Famous Western photographers Larry Turner and Amy Hartell,  have showing at Ross Ragland Theatre

 Staff Writer Kehn Gibson, Tri-County Courier, 9/4/03

A tingling combination of cutting edge handcraft and state-of-the-art printing technology came together to provide the community with a beautiful — and awe inspiring — exhibition at the RossRagland Theater Friday.

The handcraft came courtesy of photographers Larry Turner and Amy Hartell of Malin. Turner’s work is well known, yet this was his first showing locally. The Ross Ragland exhibit is Hartell’s first ever.

The printing technology came from SmithBates Printing & Design of Klamath Falls.

Last year, SmithBates owners Dan and Ann Cavanaugh purchased a Heidelberg Quickmaster Digital Imaging Pro press for their company’s production requirements. This machine etches the digital files directly to the finished product, eliminating the traditional intermediate need to develop film and printing plates before printing.

A byproduct of the Heidelberg’s capabilities is the ability to print photographs of stunning quality— and to enlarge them to life-size and beyond with no degradation of the photograph.

Turner’s photographs have impacted viewers for years. The examples on display at the Ross Ragland will stop the viewer in their tracks.

The current theme of Turner’s offerings can be called landscapes. One photo, and arcing shot of Crater Lake, is fully four feet tall and six feet long, and its crystal clarity draws the viewer in.

The warmth of the sun can be felt on the skin, the lapping of the waves far below whispers just out of earshot.

Turner, best known for his portraits of the people of the American West, said the Ross Ragland exhibit will "evolve" over its four-month run.

"We will rotate new pieces in, on a non-rigid schedule," Turner said. "In a way, it’s like my photography. I shoot that way, I don’t specialize. Or, I might say, I specialize in a variety of things.

"I shoot landscapes, portraits, nudes, still lifes, and I’m a specialist in them all because I love to shoot them all."

Turner said that sometime next week some of his famous portraits will be rotated in.

As commanding as Turner’s work is in the quiet interior of the Ross Ragland lobby, Hartell’s works are made powerful in their smallness.

Small photographs centered on large, white mats literally force the viewer to lean closer, and in so doing the viewer becomes caught up in the cords of color, design and complexity Hartell creates in the film developing process.

Pastel shades become fierce, and angry angles transform into comforting shapes in photographs that become paintings.

"I’ve always put things together to create new mediums," Hartell explained. "The different mixtures of developing solution, and amount of exposure to light, each will result in a different image."

Although this exhibit is her first, Hartell said she hopes to show again in the future.

"I’ve been working towards this for a long time," she said.

As for Turner, who has shown his work in other countries as well as across the country, this exhibit marks a special achievement.

"Its always a pleasure to show one’s work, but one of the greatest things is to show your work to your friends and family, the people I grew up with," Turner said. "It is a great gratification, a wonderful pleasure."

The exhibit will be available for viewing during any one of the scheduled events at the Ross Ragland. For more information, call the theater at (541) 884-5483, or email at rrt@rrtheater.org.