January 2010 - Photographs by Anne T. Converse

An exhibition of color photographs titled “The Past Twenty Years” by Marion resident Anne T. Converse is on display at the Maser Gallery, Falmouth Community Television, 310A Dillingham Avenue, from January 3 – 28, 2010. RECEPTION: Sunday, January 10, 2010, 3 to 5 p.m.

Anne Converse has been pursuing her childhood love of photography by traveling the world over, capturing people and places on land and sea. With affection, Ms. Converse remains the free spirit and the “Auntie Mame” of her large family.

Ms. Converse photographs straight on with no filters (except a UV), and without digital manipulation, other than improving color or density. Working in a digital format the past seven years, she still covets her Leica M6 film camera. The refrigerator is still stocked with film. “I’ve never lost the love of working in the darkroom, which I built in the basement, and the magic of seeing a photograph appear from a blank sheet of paper,” she said.

Ms. Converse’s work covers a wide range of subjects, from nautical, social events, candid portraits and thoroughbred horses. She dedicated ten years to photographing the “thoroughbred scene” in the 1990s. Ms. Converse enjoys immersing herself in a project, such as her recent travels with Himalayan Project to Nepal in April 2008. “The experience provided a venue to pursue my love of photographing people within their environment,” Ms. Converse says.

Ms. Converse spent summers in Marion, MA, growing up by its seaport and sailing on her grandfather’s Herreshoff 12 1/2. She inherited a love of sailing from a long heritage of sailors, notably her great-grandmother, Captain Mary P. Converse, who in her late 60s became the first woman to earn her Captain’s papers in The Merchant Marines.

In June, 2002, she published her first book, a photographic essay, Wood, Wind and Water, A Story of the Opera House Cup Race of Nantucket, with text written by Carolyn M. Ford. Since then she has traveled to Antigua and the south of France to photograph the Classic Yacht Regattas, receiving rave revues. "When they view the photos, I want people to be right there - to feel the spray on their faces and smell the salt water,” said Ms. Converse.

Ms. Converse’s documentary-style photography has been exhibited in galleries and private collections nationally and internationally for twenty-five years. She intends to photograph until she reaches the pearly gates, and believes: “When you worry about age, it inhibits your imagination.”

Exhibit Hours:
Sunday & Monday, 2-10 p.m.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10 – 10 p.m.
Friday, 10 – 6 p.m.