Veteran photographer’s work on display
WOONSOCKET – Whether he’s shooting action or an austere nighttime streetscape, “I like it all,” says photographer Ed Hanson.
The 75-year-old resident of Hanora Lippitt Manor can find some visual interest in any kind of subject. He’s been taking pictures most of his life, but he stops short of calling himself a professional photographer.
“Yes and no,” he says. “I’ve earned money on it, and lost money on it. Mostly lost.”
Thanks to Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, Hanson has an opportunity to get on the profit side of the ledger. She invited him to display a series of his recent photos on the third floor of City Hall. They’re hanging on a stretch of hallway wall just outside the office of Public Works Director Steve D’Agostino.
The mayor says she’s run into Hanson on numerous occasions as she makes her rounds about the downtown area. With his trademark cap and silvery goatee, he’s often seen toting a camera as he observes the goings-on from the sidewalk outside his apartment complex opposite New York Lunch.
“He explained why he always carried his camera,” said the mayor. “Just like athletes need a place to display their talents, sometimes artists like him – the only place for them to display their talents is on a wall or a canvas and he had a hard time finding places to dis- play his work.”
About two years ago, the mayor set him up with some space at Woonsocket Harris Public Library. After running into Hanson more recently, the mayor decided he deserved another opportunity to display his works in public and offered him some space in City Hall.
The photographs are for sale, and there’s a small plaque accompanying them that lists Hanson’s contact information.
“She’s very personable,” Hanson says of the mayor. “She talks to everybody in the building at Hanora.”
All of the photos in Hanson’s display at City Hall are blackand-whites that were taken in the city within the last year or so. The subjects include singer Emily Luther performing on stage at River Island Park; a mother and child sitting on the bank of the Blackstone River, also at River Island Park; and a street scene from the French Quarter Building, near Market Square, featuring a woman looking lost and lonely and she peers out from the entryway.
And yes, there’s one of Baldelli-Hunt taken during what Hanson recalls was a cer- emony honoring local military veterans.
He may or may not be a professional photographer, but Hanson’s work is getting some positive reviews from the critics at City Hall.
Jeremy Fontaine, a custodian, says Hanson has a way of making city scenes look even more appealing in a photograph than they are in real life.
“I love it,” said Fontaine. “I think they’re very nice. When you look at it in a picture, it’s beautiful.”