"?Estamos Aqu??!" ("We Are Here!"), a collection of photographs by local Latino immigrants, will run until Sept. 27 at Case Center Gallery. An opening reception will also take place at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 17.
The show presents black and white photographs taken by immigrants who enrolled in English as a Second Language classes offered by the Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council. The classes are part of the EOC's Latino Advocacy Program.
The photographers share their experiences living and working in local communities, either as year-round residents or seasonally as workers at the Saratoga Race Course backstretch.
In preparation for their photo shoots, the ESL students participated in photography workshops led by local photographer Skip Dickstein. The workshops, funded in part by Saratoga Arts, offered a series of lessons on both the technical and editorial aspects of photography. Participants learned everything from composition and the rule of thirds to the importance of subject and content. "In addition to good composition, the photograph has to say something," Dickstein told the group.
The show's images were selected by a jury made up of Michelle Paquette, associate director of academic programs and residencies at the college; photographer Robert ParkeHarrison, associate professor of studio art at the college; and Tanya Tobias-Tomis, associate director at Saratoga Arts.
"?Estamos Aqu??!" is funded in part by the Saratoga Program for Arts Funding (SPAF), a component of the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts.