Collaborative Photography Exhibit Evokes A Sense Of Place

By Jan Howard

Photographs by two Newtown residents are on display at the C.H. Booth Library for the next six weeks.

The exhibit of about 80 favorite photographs taken by Mary Mitchell and Al Goodrich, entitled “Ten Years of Fun with Photography,” includes an array of subjects, including Newtown’s Main Street, landmark historic homes, and Cavanaugh Pond. It also includes photographs of trips they have taken over the past 11 years, such as to Trinidad-Tobago, Butchart Gardens, and the western United States and Alaska. Photographs of children, tulips, architecture, and a category called “What Is It?” complete the exhibit.

Some of the photographs are very artistic, while others offer unique perspectives.

“We do it for fun really,” Mr Goodrich said last week, prior to mounting the exhibit.

The exhibit contains some striking photographs of murals painted on the sides of buildings in various towns around the country. “We’re very interested in murals,” Mr Goodrich said. He noted that one he and Mrs Mitchell photographed in Indiana of the theatrical masks of comedy and tragedy painted on a brick wall was so realistic, “It gave you a sense of third dimension.”

“Towns may have a blank wall that was ugly so they have an artist paint something on it,” Mrs Mitchell said. “We kept looking for these art forms.”

Mr Goodrich said they had some difficulty selecting the photographs for the exhibit. After making a list of 17 categories, they chose several from their collection for each category.

“I had kept photo albums of 30 trips,” Mrs Mitchell said. “I would write it up, where we stayed, what we saw. Al must have 50 pictures on his walls as decorations.”

“We’ve pretty much covered the country,” Mr Goodrich said.

Mr Goodrich favors scenic photography, while Mrs Mitchell likes to photograph street scenes and houses. “I have no historical or environmental purpose. I just enjoy finding the aspects of a place,” she said.

Their favorite photographs are of national parks and Albuquerque, N.M. “There’s a lot of great scenery out there,” Mr Goodrich said.

Mrs Mitchell and Mr Goodrich came to photography as a hobby by different means and at different times.

Mrs Mitchell grew up in Minneapolis, Minn. While living in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., in the 1960s, she began taking photographs of historic houses to illustrate non-fiction books she had written about the Civil War era and the people who lived in the houses.

“I had a lot of historical research material, but I couldn’t publish it,” she said. When she asked a publisher about a book featuring photographs, she was told such a book was needed.

 “So I bought a camera and started,” she said.

After moving to Newtown in 1987, she began photographing buildings on Main Street for the proposed historic district. “I didn’t know anybody here, but I had heard about the historic district, so I went out and photographed the houses,” Mrs Mitchell said. “Linda Shepard got me started on it. I started at Glover Avenue at the Beach monument. It took quite a while to do it. You had to take the pictures when the light was just right.”

Mr Goodrich, a retired mechanical engineer and resident of Newtown since 1961, became interested in photography in 1966. “My biggest pursuit is travel photography. My family took lots of trips. In 1972 I took a black and white photography course at adult education. I took a lot of photographs of Fairfield Hills and other architecture photos.”

 In 1988, he photographed 28 Newtown Forest Association properties. “I was on the board and felt I should walk the properties. I found there were no maps that helped,” he said. This led to mapping of the properties, which in turn led to the Newtown Trails Book and its four subsequent editions that he and Mrs Mitchell have produced for the Cyrenius H. Booth Library as a fundraiser.

This is their first joint exhibit of their photographs, though both have entered their work in shows sponsored by Flagpole Photographers.

Mrs Mitchell and Mr Goodrich met at a meeting of Flagpole Photographers in 1989, and found they had many mutual interests. They joined forces, taking on several projects that benefited the community.

Mrs Mitchell wrote and did the photography for an article on the Pootatuck River for the History of Newtown, published in 1989 by the League of Women Voters. Mr Goodrich provided a map that showed the course of the Pootatuck River. While doing this, they learned the source of the North Branch of the Pootatuck was in the Paul Cullens Wildlife Preserve. This led to their visiting Key Rock in that preserve and walking down the North Branch to its confluence with the South Branch.

Following that project, they continued working together to produce slide shows and books as promotion and fundraisers for the library and the Newtown Historical Society. Their Newtown Trails Book has made it easier for local hikers and environmental groups to locate and enjoy the various parks and preserves in Newtown. For the Historical Society’s Touring Newtown’s Past, they photographed over 275 pre-1825 houses.

Together Mrs Mitchell and Mr Goodrich have attended several Elderhostels, and their exhibit features photographs taken during those travels.

“It’s fantastic where they take people,” Mrs Mitchell said. “They have programs going all the time.”

“There are literally thousands of places you can go,” Mr Goodrich added.

The library hosted a reception for Mrs Mitchell and Mr Goodrich on April 8 in celebration of their work and contributions to the town.

In addition to their photographic projects and membership in Flagpole Photographers, Mrs Mitchell and Mr Goodrich have been involved in other volunteer efforts in town. Mrs Mitchell drove for FISH for several years and has been its scheduler for the past four years.  She is a member of the memoir group at the library.

“I’ve written over 150,000 words,” she said. “I wrote my mother’s biography.”

Mrs Mitchell also volunteered to produce a slide program for the library. “Before the addition, they took it around different places to show what the library was doing for the community,” she said.

Mr Goodrich has been a member of FISH for 31 years and was one of its founders. He is a member of the Ad Hoc Open Space Task Force. He has mapped open space and trails in eight area towns.

The photography exhibit is on the second floor of the library to the left of the circulation desk.