Beneath the Sunderland bridge local photographer Jason Clark released the shutter of his Canon DSLR camera as traffic rumbled overhead.
It’s a place Clark frequents, often catching the morning’s first red light reflecting off the Connecticut River.
“You come down here in the summer, the sun will catch right through the bridge,” Clark said Monday, as afternoon sunlight poured around the bridge’s pillars.
Clark, who works the early morning shift at Northampton’s Post Office, is part of a broader community of photographers in the Pioneer Valley brought together via social media by Igers413 — an online platform for local artists found on Instagram and Facebook.
He knows the group’s founder, artist Jeff Kelley, known on Instagram as @postaljeff, through work — Kelley is downtown Northampton’s postman.
“@Igers413 was created to connect Instagram enthusiasts from all over western Mass.,” Kelley said, “that is, to keep the ‘social’ in social media.”
Over the years, Kelley and others like Clark have built a following by actively documenting the Pioneer Valley through images, hosting group photography gatherings called “instameets,” contributing to art rotating exhibits, and facilitating free art giveaways.
Kelley added, “since forming in February of 2014, we have organized 15 “instameets,” which are opportunities for fellow instagrammers to meet in person and share their love of photography.”
The group also reblogs the work of its community members.
“It forces you to get out there,” Clark continued, remembering a time before Igers413 and “before PanAm” when he and Kelley “walked the tracks from Northampton to Whately” shooting photographs. Back then, Clark said he couldn’t have imagined the group would gain as large of a following as it has.
Today, Igers413 is comprised of more than 1,800 active and engaged western Mass. instagrammers, including Franklin County photographers like Anja Schutz, the artist behind the #grabhimbytheballot project, and Justin Barrett, a native of the region.
In the past, the group has held instameets at Barton Cove in Turners Falls, at the Montague Bookmill and The Lady Killigrew Cafe, and other locations throughout the region.
Like others who are a part of Igers413, Clark uses photography and social media to explore new locations, rediscover old ones, and meet like minded artists. His Instagram handle is @clarky999.
“It’s a way to bring together artists who might not meet each other otherwise,” explained Eric Parham, a South Deerfield photographer, about Igers413. Parham is on Instagram as @oneswithfunes.
“Instagram has created a good community for me. We wouldn’t have interacted like that 20 years ago,” he said.
Over the years, Parham, who began shooting photographs as a child with his dad’s 35 millimeter film camera, has seen photography evolve and transition into the digital era. Social media platforms, such as Instagram, he believed have “opened up the image making aspect of photography to others that might not have access to it.”
“With a digital camera, it’s easy to go out, shoot maybe 250 images, and then pick out one that you like,” he continued explaining that film, in contrast, is “a little more thought out.”
“Photography is about expressing emotions that we can’t talk about — and as photographers, most of the time we don’t even know it.” Parham said.
Parham has experience as a commercial photographer, shooting advertisements for organizations including Smith College, and as a construction worker, currently working at Apollo Construction in Montague.
“I miss the hand craft involved with making images with film. I miss developing film, creating prints, having a dark room to work in,” he continues. “Making a single exposure with a large format camera takes a lot of time. And it’s costly. That, just naturally, really slows you down.”
Targeting that desire to slow things down artistically but stay in the modern era, Igers413 held its first film-only instameet in downtown Northampton last Saturday — which Parham attended along with about seven other local photographers.
Looking ahead, Kelley said he intends to put on another film-only meetup. The next scheduled instameet is March 26 at Pleasant and Main in Housatonic starting at 3:30 p.m.
You can reach Andy Castillo
at: acastillo@recorder.com or
413-772-0261, ext. 263 On Instagram: @visual_musings