Photography by Abby Inpanbutr at The BalMar in July

As a photographer, I work primarily in film, and my particular favorite is large format black and white photography.




Large format work is rewarding due to its technical challenges, methodical and meditative nature, and physical process.  It is also the basis of documentary and archival photography.  I was fortunate to learn large format photography while studying architecture at the University of Washington, and have not been able to stop doing it since.  The tangibility of film and the darkroom is for me a means and metaphor.

  Living in Ballard gives me the opportunity to observe the maritime landscape on a daily basis, and I am fascinated by the wealth of history here.  As a transplant from central Illinois, this world is entirely new to me.  The waterfront and its structures is one of my favorite subjects to photograph.  

The images shown in this series, Persistent Work, were taken as part of a 4culture funded project to document the maritime industrial heritage of Lake Union and Salmon Bay.  The project focused on three enduring maritime businesses: George Broom’s Sons, Pacific Fishermen Shipyard, and Jensen’s Motorboat Company.  Along with the photographs, oral histories were collected by historian Shelly Leavens.  The project was previously exhibited at the Center for Wooden Boats on South Lake Union.  The project is now in its second phase, and the negatives and histories will be donated to a public archive upon completion. 



The BalMar
5449 Ballard Avenue NW

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