Date: Fri 02-May-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: I

Location: A9

Quick Words:

Halfmann-Miklus-photography

Full Text:

(feature on photographer Carol Halfmann Miklus, 5/2/97)

New Photography Exhibition Opens Sunday-

A Childhood Interest Developed Into A Lifelong Passion

(with photos)

BY SHANNON HICKS

Photography is a competitive field. Understandably, shutterbugs can be very

tight-lipped about sharing their secrets in creating their work, but there is

one thing most photographers will talk about and agree on: Once you pick up a

camera and start seeing all possibilities, photography is a constant learning

experience. There are so many variables in the discipline, it can take a

lifetime to learn everything, or just as long to fully develop an area of

expertise.

Not only are there the different films (color, black-and-white, slide), but

the processes used to develop the film from the moment of clicking the shutter

on a camera are so varied, one single view through a camera's lens can be

manipulated and depicted 100 different ways.

Carol Halfmann Miklus knows - and fully enjoys - the feeling of working with

and manipulating photographic images. A self-taught photographer, Carol was

bitten by the camera bug at an early age and has been satisfying the itch ever

since.

Her specialty is black-and-white photography, hand-colored infrared works and

Polaroid image transfers. Recent images include striking infrared landscapes

and captivating hand-colored images of flowers.

For the infrareds, Carol uses a mishmash of materials to pull out color:

pencils, oils, pastels, inks.

"It really varies on what the image is," she explained. "Pencils give you more

control; ink offers a hint of color."

Carol has had shows at Waveny Carriage House in New Canaan; Shoreline Alliance

in Guilford; and at Westport Nature Center. She also had pieces in the 1995

New England Camera Council show at Amherst College. This summer she is

scheduled to be in a show at Gallery 13 in Danbury.

In the immediate future, however, is an exhibition of Carol's works, entitled

"All Around Us," which will open at McLaughlin Vineyards in Sandy Hook on

Sunday afternoon. Offering viewers a look at Carol's most recent new works,

the show will hang through the end of the month. Carol sat down recently with

Morgen McLaughlin, manager of the vineyards, to decide on the final selection

of prints to be exhibited in the show.

"I like her use of black and white, and how she colors in the flowers," Ms

McLaughlin said this week. "I like that they're natural landscapes, and that

seems to tie in with the rustic, country setting we have here.

"I think she has great work."

Carol's images are immediately eye-catching. The details are striking. In a

recent show of her works at Dr Java's in Bethel, Carol had a number of works

depicting area scenes, which were recognizable to many viewers. She also

presented a series of pieces joined by their theme of coffee. The show was a

culmination of two years' work. And it was a great success.

Jim DiLillo, who organizes Dr Java exhibitions, called the show a hit.

"It was beautiful work. We had a very positive reaction from customers," Mr

DiLillo said. "She did very well; she sold a lot of pieces.

"Hers was one of our best shows from the photography point of view," he

continued. "We don't do many photography shows, but her colored pieces were a

big hit."

Carol's exhibition in Bethel was originally scheduled to run for four weeks;

it ran for two months.

"Photography is a major addiction - I'm like a sponge, I can't get enough!"

Carol said recently. Seated in the airy livingroom of her home, Carol was

surrounded by framed images she has done. While Carol's works are on many

walls, it is not an ostentatious display. On the contrary, with the works

fairly small in size and numbers, her pieces are eye-catching, very

attractive, and not in the least bit overbearing in their presentation.

She and her husband, Ken, live in Newtown near the Newtown-Monroe border. Both

work at SVG Lithography in Wilton. Originally part of Perkin-Elmer, where

Carol used to work, SVGL makes the tools that imprint wafers for computer

chips.

Carol began working with SVGL last June as senior technical writer, but her

visual aptitude soon became clear to her superiors. Within a month of being

hired, she became the division's media coordinator. In that capacity, she

creates videos for educating customers and service technicians' training.

Duties have also come to include taking photographs for the company's manuals

and service documentation.

That is her day job. Photography is her second job. And next to husband Ken,

it is also her biggest passion.

An Immediate Attraction

Growing up in West Haven, Carol took up photography at an early age. Her

father bought a 126 Instamatic camera for her when she was about seven years

old. She took it with her on a Girl Scout camping trip and, she says, "That

was it. I was hooked."

When she got back from the camping trip, she talked her father into teaching

her how to use his 2¬ Yoshika. Within a year she was playing with her own 35

mm camera.

One of her neighbors was also a photography buff, who also happened to have a

basement darkroom. That was where Carol learned about processing film, when

she was about 12 years old.

"We'd go out schlepping and shooting, and then come back and spend the

afternoon in the darkroom," she said. "That was my first case of darkroom

work, and that was fun.

"We went through all of the sunset scenes and all of the beach scenes, because

we were right by the water. We went through all of that - in the winter, in

the summer."

Staying with the 35 mm format, Carol continued learning about photography in

high school. By this time she had her own darkroom.

When her course load got too heavy during college, she eased up on the

photography. Taking classes from 8 in the morning until 11 at night, and

working as an intern at Milford Hospital during her final year of school meant

putting the lens cap on the camera for quite a while. Along the way, Carol

earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of New Haven, and

then a mid-tech from Housatonic.

Once life settled down a little, a few years after graduating college, one of

Carol's friends knew of someone in the commercial photography business who was

selling large format equipment. Carol not only got the equipment at a great

price, but also spent a few weekends at the photographer's studio, getting a

crash course in different lighting techniques before the photographer moved

out to California.

Photography was put on the back burner again a few months later. When working

at the hospital was getting too tough, Carol took another job, this time at a

lab in New Haven. The hours were a little better, but the pay was "not great,"

she says. Plus there was the rent for her apartment to contend with, and

payments on a new car.

"Unfortunately, I made a major mistake," she said. "I sold my large format

camera, and all its accoutrements. I sold my enlarger.

"I could cry over that, but it's OK. I needed the money at the time."

Eventually, Carol ended up working at Perkin-Elmer, taking a job during the

summer of 1984. Six years later, while she was working in customer training,

she met her future husband (who was doing training for service engineers). The

training department was sent to a week-long off-site communications building

event.

"We had assigned seating, and I `got stuck' sitting next to Ken for two

days...," she starts to smile. About a month later, Carol returned to take a

service class, and Ken was there. Again, the smile.

"And that was it. We went to lunch." Things fell quickly into place, and soon

Carol and Ken were engaged to be married.

Which also led to the reason Carol returned to photography in earnest.

"Because we were getting married, that's the reason I got back into

photography so intensely," confided Carol. While organizing her wedding, Carol

found the photography was one of the most important parts of the day for her

("Other than where it was going to be and that the food was OK, that was the

most important thing to me.").

"I had seen so many people who had gotten married and just had these not

really exceptional pictures," she explained. "Too many `There's Aunt Millie,

there's Uncle Joe, here's a table shot, and oh look, here's somebody

dancing.'" The bride-to-be knew she wanted something that would really capture

the emotions of the day, while also being somewhat artistic. So she and Ken

went looking for a photographer to fit within that parameter.

"Ken was so good. He came with me to all the interviews, and we went to a lot

," she laughed. "I can't tell you how many people I dragged that poor guy to.

Everyone within a 100-mile radius." Which was how Carol met Brookfield

photographer Laurie Klein.

While Carol and Ken eventually settled on a different photographer for their

wedding - Ms Klein's work "is awesome," Carol says, but her services proved

cost-prohibitive - Carol returned to Brookfield a few weeks after the

honeymoon to take a class with Ms Klein and Jennifer Nash.

The students who took that class four years ago, along with Ms Nash, has now

turned into a regular group that meets weekly to share ideas, try new

techniques, and encourage each other. Carol has taken a few more classes with

Ms Klein, including her hand coloring, image transfer and emulsion transfer

classes.

A Sense Of Intimacy

Today, Carol also does wedding photography on the side, and her sense of

capturing a special moment is seen in every image she produces. Her photos of

a couple's big day are not your typical walking-down-the-aisle, bridal party

and groomsmen photos.

Carol's wedding photographs are a little more intimate in nature. A look

through her portfolio reveals images of a bride and her mother, still at home

the morning of the ceremony.

Another photo from the same day has zoomed in on the hands of the bride and

groom during the ceremony. It is during the ceremony, and the couple is

holding hands.

On the lighter side - because weddings are both serious affairs as well as

celebrations - Carol shot off three quick frames during the ceremony where the

groomsmen are sitting in the front pew, trying to hide their smiles and not

laugh, but Carol nevertheless caught them laughing mischievously.

"This was during the ceremony and the minister was being very serious," Carol

explained. "Something happened within that group and they were laughing, but

trying not to." It is a great series of shots; a viewer feels as if they were

at the wedding, part of the party, when seeing something like this, the kind

of thing that makes each wedding an individual event. That is what Carol

strives for.

The importance of getting closer to a wedding party when working as a

photographer was something Carol came to understand when she and Ken were

planning their own wedding a few years ago.

"With weddings, I just think it is so nice to be able to look at your pictures

and remember exactly what you were thinking," she said. "The emotions of the

day are so important. I like the photos to be more artistic than

documentative."

Carol is able to infuse her own feelings into her work when she is creating

pieces for herself. She can also add a personal touch to works she does for

others.

When viewers look at her photography, regardless of whether or not they

understand how the images have been produced, Carol Miklus' views are so

captivating, the works speak for themselves.