Dan Grenier (U.S. National Park Service)

Audio description of "Acadia Pathmakers" photograph by Dan Grenier

Audio description of "Acadia Pathmakers" photograph by Dan Grenier, an artist-in-residence at Acadia in 2015.

Audio Transcript

This is a black and white portrait photograph of a uniformed female member of a trail crew at Acadia National Park. Just behind her is a short wooden boardwalk that bridges a gap in a narrow trail along a high vertical stone outcropping.
The woman is in sharp detail while the background frames her in soft focus. She stands squarely in the middle of the frame with her arms crossed, her work shirt rolled at the elbows, and a park service arrowhead patch prominent on her left shoulder. She looks straight into the lens with a stoic expression. Her dark hair is tied into a bun on top of her head as safety glasses hang around her neck.

Black and white photograph of a trail crew worker with their arms crossed. Forest scene in the background. — Acadia Pathmakers- Alex
Photo Coutesy of Dan Grenier. Used with permission.

During my residency, I photographed the park trail crew, associated volunteers, and the Youth Conservation Corps in their work setting at Acadia National Park; creating environmental portraits documenting the individual, their dedication to their work, and their connection to the natural surroundings of the park. My intent was to build a small project portfolio that highlights the importance of stewardship and land management in ensuring the long-term integrity of our shared natural heritage.

To accomplish this, I used black and white film and large and medium format cameras to capture images. I chose to use these larger formats as my medium because the dynamics of the camera near-forces the photographer to contemplate and concentrate on each individual image. The enhanced creative involvement associated with larger formats exposes the artist to the photographic process different from the quick decisions making that is intrinsic to a 35mm digital camera. With larger film formats, creating each photographic image is labor-intensive, time-consuming, and therefore, I believe, helps the photographer to have a more intimate visual experience. As such, this photographic process has equated to a best expression and communication of my own personal experience, and my own way of seeing and describing the world around me through my embrace of process. My film was hand processed and used to produce fine silver gelatin enlarged prints in a traditional wet darkroom using the negatives, an enlarger, light-sensitive silver coated paper, and chemicals. Film provided the added benefit of its timeless look, and proven archival properties of the negative and museum quality silver enlargements.

– Dan Grenier

Photo of artist Dan Grenier wish shoreline in the back ground. — Dan Grenier

For more than fifteen years, I’ve made my living managing conservation lands for The Nature Conservancy in Maine. My academic background is in biology/forest ecology, having earned a bachelor’s degree in arts from the University of Maine at Farmington, Farmington, Maine, USA, and a master’s degree in science from the Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Art and photography have been a relatively new pursuit. I mainly use antique cameras and film, preferring the feel of this equipment and materials to meet vision. I process my own film and make silver gelatin prints by hand (i.e., optically enlarge) in a traditional wet darkroom lab.

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