Bobby Abrahamson

North Portland Polaroids 

July 5 - 29, 2012

"Bobby Abrahamson's photographic typology featuring the individuals who call St. Johns home does what any good typology should do: it calls attention to similarity as well as difference, and though favoring neither, it savors the subtleties of idiosyncrasy."

--Julia Dolan, Minor White Curator of Photography, Portland Art Museum

After buying a house in North Portland in the spring of 2011, photographer Bobby Abrahamson decided to stay in town for the summer and start shooting "a portrait a day" in his neighborhood of St. Johns. About the same time, he received from a friend a box of the coveted and soon-to-be-extinct Polaroid Type 55 4" X 5" instant positive/negative film. Even though he had not photographed much with a large-format camera before, and certainly not portraits on the street, he embraced the project as a way to meet his new neighbors. 

"The film allows me to give a print to my subject as soon as it is shot, and then keep a negative for myself. This gives me the ability to entice my subject with an instant print and all of the wonder and excitement of setting up a large format camera on a tripod, time spent focusing the camera under a dark cloth, asking them to hold still, loading the film, and then the 'click' of the shutter. One minute later they are holding a print of themselves in their hands. I usually only take one photo per subject, so there is also a lot of excitement, anticipation, magic, and uncertainty for me. Each event of photographing a stranger is a kind of prayer." All of the portraits on display at Blue Sky are original prints Abrahamson made from Polaroid negatives taken in North Portland between July 2011 and March 2012.   

Bobby Abrahamson is a Portland, Oregon-based documentary photographer, filmmaker, and mediaeducator. He has five published books of his work, and has been featured in several solo and group shows in the United States and Europe. His work is included in the permanent collections of institutions such as the Portland Art Museum, the Oregon Jewish Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, Serbia, the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. His professional clients include TIME, Fortune, US News & World Report, The New York Times, and Wieden & Kennedy. He holds a Master of Arts degree in MediaStudies from The New School, New York. Abrahamson teaches photography and media literacy in the Portland metropolitan area at Pacific Northwest College of Art, Mount Hood Community College, Clark College, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland Art Museum, Newspace Center for Photography, Saturday Academy, and Open Meadow Middle School.