I’m inspired every time I visit this gallery showing more than 300 prints by 12 excellent photographers. Recently I asked one of the founding members, Judd Plattenburg, to tell me about the start of the gallery.
“We’d been talking about starting a gallery for years” he told me, “and we finally took the plunge in 2022. The founding group was Jeff Smith, Bill (and Marty) Welch, Bill Woody and me. Since then we’ve added photographers and there are now a total of 12 of us.”
“Each photographer here has a different style and each focuses on a different subject area. My work includes a lot of shots taken from the water. Paddling is a hobby of mine and I love connecting my paddling hobby with my photography hobby. I am also showing quite a few shots taken in Cuba right now. I’ve visited there six times and have gotten great photos on each trip.”
“The photos you see on that wall are by Bill and Marty Welch. They are nature photographers and they’ve travelled from the Amazon to the Arctic Circle to get great photos. Marty has a photo of a polar bear cub cuddling with its mother that I just love. To get it they took a small plane to an island in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska.”
“The photos on display here are always changing, and sometimes even the whole theme of an area in the gallery changes. Bill Woody has been exhibiting his Urban Exploration photos for a while and he gave a talk about it last Saturday. Now I think he’s going to change everything and show his rural Ohio landscapes.”
I asked about the price range of the work in the gallery.
“Photography is generally less expensive than other art forms such as painting and sculpture. We have some pieces priced below $100 but most of the work is in the $200 to $400 range. Photography is also a lot more flexible than other art forms. Sometimes a person will like a work on display but its size is too great, so we print a smaller (and less costly) version for the customers. Other times a person is trying to make a dramatic statement in a large room, so we enlarge a photo he likes and make it 5 feet long.”
Sugarcreek Photography Gallery
15 West Franklin St.
Bellbrook, OH 45305
Hours:
Thurs & Fri
2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Sat & Sun 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Or call 973-317-0170 for Appt
Or call 973-317-0170 for Appt
