There have been many reasons in recent years to visit the unique community called Serenbe located in Chattahoochee Hills.
Yet another reason unfolded March 13 with the grand opening of the non-profit Serenbe Photography Center.
The large number of visitors at the March 13 event got a look at a variety of photographs lining the walls in the gallery downstairs and toured the studio and workshop areas upstairs. On display were works from photographers such as Frank Hunter, Peter Essick, Billy Howard, Marilyn Suriani, Kathryn Kolb, Greg Newington and Mark Maio.
“This is amazing, and an amazing resource,” said photographer and center director Kathryn Kolb. “Once people find out about this it’s going to be a draw for metro Atlanta and the Southeast. There is no other lab like this in the Southeastern United States.”
The Serenbe Photography Center is a program of the non-profit Serenbe Institute and was created when the consortium of Atlanta area photographers from the Photographer’s Print Studio joined with the institute to create this non-profit resource with regional significance, Kolb said.
Located next to The Hil restaurant, the Serenbe Photography Center is dedicated to the study and enjoyment of the photographic process and photography that promotes cultural understanding and the health and well-being of people and our planet, said Kolb.
Kolb said the center was formed with the purpose of creating a world-class photography resource providing three important functions:
• A print lab with traditional color and black & white printmaking and digital printmaking (a unique resource for the South), giving photographers and working artists the ability to make high quality prints and reproductions at an affordable cost while maintaining control over the creative process;
• A variety of photography workshops for amateurs to professional photographers, including all types of photography and classic printing process and featuring nationally renowned instructors;
• A year-round hub and resource for photographers to share ideas and find support and inspiration in pursing their photographic endeavors.
The new photography center comes with its own history, one that was born on the other side of metro Atlanta.
“Basically, several Atlanta-based photographers started our own cooperative print studio in Decatur about a year and a half ago, so that we, as working artists, would have a place to print our own work while maintaining creative control over the process and at reasonable cost. More or less by accident or good fortune, we became in touch with the owners of Serenbe, who had always envisioned a world-class photography center at Serenbe as a part of a greater arts center, including theatre, painting, ceramics etc.,” Kolb said. “We had the network and resources to build the photography center immediately as an outgrowth of our cooperative project, along with much help and under the umbrella of the non-profit Serenbe Institute for Arts, Culture, and the Environment.
For all the excitement March 13, the grand opening is just the beginning.
“2010 offers an exciting line up of workshops for photographers and enthusiasts of every level. We are home to a non-profit photography print lab where you can print your own work using traditional color, traditional B&W, and digital processes, up to very large fine art sizes. Memberships are available for great discounts on hourly rates and other benefits. We are the only lab resource of this kind in the Southeastern U.S.,” Kolb said. “The workshops are taught by very respected photographers with regional and often national and international reputations and are offered in a similar model to Palm Beach and Sante Fe photographic workshops. We will be a major regional and, over time, national resource for photographers, from amateurs to working professionals from journalism, commercial and wedding to the fine arts.”
For more information and for a listing of workshops and more details about the printing studio visit www.SerenbePhotographyCenter.com
