Editor’s Note: Theresa Keil and Larry Cohen are longtime contributors to What Weekly and remarkable human beings to boot.

All photos by TLC Baltimore

 

Fire dancers. Glitter sparkles. Sweating bodies intertwine, leap and bounce to a tribal river of sound.

Visual poetry emerges from the photographs captured by Theresa Keil and Larry Cohen in their years working together, witnesses to the volcanic intensity of nightlife and street life in Baltimore and beyond.

Now we have a unique opportunity to connect with these stories, as Gallery 788 presents “TLC Baltimore: The Photography of Theresa Keil & Larry Cohen.” The exhibition opens Thursday, May 7 at 7:00pm, at Gallery 788 in Hampden.

Their prolific work is displayed as it should be seen; not on a digital screen, but printed on paper. The artistry of this exhibition is arranged by subject area, with separate sections for photographs of Baltimore, street photography, portraits and nightlife.

This inspiring and joyful show includes three to four hundred photographs, printed and installed unframed on the gallery walls, plus some framed works for sale as well. The exhibition is being installed by Keil and Cohen with help from Gallery 788 director Eduardo Rodriguez and curator Jim Koerner.

In terms of shooting styles, Keil is perhaps more instinctual with composition, it comes naturally to her. She especially enjoys using flash to shoot nightlife events and portray the colorful and exotic elements of Burning Man-related festivals and tribal gatherings involving music, art and cutting-edge performance culture.

While Cohen also shoots flash and learned some aspects of technique from Keil, he somewhat prefers natural light and shooting candid street photography by day. In shooting “Burner” events, Cohen understands that some people consider it non-participatory, but for him as a photographer there’s nothing that engages him more than being able to capture and share an event with the people who are immersed in it.

“It gives me more pleasure to look at the light and find what to shoot, using what’s there and using mixtures of light, it brings me peace and it’s my way of engaging,” says Cohen.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Keil and Cohen are hosting an online presale of their full catalog in a unique format, with affordability in mind.

The presale on Facebook provides an opportunity to order photographs printed in several different sizes, and Keil and Cohen have formatted the photos with white borders, to maintain the original aspect ratios while also allowing for standard-size frames, a cost-effective, gallery-quality presentation.  The presale collection features their “Top 50” curated photos, selected street photography and a special array of additional pieces.

Compared to the rigors of satisfying discerning clients in their commercial work, capturing nightlife action can be even more difficult because the environment is so dynamic. Dancing crowds and changing light conditions make it a challenge to maintain the context, get the desired exposure, and interpret the mood, atmosphere and texture of a scene.

 

“It is way harder than anything else we do,” says Cohen. “It always depends on what comes your way. You have to be ready, prepare, adapt; street photography is so important in that it teaches you adaptation, every new street you’re going to walk down presents an algorithm of the possibilities, you have to set the depth of field and know what your numbers are to get a good exposure and increase your chances of success. It’s really hard. You hope to get maybe five truly great photos a year. Learning new techniques and being prolific, it’s the price you have to pay for those enduring images.”

Keil sometimes has a tendency to interact more with people during a shoot, to collaborate by providing feedback and directing her subjects to try different poses, or to say “Oh, let’s do that again!”

Getting involved in the work is a lot of fun, yet she is serious about the intensity of street photography, being attentive to the details that add context to her work.

Both agree that as much as Keil has learned from Cohen about the various technical and aesthetic considerations of street photography, he has also learned from her many details of night shooting with flash, and also how to cross the boundary more and engage with the people in front of the lens.

“One really fun thing we do is take people we know out in our car and shoot,” says Cohen. “We might see some colors or texture or light that’s cool and put them out there, it’s fun to share that.”

They also do creative promotional shoots with models for Proper Playground Clothing Company, as well as numerous other private clients and events.

 

They started going to shows at Gallery 788 more than five years ago when the gallery was originally located on Washington Boulevard in Pigtown, which was the beginning of their relationship with many of the emerging Baltimore-area artists they now call friends.

They began shooting gallery events and followed Rodriguez and his growing enterprise to the MAP space on West Saratoga Street, and they continue to attend many of the music and performance shows and exhibition openings each month at the gallery’s new location in Hampden.

“We are sharing everything we’ve shot over the past five or six years, and Gallery 788 is the perfect place to celebrate it,” says Keil. “We have a very high standard, trying to show the best of what we have, it’s been good going back and finding things, looking back at everything we’ve done. We love Baltimore, it has so many talented and creative people and so much to offer.”

Rodriguez says of the duo, “They go to so many events, it’s exciting to see all of that come together in a show. Their styles are uniquely and totally theirs. Larry is especially strong on photojournalism, and Theresa’s work is colorful and vibrant yet very technically sophisticated, it works well together in their relationship, together and individually.”

“Our mission at Gallery 788 is to be welcoming, inclusive and accessible to everyone,” says Rodriguez. “Over the past eight years we have connected with more than three thousand artists. Through their work and their actions, Theresa and Larry share that spirit of people, relationships and community.”

The TLC exhibition runs from May 7 through May 17, with an Opening Reception Thursday, May 7 at 7pm and Closing Reception scheduled for Saturday, May 16.

Gallery 788 is located at 3602 Hickory Ave, Baltimore, Maryland 21211. The gallery hours are as follows: Thursday through Saturday: 1pm – 7pm; Sunday: 1pm – 6pm.

This comprehensive retrospective exhibition of photographs by Keil and Cohen will be an immersive experience. Like a leisurely jaunt in a well-made time machine, their work takes the viewer deep into many parallel worlds, providing emotional connections, aesthetic experimentation and plenty of TLC.

Prepare to be inspired.