In June of 1978, I moved from Rochester, NY, where I was a student at RIT, to Blanchard, Maine, to become Berenice Abbott’s apprentice. With me was my new puppy Kilo, given to me by my roommates as a goodbye gift. This was, and still remains, one of the most significant moves of my life, though there have been many moves over these many years. I was 23 at the time. Berenice was a month from turning 80.
The year was challenging, rewarding, educational, lonely, fun, fulfilling, and life changing. I learned some of my most valuable lessons during this year and was influenced greatly then and to this day by two people, Berenice Abbott and her biographer, Hank O’Neal.
I have always wanted to do something to honor Berenice, which is how the Berenice Abbott Prize came about. Thanks to permission from Ron Kurtz, who owns the rights to Berenice’s work, we are able to honor Berenice in this wonderful way.
This year, out of nostalgia, I guess, I brought out three detailed journals, dusted them off, and started reading. I’ve been hauling them around for 32 years. In them are quotes from Berenice, about photography, technical information, life, her pet peeves, and about the photographers she liked and didn’t like. One of the journals is solely technical information, showing detailed drawings of where we burned and dodged certain areas in a print. Looking at these journals again, after so many years, gave me an idea.
It’s called,
The Last Apprentice
Julia Dean’s Year with Berenice Abbott
Take a journey back in time. It’s 1978. There will be daily entries here on our blog, as if it were then. It is typed word-for-word, though I have corrected some punctuation and spelling errors.
Enjoy.
Julia
The Berenice Abbott Prize for an Emerging Photographer deadline is July 17th.
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