Jeff Schewe’s portfolio Black and White in Antarctica chosen by Rfotofolio for the 2023 Rfotofolio Selections.

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Iceberg Arrangment © Jeff Schewe

Please tell us about the work you submitted to the 2023 Rfotofolio Selections.

I’ve had the good fortune to have been able to shoot in Antarctica three times. Each trip was a trip of a lifetime and the sheer quantity of images captured (36,029 to be precise) during those trips has made it hard to get a handle on. I’ve got a lot of images that were obviously successful, but it really wasn’t until the Covid Pandemic lockdown that I directed my attention towards images I’ve already shot vs planning and traveling to new locations to shoot.

The thing about Antarctica is the light, which is ever changing, and the textures that light produces. There were some images whose light and shapes and texture were more pronounced in B&W than in color. As I started selection editing with B&W in mind, I found many more images that literally begged to have the color removed and the light and shadows enhanced.

I’m not done yet…but putting a folio of images together has been the beginning of mining a whole new body of work. I’m not sure where it will end up, but the exercise so far has been encouraging. Creating B&W images in the darkroom is how I fell in love with photography in the beginning. While the technology has evolved, there’s still something particularly special about a well-crafted B&W print.

The folio, Black and White in Antarctica was included in the magazine Shadow & Light B&W Issue and went on to be accepted in Communication Art’s Photography Annual and earned a spot on the Critical Mass Finalists list for 2023. I’m honored and gratified that my work was chosen for inclusion in the 2023 Rfotofolio Selections.

The project is designed to assemble a collection of images suitable for printing for a gallery show. It’s my hope that by exposing viewers to the beauty of the Antarctic landscape that more attention can be drawn to the plight of the planet’s environment. Over the three trips I encountered substantial change in the glaciers and amount of sea ice. Global warning and melting ice sheets are a threat to the wildlife and is most pronounced in West Antarctica-which is where I went-where ice retreat and ice shelf collapses are causing serious impacts to all species of wildlife endemic to Antarctica. Saving the environment isn’t simply to protect the land, it’s critical to the preservation of humanity.

Iceberg 1 © Jeff Schewe

Reflection © Jeff Schewe

Wind Whipped ©Jeff Schewe

Tabular Iceberg © Jeff Schewe

I turned to photography because I was a frustrated painter. With photography, I have the ability to create an image with spontaneity and a freshness that painting does not allow-that and I never learned how to draw. Over the years, I’ve kept my love of light and design originally nurtured by painting. It is with a painterly sensitivity that I now approach my vision and perspective in photography.

I like to shoot any subject if I can bring with it my unique viewpoint. Though my first exposure to photography was in the traditional darkroom, I now work by using a computer to digitally manipulate my images. Even though my images are manipulated, I strive to work in a totally photo-realistic manner. I don’t use AI to create images, all the pixels in my photography are all my own.

While my award winning professional commercial career spanned 3 decades, I have now turned my attention to exploring fine art photography. I’ve worked to refine my bodies of work to include a variety of artistic exploration, particularly B&W to revisit the type of imagery I fell in love with in the darkroom.

I’m planning on several photo expeditions to locations I’m pretty sure are going to offer lots of opportunities: Hawaii, Big Sur, Portugal, the Pacific Northwest, Italy, the coast of Maine and finally, Paris over Christmas and the New Year. I’m going to be taking some interesting workshops including Out Of Big Sur with a host of instructors, a Master Class with Sam Abell & Keron Psillas at the Pacific Northwest Art School and Street Photography in Paris with Peter Turnley. My intent is to continue to learn and grow and shoot. I’m going to continue to expand my portfolios of various bodies of work.

Onward and upward and forward…sort of like a shark. There’s no time to waste and no wish to coast or stand still. In my old age, the time left is more precious than it was in my youth. I just gotta shoot!

Thank you Jeff.

To learn more about the work of Jeff Schewe please click on his name.