The wild, early years of photography

Meehan talk, Jan. 22

SALISBURY — The Decorative Arts Lecture Series: Era of Elegance, sponsored by the Salisbury Association Historical Society, returns Saturday, Jan. 22, at 4 p.m. at the Scoville Memorial Library.

In “The Birth of Photography and How it Changed Our Lives,� professional photographer and author Joseph Meehan of Salisbury will trace the development of photography.

Photography emerged as one of the most important inventions of the 19th century. In its earliest years, photographers explored this new medium unhindered by any rules and driven by the desire to record all aspects of life. As a result, there was a kind of creative energy that could exist only in these early years.

The presentation will be illustrated with more  than 100 projected images and several 19th-century examples of different photographic media. Meehan will concentrate on the first quarter century, as photography rapidly became a way of recording and preserving everything from natural and manmade disasters and wars and scientific events to the details of everyday life.

Meehan’s 40-year career in photography has included assignment work for a wide variety of commercial, advertising and editorial publications as well as teaching photography on the college level.

He also served as the technical editor of Photo District News for more than a decade, writing about new technologies. He is also the former editor of the Photography Yearbook.

Meehan has written more than 20 books on photographic technique, many of which have received “best book� awards and have been translated into several languages.

He also contributes photographs regularly to The Lakeville Journal. He and his wife, Lynn, moved to Lakeville 40 years ago and now live in the Twin Lakes area.  For more information, call 860-435-2838.