Marbeth

My super in New York City was responsible for introducing me to Marbeth, who rented a small darkroom in my building. He thought Marbeth and I would make a good match. She was a well-known photographer; I was interested in taking my photography to the next level. Furthermore, I was able to share her darkroom if she was not around. She introduced me to her circle of friends, who were artists, critics, photographers, dancers, opera fans, and theatrical people. She was ecstatic, eccentric, outspoken, and muddy. Her life was filled with suffragette meetings, demonstrations, and bohemian gatherings throughout the city. After she got to know me better, she took me along to shooting sessions. That convenience motivated me to consider photography a serious option.





Marbeth took pictures from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the Dance Theatra of Harlme; just to mention a couple, and portraits of either the dancers or other people, famous or not so famous. Doing portrait work, Marbeth was working in the traditional pictorial vein, using a soft focus lens to give the images a gauzy, romantic quality. I, on the other hand, enjoyed working with shadows in pictures, which integrates certain textural and compositional elements. Including shadows in black-and-white photographs adds interest and strength. Some artistic progress was evident in my images. However, there was a lot more to study and to observe when I went out with Marbeth.

She was also trying to make a living and was unable to make her transition from her Leica M4-P to a new digital camera. She didn’t have the money to buy such a new piece of equipment and didn’t have the time to get acquainted with it. She had around 40 years of experience in photography; she didn’t think the ballet companies would let her go. However, one day she was replaced by a young, inexperienced student who could provide the pictures and negatives in six hours, including the subway ride from Brooklyn to Harlem, compared to Marbeth, who took three weeks to come up with contact sheets and some rough pictures to look at. It broke her financially and psychologically. Her estate is trying to get her pictures to the Smithsonan Institution in Washington D.C. so the public can enjoy the art she created over the years.