ASC Members Show Work in Upcoming Leica Gallery Exhibition

The still photography of ASC members David Darby, Charlie Lieberman and Mandy Walker will be featured in an upcoming exhibition at Leica Gallery Los Angeles. Entitled “Islands,” the exhibition will be on view from December 6, 2018, through January 13, 2019, and features landscapes of Scotland, Ireland, Iceland and Australia.

With the title “Islands,” Leica Gallery LA manager Paris Chong says that “people automatically think of tropical islands. But [this exhibition] is nothing like that. The images are not typical of what people are expecting to see, but they’re all beautiful landscapes.”

For Lieberman, who serves as chair of the ASC Photo Gallery, islands have been a crucial aspect of his career as a still photographer, and the theme suited his body of work. “It’s my passion to photograph the natural environment, to direct the viewers eye to an indelible moment, to point out what may be overlooked and to bring awareness to what may be forever lost,” he explains. “This mission has taken me on journeys to remarkable islands.”

Darby echoes this sentiment: “For me, there is still something so necessary about spending the time and making the effort to honor the world I live in — whether it’s everyday life on the streets of Mexico, India or now Ireland — or the beauty and elegance of the natural world that everyday life takes place in.”

The exhibition will display 50 photographs, and each participant will show roughly 17 images. Chong, who also curates the ASC Photo Gallery semiannual exhibitions, notes that “Islands” will be the debut for the majority of photographs on view.

This includes many of Darby’s shots of Ireland, which Chong found especially “fascinating.” Darby explains, “I had showed [Paris] just a few photographs I had taken on some of the small islands off the western coast of Ireland, and she asked where they were taken since they weren’t the ‘usual suspect’ locations that street photographers like myself often go to. It was a much more difficult subject for me to deal with, given that many parts of those small islands haven’t seen much in the way of people — and sheep don’t count. 

“But over the four years that my wife and I returned there, I came to know, appreciate and respect the hearty people of these islands, more than they’ll ever know. They work so hard, given that boats are needed there as much as we need cars. Having spent a fair amount of time now on the Atlantic in small boats, in all kinds of weather, I can say that not that many people would carry on working like that for a lifetime — with the possible exception of many motion picture crew members I’ve worked with over the years. I’m quite sure at this point that certain types of people are all cut from the same cloth, but just wear different uniforms,” he says. 

Chong adds that Darby made additional trips to Ireland specially to capture photographs for the exhibition. “I was very impressed with [his dedication], and impressed with the shots as well,” she says.

Walker’s work includes stills from location scouts on her films Australia and Tracks, which were both shot “in the outback of Australia — the biggest island on Earth,” the cinematographer says. “I began my venture into still photography while I was in high school,” she adds. “I still have many of the original prints from my younger years, and it’s fascinating to track my tendency to stop and capture scenes developing from a teenager’s pastime to a career in cinematography.”

It was very important to Chong that the exhibition include a woman’s point of view, and Walker — who was the first female cinematographer to shoot a film with a budget over $100 million and the first woman of the Motion Picture Academy’s Cinematographers Branch elected to the Board of Governors — was a natural choice. “I’m immensely proud to have the final selections [of my work] shown,” Walker says, “and I hope perhaps some other young women will be encouraged about what their photography hobby could turn into.” 

Leica Gallery LA is located within the Leica store in Hollywood, and it showcases still photography shot on Leica cameras. “We really want to show what the cameras can do,” Chong says.

"My favorite stills cameras have always been Leica, so it means a lot to me to exhibit my work under their roof,” says Walker. “I’ve used various models to take all my photos for the last 20 years, and currently I’m using the M 240P.”

All three cinematographers remark that it is an honor to have work on display at Leica Gallery and to be in the company of other ASC members — all of whom have shown work in the ASC Photo Gallery. “I am immensely gratified that the Leica Gallery LA has chosen Mandy, David and myself to showcase the work of ASC members to a wider audience,” Lieberman attests.

“It is such an honor and pleasure to have my work included with the photographs taken by Charlie Lieberman, ASC and Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS,” Darby affirms. “I know how hard we all work to meet the standards we have set for ourselves — whether we are behind a Leica stills camera or a motion picture camera.” 

The exhibition’s vernissage will take place Thursday, December 6, from 6 to 9 p.m. To attend, RSVP at [email protected].