The Large Format Photography Podcast

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Friday Sep 11, 2020

#36 Shane Balkowitsch And The Permanence Of Star Dust

Friday Sep 11, 2020

“Shane’s work shines on its artistic merit and for its collaborative nature. It is genuine and enthusiastic on a human level. For the folks of many different Indian tribes who sit for his portraits, and who often become his life-long friends, Shane builds lasting rapport. It is this rapport, and the importance of honest collaboration between people of different cultures, that is so vital for our country and is at the heart of moving forward as a nation. I strive to emulate the rapport that Shane has achieved in his art in the work I’m doing in congress. Shane’s photographs are not only beautiful, they convey the best example of good people working together to achieve something great”.

Debra A. Haaland

US Congresswoman for New Mexico 1^st District Laguna Pueblo

Things we chatted about on the show:

The usual back and forth chatter at the beginning covered “how we value our work” which Andrew is finding extremely difficult at the moment, how important it is to record some info on a photograph and how crap cloud storage is for a long term solution to filing. Shane was very helpful in focusing our thoughts in these areas.

Simon made an appearance on the “brand extension” of Sunny16 Podcast – Sunny16 Presents! – not sure if it’s out yet but you can find episodes here, it looks like a great podcast.

https://sunny16presents.podbean.com/

We referenced a lot of Shane’s public work and installations including the proposed 7ft mural of Greta.

https://www.inforum.com/news/4969850-Bismarck-artist-behind-controversial-Greta-Thunberg-mural-shares-stories-of-support-and-hate

The documentary talks about the Dakota pipeline that POTUS authorised on coming into power. Shane goes to the site of the protest to record the moment then later voices his disapproval in the only way he knows.

https://nostalgicglasswetplatestudio.zenfolio.com/blog/2017/1/donald-trump-potus

You can find the documentary on Vimeo or Amazon Video

https://www.amazon.com/Balkowitsch-Shane/dp/B087CFNWS3

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/balkowitschfilm

The first Native American Shane made a wet plate portrait of was the great grandson of sitting bull Ernie Lapointe - lots on the net but here is a YouTube video with Ernie talking about Little Big Horn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-3NIrXW92s

Shane made a Blurb book all about Ernie and the portrait sessions.

https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/5586336-the-legacy-of-sitting-bull-wet-plate-session-revis

Shane follows in the footsteps of intrepid wet plate photographers og the 19^th century and it was Bismarck photographer Orlando Scott Goff whose historic wet plate images of Plains Indians so inspired Shane to carry on a modern day version.

https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&rlz=1C1GCEU_enGB846GB857&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=orlando+scott+goff&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiC6eObpN_rAhVGXBoKHcAED9sQsAR6BAgLEAE&biw=1536&bih=850

The Historical Society of North Dakota takes all Shane’s work (and they want his shirt and bowler hat post mortem).

https://www.history.nd.gov/

(Oh and our podcast recording will be stored there too)

Shane loves to collaborate and make tableaus – the documentary shows the making of “Liberty trudges through injustice”

Here is a YouTube video showing the mural unveiling in Bismark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSUUJo8xaD8

Shane talks about technology and photography in a TedX talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlppgZcNwYo

Shane’s links

Shane suggests Googling his name and that works!

His website is a good place to start.