[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=47775.52

Indiana Dunes in black and white
2009 calendar published

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - When Greg Gallagher goes out to take a few pictures, the process may take most of the day.

He considers it to be a good day, a productive day, when he comes home with two acceptable images.

His camera does not fit into his pocket.

Although he is completely literate on the computer, making his images has nothing to do with digital machinery.

Gallagher, whose black and white photographs grace the pages of "Our Indiana Dunes 2009," is a fine art photographer from Valparaiso.

He still works in a darkroom and uses the silver gelatin method of developing his film.

"Greg is a traditional photographer in every sense of the word," Kim Swift, an educator for the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, wrote in the narrative of the calendar.

Trained as a machinist, Gallagher learned to appreciate the creation of art from his mother, Donna Moon, whose work runs the gamut from yard art to jewelry.

He began to work in photography some 30 years ago, right after high school, but he has been working with the large format four-by five and eight-by ten cameras for just over a dozen years.

Like other artists, Gallagher often doesn't know what image he is seeking when he trudges into the dunes with his great hulk of a camera. On some occasions, he sets up his equipment and then waits. "I always bring along a book," he notes.

He is waiting for what? Light? "Sometimes," he says. Art is a mystery even to the artist, he acknowledges.

"Sometimes I go with camera in hand and let the dunes suggest the photograph," he says.

His photographs in the calendar range from a bright contrast black and white portrait of marsh marigolds for March and April to the November and December image called "Craters and Waves, Indiana Dunes State Park." The September-October photo is descriptive in its name, "Grass Shadows." Indeed, the focus is on the shadow of dune grass with just a single leaf (an actual leaf, not a shadow ) on sand.

Gallagher prefers his abstract pieces.

Referring to "Grass Shadows," he says its clarity and precision appeal to him. Chuckling, he notes, "You can practically count the grains of sand in that piece."

A long-time patron of the arts as well as a lifelong resident of the dunes, James D. Ruge, president of First State Bank of Porter and a partner in the Schoolhouse Shop and Antiques in Furnessville, paid the costs associated with the printing of the calendar.

Constantine J. Dillon, superintendent of the National Lakeshore, describes Ruge as "Our valuable partner for over 20 years."

Ruge frequently says it is a privilege to live among the Indiana dunes.

Gallagher has managed to capture that essence in his images.

To see more of his photographs see Gallagher's website at www.greggallagher.com.

[mox1981]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=47775.52

Does anyone know how/where to get the new calendar?

[Southsider2k12]

The Save the Dunes Shop on highway 12, next to the Beverley Shores entrance would be where I would start. If that doesn't work, I would use the contact link on his website.

http://www.greggallagher.com/contact.htm

[mox1981]

The Save the Dunes Shop on highway 12, next to the Beverley Shores entrance would be where I would start. If that doesn't work, I would use the contact link on his website.

http://www.greggallagher.com/contact.htm

Thanks. I was given a dunes calendar a few years ago - it was great.