The Delaware Photographic Society’s 84th annual Wilmington International Exhibition of Photography (WIEP) is underway, and the exhibit includes photography from a number of First State locals.
While hundreds of entries came in from as far as Hong Kong – a whole hallway is dedicated to the photography of First State locals like Helen Gerstein.
“I love faces," Gerstein said. "I love seeing the expressions and trying to find depth in the face and the fact that I love people helps me with my photography.”
Gerstein has nine accepted photographs this year – including one of a young woman holding a child outside the African American Heritage museum in Washington, D.C. and a close-up of a girl marching in the Philadelphia Mummers parade.
However, she admits she’s a lazy photographer – and doesn’t like to travel too far for her work.
That’s not the case for Dee Langevin – this year’s contest chair. She has eight accepted images – including a black-and-white print of a lighthouse in Portland, Maine.
“I used to have a 5th wheel RV – and I spent a month up in Maine traveling the coast and checking out all of the lighthouses," Langevin said. "It was pretty spectacular.”
Lately – she’s focused on the West, photographing Utah, Rocky Mountains, and the Canadian national parks.
While she likes landscapes, she admits wildlife photography is her real passion, and travels to Alaska every year to photograph bears in Lake Clark National Park.
Jerry Amende is another local whose wildlife photography is featured in the exhibition.
Amende says he focuses his camera on nesting boxes birds at Bombay Hook are fighting over – and presses the shutter while observing the birds flying in.
“It’s called the ‘spray and pray’ method," Amende said. "Because what you do is you spray a bunch of shots out there and pray that you get a good one. And once in a while, a good one shows up.”
Since he’s retired, Amende says he travels frequently to both Bombay Hook and Conowingo Dam to capture mostly birds and foxes.
Nine contest judges also traveled to Delaware – and to Conowingo Dam – to photograph eagles, along with judging the over 3,000 photos entered into the contest.
Over 500 images are up at UD’s Wilmington Arsht Hall through Sunday – and select prints are for sale.
