Photography & Film
Photography & Film:
Rochester's Starring Role
Film or digital, still or moving,
picture taking and movie making are always in focus here!
Rochester, N.Y., has been called the "Birthplace of Amateur Photography, "Picture City, "Kodak Town" and "The World's Image Centre." It has also been a first-choice destination for film and photography buffs for more than a century. From a desire to learn about the technology, science or history of making pictures to a fascination with the art, drama or simply the fun of creating new images and preserving special memories, people are drawn-again and again-to Rochester.
George Eastman's Legacy: Experience It!
Rochester's photographic legacy began with a young banker named George Eastman, who was determined to find an easier way to take pictures after purchasing an unwieldy, 50-pound, wet-plate camera outfit for a trip. Instead of traveling, however, he started experimenting in his mother's kitchen to find an easier way to take photos. His experiments and early patents led to the small-box Kodak camera in 1888, which he manufactured in Rochester and promoted with the slogan: "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest." The following year Eastman adapted the film from his cameras for Thomas Edison's new movie machines, ultimately inventing motion picture film. But it was Kodak's launch of the Brownie camera in 1900 that marked the real birth of mass photography. Selling for $1, this camera was so easy to use and so affordable that it appealed to everyone: men, women and children.
Today, the Kodak name is known throughout the world, and George Eastman's 35,000-square-foot Colonial Revival mansion on East Avenue is a National Historic Landmark attracting visitors from around the globe. George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film is the world's oldest photography museum and third-largest film archive in the United States. Visitors can enjoy photo and camera galleries displaying items from the museum's 4.5 million artifacts, which include the world's largest collection of camera technology-from the 1839 camera of photography inventor Daguerre to cameras used by Mathew Brady and Ansel Adams and NASA. Those wanting to look at pieces not currently on display can make an appointment in advance to see additional items as well.
Visitors can also tour Eastman's impressive home and gardens where, in 1928, he introduced the world to motion pictures in color with Thomas Edison at his side. Here, too, are pictures created by every major photographer throughout history, including the Southworth & Hawes Daguerreotype Collection, the largest collection of daguerreotype photographs in the world.
Other nearby galleries featuring photography exhibitions include Image Gallery on University Avenue, Rochester Contemporary (RoCo) on East Avenue, and Artisan Works on Blossom Road-a converted warehouse offering a sprawling experience of many art forms. And visitors can't miss Big Picture Rochester, an evolving outdoor gallery of immense photographs on buildings in the downtown area of the city. Envisioned by Kenichiro Sato, a museum art director from Japan, Big Picture Rochester already features an 87-foot-long photograph of cyclists in the Rochester Criterion "racing" across an entire store front on Main Street and the enormous collage of photos on one side of The College at Brockport's MetroCenter building on St. Paul Street, where individual pictures merge into one huge photograph of children happily swinging.
Movies and film festivals: They're everywhere; they're everywhere!
Rochester's position as the birthplace of motion picture film plays out in many ways for visitors, such as having more movie screens per capita than anywhere else in the state, including New York City!
The 500-seat Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House offers a diverse program of silent and classic films, as well as cult favorites, regional premieres, and movies that are hard or impossible to see elsewhere. Drawing from its archival collection of nearly 23,000 reels, including some dating back to the beginning of moving pictures in 1893, it has the fourth largest collection of its kind in the U.S.
Also found on East Avenue is the Art Deco-style Little Theatre, which opened on Oct. 17, 1929, with a showing of the silent film, Cyrano de Bergerac, accompanied by a three-piece orchestra. Now a not-for-profit film organization specializing in American independent and foreign films, the Little has five screens, concession stands selling pastries and freshly brewed coffee along with the popcorn, plus a café, art gallery and live music. An even older movie house can be found on nearby South Clinton Avenue, where The Cinema has been showing films since 1914 and continues to be a popular neighborhood fixture with a nightly double feature for just $5 per person.
The variety of film festivals in Rochester is further evidence of its large base of avid movie fans. The world's longest running, amateur film festival started as Movies on a Shoestring in 1959 and was renamed the Rochester International Film Festival in 1996 to reflect its growth and the quality of films being submitted from around the world. In 2007 it merged with the High Falls Film Festival, which began in 2001 with a focus on outstanding achievements by women as filmmakers, screenwriters, directors, producers, etc. In May 2008, thousands of people enjoyed the newly combined Rochester High Falls International Film Festival, which is expected to continue growing in both the quality of films submitted and the number of people attending.
Yet another well-established film festival is ImageOut-the Rochester Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, which celebrated its 15th year in October 2007 with 10 days of programming. The Jewish Film Festival has been an annual, summertime event since 2001, while the Native American Film Festival was held for the first time in 2007 with programs taking place from February to April. A Foreign Language Film Festival and Deaf Rochester Film Festival have also been held in movie-loving Rochester, N.Y.
On the other side of making movies, Rochester boasts a large and savvy film-production community and state-of-the-art facilities such as The Studios at Linden Oaks and Post Central, which are known for doing quality work at lower costs than can be found in Los Angeles, New York City or Toronto, Canada. And with a growing number of commercials and films being shot in the Rochester area, another studio featuring three sound stages and production facilities has been proposed.
Our History Matters & We're Educational, Too!
Rochester's imaging expertise extends beyond taking pictures and making movies, however. It is not only the birthplace of Eastman Kodak Company but of Xerox-the Document Company and Bausch and Lomb as well. With three world leaders in optics and imaging concentrated in one city, additional businesses involved with photography, imaging and optics not only thrive and multiply in Rochester, they win a lot of prestigious awards along the way.
As an educational leader, Rochester is home to the Center for Electronic Imaging, which attracts many of the world's finest scholars in electronic imaging and is an outgrowth of successful collaborations among the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Eastman Kodak Company and Xerox Corporation. Internationally acclaimed programs at RIT also prepare students for careers ranging from fine arts to ophthalmic photography, while the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester provides B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in optics.
Offering three post-graduate programs, George Eastman House is a world leader in photo and film preservation. Acclaimed internationally for its preservation efforts, many of today's top filmmakers entrust their collections to Eastman House, including Martin Scorsese and his personal collection of 8,000 titles. Visual Studies Workshop, affiliated with The College at Brockport State University of New York, is an internationally recognized center for photography, visual books, video and independent film that serves both visual artists and the general public with educational programs, exhibitions and publishing.
When you visit Rochester, N.Y., you will clearly be in "picture country"...so don't forget to bring a camera to capture our postcard-perfect scenery and your scrapbook-worthy memories!
