Kodak Center Opening

KO D A K C E N T E R O P E N I N G

KO D A K C E N T E R O P E N I N G

J

ustin Scalera first came into my world as a student in my RIT Aerial Photography course during the fall 2017 semester. Justin distinguished himself by producing spectacular photographic work, along with his team partners Madelyn Hammond and Ryan Flanagan.

(Madelyn, Justin, and Ryan are on the right in the photograph opposite.) Their panoramic pictures of iconic scenes of Rochester enabled me to sell Eastman Kodak Company on the idea of publishing a limited edition book entitled Rochester from the Air. This book was featured at a worldwide Kodak customer event held at the Kodak Center in March 2018. The book was given as a gift to Kodak’s most important customers from around the world.

The enthusiastic reception of Rochester from the Air opened the door for discussions with Kodak about a more ambitious project that Justin proposed for my spring 2018 Visual Media Innovation Project course. His idea was to try to mount a Noblex medium-format film panoramic camera on a large drone to make high-resolution panoramic pictures of Kodak Park from the air. With the blessing of Tim Palmer, business development manager for Kodak Business Park, and technical help from the RIT Center for Imaging Science and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Justin succeeded in making some large aerial panoramic images of Kodak Park on Kodak film. These were shown to the public for the first time at the Imagine RIT Innovation and Creativity Festival in May 2018. Kodak was able to use one of Justin’s images to help promote the Business Park to prospective new tenants.

By the end of the 2018 academic year Justin had established a reputation for reliability and excellent work with the people at Kodak. So when he requested access to Eastman Business Park to photograph with a large-format view camera on film, he was granted a 27/7 pass to enter the grounds of the park with his equipment. This enabled him to complete the body of work featured in this exhibition, as well as in a limited edition book entitled Kodak Park Works, published by Kodak.

Justin began this work as an independent study course with me during the fall 2018 semester. Justin drew upon his many years of passion for photographing historic architecture, and his ongoing professional experience photographing for the National Park Service in Washington, DC. RIT Professor Willie Osterman guided Justin in the selection and sequencing of photographs for the exhibition and book, and rented a U-Haul van to transport the prints from the RIT Imaging Systems Lab to the Kodak Center. The exhibition prints were produced with funding from the McGhee endowed professorship in the RIT School of Photographic Arts & Sciences. (The professorship is named after legendary Kodak executive James E. McGhee, who would most certainly be thrilled to see his name attached to such a wonderful project.)

Kodak’s Laura Zigarowicz (RIT Photo ’98) managed the production of the book and exhibition.

Frank Cost Rochester, New York Saturday, April 13, 2019

Frank Cost and Justin Scalera

photo by Sarah Harter

About the Photographer Frank Cost is the James E. McGhee Professor of Visual Media in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology. He has taught a wide variety of courses in the field of visual media for more than three decades. Frank has been photographing professionally since 1975 and has authored both textbooks and experimental photobooks exploring new forms of graphic expression enabled by digital technologies. He can be contacted at frank.cost@rit.edu. To learn more about Frank Cost and RIT, visit the following URL: https://www.rit.edu/artdesign/directory/fjcppr-frank-cost This book is a Fossil Press Instant Book.

Books that gain value with the passing of time.

100 Parkwood Avenue Rochester, NY 14620 Contact: patty.cost@gmail.com