David Swift Photography, View from the Ferry at Cups and Chairs, 701 South 5th Street, Philadelphia.
David Swift Photography at Cups and Chairs Cafe´
David Swift Photography, Cups and Chairs Cafe, photograph by Rob Lybeck
David Swift Photography, Cups and Chairs Cafe´
David Swift, Jed Williams and DoN met at Cups and Chairs Cafe´to see David’s photography show. David and Jed are both actors, it was fun listening to them chat about acting jobs and favorite plays. Jed Williams quoted John Wayne, ‘I’ve never been to a psychologist.’ And David Swift did a spot on impersonation of the Duke.
“And I believe him”, he said.
David Swift Photography, Cups and Chairs Cafe
What’s your favorite kind of acting or playwright?
“I like all kinds. I like British playwrights. I like George Bernard Shaw. Candida is a favorite. And Oscar Wilde. I think my work in theater and film has given me a sense of aesthetics and symmetry that carries over in my work.
I like to tell a story with my photographs. I think when I’m successful I’m telling a little story in the photograph. And, of course, the aesthetics of working in film and theater, the way the eye works left to right, and always trying to be mindful of composition. I especially think I learned that in theater and film making. It’s hard for me to not take pictures that are not symmetrical. I’m envious of people who do do that.” – David Swift
David Swift Photography, Fellow Photographic Society of Philadelphia member Rob Lybeck caught this beautiful view within a view.
“I shoot with film because, well I tried to jump on the bandwagon with everyone else but I just didn’t like the look of digital, in post production I would make it look like film. Even without trying to. It’s the way that I see. And so I thought, ‘Why not just use film?’ So I actually shoot less now and do a lot less post production.
I have a good success rate with film, on a role of 36 exposures I have a 90% or so rate of images that are useable. Which is really pretty good. I know I kind of carry over that over even when I shoot digitally. In my head, I actually I think everyone, to digress a little bit, especially people that are learning photography, should shoot in film. Because it really teaches you discipline.” – David Swift
The loosely formal compositions of David Swift‘s photography range from long view landscapes to intimate portraits. The landscapes are influenced by movies and plays as if the information rich shots are stills from a movie set. The black and white photographs are shot on film then transferred to digital, prints are then made from the .jpg. The rich deep blacks and soft almost pale tones of skin tie the show together thematically. But there are bold statements of color, often exotic scenes, that creates a visual conversation between the photographs. The presentation is beautiful, the Cups and Chairs Cafe´, has beautiful light from 5th Street streaming in but it’s a challenge to capture a photograph behind glass with another photograph.
David Swift Photography, Cups and Chairs Cafe, 701 South 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA, through March 2013.
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Written and photographed by DoN Brewer except where noted, thank you to Rob Lybeck for contributing photographs to this story. View From The Ferry used by permission of David Swift Photography
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