Photo credit: Joy Ascio
“As far as the cover, that image was generated by photographing the dancer and exploiting the camera shutter and recording the movement of that dancer,” artist Ronald Beverly told Hollywood on the Potomac at a dinner party in his honor on the rooftop of The Hepburn hosted by Capitol File magazine Publisher Suzy Jacobs. “So it’s very similar to if you take a flashlight and stand in front of the camera in the middle of the night and you just move the flashlight in front of the camera, you get these lines, it’s the same concept. It’s just more elaborate with the suit that the dancer’s wearing and I’m watching the dancer move to musical passages. I’m familiar with the movements by watching her and then it’s intuitively taking pictures when I’m seeing something that really would register well.” This was the magazine’s third annual “Art of the City” issue. Inside the magazine, the Howard University Professor opens up about his stance on the digital-versus-film divide.
Capitol File Cover Story – Photographer Ronald Beverly
Here’s what he told us about the digital-versus-film divide: “It’s a single image. I’m from the old school. I’m not too seduced by the technology of manipulating the image nowadays. I understand what it is I know, and I use the tools to pretty much put a spotlight on my knowledge. So it’s all a single shot. It’s all natural, it’s what photography is. At its core it’s about light, and understanding how to capture it, finesse it. That’s what I learned prior to the technology and I still keep it as part of my rules,” Beverly explained. “It’s a niche. I’m trying to make a statement as a fine arts photographer surviving in this technical advanced world and bring it along the traditional aspects of what I do…………..trying not to jump on the bandwagon of everybody else working the software. If everybody does what the tutorial tells you, everybody has the same picture. If you pick and choose what you want…I treat it like a recipe. I can show you the recipe, I’ll have more salt in mine than you would. That’s the whole point of understanding the recipe – then you can cherry-pick what it is you want to do, and that’s what I do for the work. I try to develop my own style based on what I pick and choose. I pre-visualize what it is I’m trying to do.”
Ronald Beverly with Suzy Jacobs (R)
Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a photographer? A: “It came in a series of thoughts, so first a musician. My parents were of the school that exposes your children to the arts. Piano lessons were the mainstay of how to introduce your children to the arts. I took piano lessons after my two older brothers took it. I seemed to like it more than they did and I continued to take lessons and wound up playing in school bands and what have you. When I got to college, the music commitment kind of wandered and floundered around because of what it really took to be a musician. It took a lot to maintain that musician persona and travel and jiggling and things like that. I slipped into songwriting as a way to compensate for that. But when I got to college I was already acclimated to the arts. I was in love with dance, I was in love with visual arts, I was in love with music. I didn’t know what my major was going to be. I took a series of courses as part of the program at Howard. A lot of the curriculum that I took was ceramics, painting, watercolor, printmaking, sculpture. The whole thought behind that process was exposing students to all the art forms and see what they like. When I took photography, it was what I wanted to get involved with.”
The dinner party
Q: Do you still use a darkroom? A: “Yes. We have a course at Howard on that and I still have a wet room. That’s what I learned on. I got my credentials to teach at GW, I have an MFA and so I’m able to teach the students now as to where all this visual imaging comes from. I decided long ago when I was making the transition as to when to print my work, that I had a standard. I had a darkroom standard I wanted to go by and I knew what it is I was trying to achieve, so I wouldn’t venture into the printing aspect of digital until I had understood what I had to learn and invest in. I have a quality standard that’s consistent in the darkroom, and it’s the same thing: Sharp pictures, good lighting. If I can get that to translate into printmaking, printing my image digitally, that’s what I do.I use a Nikon, I use Handelsblatt. It’s a medium format camera, which means it’s a bigger surface to capture images instead of quality. As I venture into the public-space market and do art installations, you need a bigger camera to hold that resolution. A lot of the fashion photographers use it. It’s great. It has an iconic name that precedes it.”
Suzy Jacobs
“I’m the program coordinator of the photography department at Howard University so I’m in the position where I develop the program to make sure the students get relevant skill sets – past and current – so they can compete in the market. I pretty much designed what the courses are. I do studio lighting there, I do my version of digital photography, and a couple of courses in black and white out-of-the-darkroom stuff, and the students kind of appreciate that because they get a sense of where all this comes from. They’re not too open to what’s required to learn this stuff because it takes a lot of patience. With the technology now, they’re just used to not having to work as they think they should. Back in the film days it would have something to do with the way I develop, because you would manipulate how the film is developed. Ansel Adams was the iconic figure in understanding how to manipulate film development, black and white, to control the contrast and tonal ranges. I’m schooled in all that, so when I look at a digital image and I bring that to the table, people look at the difference – it’s so striking and sharp and very crystal-clear. That’s what I learned and I try to help the students learn that.”
DC’s top art enthusiasts gathered at the intimate dinner and enjoyed a gourmet meal by Executive Chef Andrew Markert of Beuchert’s Saloon complimented by EFFEN Vodka summer cocktails.
MultiFlor florals:
The Dessert Bar by Design Cuisine:
The Entertainment:
