‘Guests on the Land’
Farm-focused photography exhibit now on display at Mennonite Heritage Center
FRANCONIA >> There are no people in most of Nicolas Bowen’s photographs.
“I’m not a people photographer by any stretch of the imagination,” Bowen said. “I much prefer things that aren’t moving or getting up and walking away.”
He prefers taking the time and framing the scene, then clicking the camera.
That doesn’t mean people aren’t in the picture, though.
“I like to imply that people were there or did something or made a choice or built something,” Bowen said.
For instance, the rows of plants geometrically laid out in a farm field in one of his photos in the “Guests on the Land” exhibit at the Mennonite Heritage Center in Harleysville show that people arranged the planting, he said.
“Traditionally, Mennonites have had a connection to the land and a lot of his work explores that connection,” Sarah Heffner, Mennonite Heritage Center’s executive director, said.
“He likes to focus on land, land use and sustainable agriculture,” Joel Alderfer, collections manager, said.
Bowen, a Berks County resident who retired nine years ago from Kutztown University where he taught photography, said he has been taking photos of farms and the land for a number of years, but joining a Community Supported Agriculture farm spurred him to take several of the photos that are in “Guests on the Land.”
“The CSA gave me an opportunity to get up close and personal with an operating farm,” Bowen said.
Bowen’s photography combines a mix of new and traditional methods, Heffner said.
He uses a bellows camera mounted on a tripod to take single-sheet negatives.
“It’s newer equipment, but it’s really the old-fashioned fine arts,” Alderfer said.
“The style goes back to really the beginnings of photography, with standing there, long exposures,” Bowen said.
The relatively long exposure time by more modern standards can cause a slight blur in some photos, as well as having an influence on the setting chosen, he said.
“Sometimes it almost dictates the kind of subject matter that you end up shooting — things that aren’t going to get up and move,” Bowen said. “With some of the long exposures, I even have trouble with wind blowing trees or the grass is going to move and look kind of blurry.”
The photos are processed digitally and printed with an inkjet, he said.
Bowen said his photography tends to show things in conflict.
“I like to see where there’s things kind of wrestling, or tussling with each other, not necessarily literally, but idealized, where you have the influx of modern agriculture maybe coming in and bumping heads with the older historical processes,” Bowen said.
“I’m not being critical of anything,” he said. “I’m trying to lay that out to show that there is a variety of approaches and sometimes there’s gains and sometimes there’s losses to making those choices.”
The photos are not an attempt to lead people to any particular interpretation or viewpoint, he said.
“I’d like people to really find their own meaning in each and every single one of them depending on what history they bring to it,” Bowen said.
“The photographs in this show do not show perfect farms, perfect people or perfect balance. Mostly they are humble farms and situations that present some of the struggles, possibilities and rewards of farmers trying to stay connected to the communities, land and animals they are stewarding,” Bowen wrote in introductory information for the exhibit. “And as guests, they are hopefully improving the accommodations for whoever comes next. I hope this selection of images starts some considerations and conversations about small
“Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed ... We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in.”
— Wallace Stegner, quoted in “Guests on the Land” exhibit
local choices that can make large improvements.”
“Guests on the Land,” which is spread out over two parts of the Mennonite Heritage Center, 565 Yoder Road, Harleysville, will remain on display there until Oct. 15. The MHC’s hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. There is a $5 admission donation.
An opening reception for “Guests on the Land,” with refreshments and informal conversation, will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 12, Heffner said.
Bowen’s website is stilltimeimages.com. Mennonite Heritage Center’s website is mhep.org.
“The earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations.”
— Pope John Paul II, quoted in “Guests on the Land” exhibit