Local photographer Cam Byrnes opened a show at the Juneau Artists Galley on March 1 showcasing over 100 photos documenting 35 years of the performing arts in Juneau.
Here is a collection of just a handful of those photos featuring moments from the Alaska Folk Festival, Perseverance Theatre, Juneau Symphony and more. All photos are by Cam Byrnes.
The show runs through the month of March at the Juneau Artists Gallery, 175 S. Franklin Street.
Byrnes was interviewed on Juneau Afternoon about this particular subset of photography. The following is an excerpt, edited lightly for clarity.
Cam Byrnes: This is my fiftieth year. Yeah, this summer. At the end of August, 50 years ago, I moved to Juneau. My entire career in Juneau has something to do with photography. I actually worked for KTOO-TV for 10 years. Through all that time though, regardless of what else I was doing, I photographed theater, I mean, everything, Perseverance and things that happened at the halls in town and at the bars in town.
It’s basically 35 years of performance in Juneau. So if you’ve been in a show, or know somebody who’s been in the show, there’s a good chance they’re on the wall at the Juneau Artists Gallery. I did put a big collage on the wall, about 100 pictures from the last 35 years.
I really like planting myself, like, in front of the symphony orchestra with a long lens and looking for the perfect expression, the perfect bow move, the perfect blow on the horn, something like that. So I can focus in on one person and take hundreds of shots. Yeah, okay, I got that; now let’s go over here to the bass, and get a couple of things. And that’s fun for me.
One of the most fun things is the Folk Festival because you can just go anywhere and move around while they’re performing and every 15 minutes, it all changes. And then you go out in the lobby, and there’s always stuff going out there and people in the back rooms. So I just kind of browse around the Folk Festival, usually four or five nights, and just shoot everything that’s going on there.
And yet, stage (i.e. theatre) is different. Also, it’s sort of fake. Because what looks good to an audience doesn’t look good to a camera. So I’m always stopping and saying, “Oh, can we move these people closer together?” Well, that’s not how the show is gonna be. But I really need all five in one shot so that they can put it on a poster.
Dance is tough. So when I shoot dance, I usually try to get them to explain who’s coming in where and what are they going to do? Are they going to do a throw, you know? And fairly often, I just say I missed it, let’s do it again, sometimes two or three times I say, “Oh, let’s just do it one more time.”
One of my favorite things is just a group of performers like the Folk Festival or even like the symphony orchestra, just people working together. And then, for me, I’m hunting for those moments where they make a connection, where the violin player looks over at the cello player and makes that connection. And then bang, bang, bang, I get three shots, and I go, “Oh that’s, that’s what I’ve been waiting for all night. I’ve been waiting for them to look at each other.”
So for the show, I went through about 22,000 pictures, picked out about 140 of them, printed them all in different sizes, and then put them on a wall in the gallery. So, it’s a big collage. So, if you go down there, you’ll probably see somebody you know, or you might see yourself on them.
