© Ed Friedman
© Ed Friedman
Ed Friedman says his job as a photographer is "to show people things they might not normally see themselves."
"For me, the terms "looking"and "seeing" are two very different actions," he explains. "We all spend most of our time looking at things. But we normally don't spend a lot of time "seeing" what is in front of us. `"Seeing" requires cooperation between our physical sense of sight and our intellectual capacity."
Friedman says photographing the Old Schwamb Mill in Arlington, MA, "makes it relatively easy to see what is there."
A series of his images, Been through the Mill: Photography at the Old Schwamb Mill, is featured at The Griffin Museum at the Aberjona River Gallery in Winchester, MA, December 1 through February 26. An opening reception is December 6, 6-7:30 p.m.
Friedman says that at the mill "everywhere you look, there is history. Oval picture frames are made with the tools and equipment used in the 1860s, when the equipment was water powered. Today, the belts and pulleys are turned by electric motors, but the same belt driven equipment and eccentric lathes are used to make the frames. And if you are lucky enough to be at the mill to see David Graf working on a frame, you will see this wonderful equipment in action."
But, Friedman adds, "even at the mill, you have to be able to look past the obvious charm of the place and focus on the details that are there. Here there are tools and other objects that look as if they haven't been touched since the Civil War. Objects can be fuzzy with sawdust and other kinds of remains of aging. There are tools whose use is not easily discerned. "
Visiting the mill many years ago, Friedman says he knew he "had to photograph and try to convey to others the kind of feelings and sensations I experienced then and continue to experience each time I go there. "
Friedman, of Arlington, MA, is not a photographer by training. After earning a degree in physics from Carnegie Mellon University, he's had a long career working with computers. He began taking pictures on a trip to California in the early 1970s.
For a long time, he focused on landscape photography, but has continued to broaden his approach to include street photography and portraiture. When not working on photographic projects, Friedman works as a web developer.
Friedman discusses his exhibit, Been through the Mill: Photography at the Old Schwamb Mill, during Senior /Family Sunday at the Griffin Museum of Photography on January 22, 3 p.m.
The Griffin Museum at the Aberjona River Gallery is at the Aberjona Rehabilitation and Nursing
Center, 184 Swanton St., Winchester, MA. It is open seven days a week, 11 AM - 5 PM. Visitors
should enter at the parking lot entrance and see the receptionist.
[map]
The Aberjona Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, the newest of the three Salter HealthCare
facilities, provides both short term rehabilitation and long term care. There are 123 beds in this
modern facility. A special wing with separate entrance and dining room is available for those
patients who require a short stay to regain their ability to live independently in the community. A
Social Worker helps the resident with adjustment issues and coordinates home care services. In
addition to providing intensive short term rehabilitation, Aberjona now as a 41 bed
Alzheimer’s unit that is designed to provide comfort for both the patients and their family
members. For more information, visit the The Aberjona Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.
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