The Landscapes of Steven Barbash and Lauren Reid"
When: through Sept. 3
Where: Juniata College Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, 17th and Moore streets, Huntingdon
Museum hours: noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday
More information: Call 641-3505 or visit www.juniata.edu/museum
"That's interesting stuff," Barbash said. "I loved the wilderness that was there. It's an entirely different world now."
John Wall, director of media relations at Juniata College said many local people, staff members and graduates are interested in Barbash and his photographs.
"They remember him and want to see what he's been up to," Wall said. "Another aspect is that all of his prints are based on landscapes scenes around his farm that he lived on in the '60s and '70s. Now that farm area is underwater. It's part of Raystown Lake. Some people will be interested in seeing that and what it looked like. It's lost geography."
Barbash spoke with Juniata College officials about the pictures, and thought it would be an interesting concept to show photographs from his daughter, Laura Reid, as well.
"It's an interesting opportunity for her to be exhibited. It also gives people that know him from when he was here a chance to see his daughter and what she is doing," Wall said.
Barbash ignited a love of photography in his daughter, though she didn't become a professional photographer.
"My dad bought me my first camera back when I was 19," Reid said.
She said that she remembers her dad taking pictures in the Pennsylvania forests when she was a little girl. Reid took a photography course while attending Cortland State University in New York, but didn't ace the course.
"I got a D. I didn't have the patience for the dark room," she said. "I never got into photography professionally, mainly because I didn't have the patience for development. In the digital age, it's much better for me."
The photographs featured in the exhibit are from Zimbabwe, where Reid, who had joined the Peace Corps, taught English for several years. Armed with a point and shoot camera and later just a disposable Kodak, Reid photographed the country and its people.
"They were all taken with old-fashioned cameras, not good quality cameras," Reid said. "They said don't take expensive electronic things. I ended up taking a cheap camera with me and some of those pictures are taken with a disposable."
"People are so amazed that the photographs are so good even though they are taken with a disposable camera. It shows how wonderful an eye for composition she has," Judy Maloney, director of the Juniata College Museum of Art, said.
The grainy, unfinished quality of the photos is appealing, Reid said, because it brings back memories.
"Seeing old prints blown up is almost like listening to a record," she explained.
Looking back at her pictures from Zimbabwe reminds Reid of a special time and of how much the country has changed.
"Zimbabwe has been under great turmoil. It's not the same there," said Reid, who visited the country 15 years ago.
In a way, Reid documented life in Zimbabwe as it used to be, just as Barbash documented his Pennsylvania home, which is now under-water.
"Both places are gone in some ways," Reid said. "Those are places that don't exist as they once did. They are both places you aren't going to see."
After Barbash left Juniata, he taught art at SUNY-Cortland until 1999, when he retired from teaching. He continues to exhibit his art, mostly paintings and drawings.
After the Peace Corps, Reid worked with the U.S. State Department's International Visitor Program, then earned a master's degree in early childhood education, taught at a Montessori school, and opened the Trumansburg Montessori School in New York.
