Photography hobby becomes an art exhibit for Southeast Missouri man

After 39 years of toying, tinkering, losing interest and renewing his love with photography, Thomas Ertman will be displaying his work Saturday at the Cadmium River Group's Summer Event.

Ertman's photographs were shot with a combination of cameras -- some homemade and some plastic toys. He said most of his cameras cost less than $100.

"I'm trying to demonstrate what you can do with as basic tools as possible," the Southeast Missouri native said.

A restored Leica II camera from the 1930s is one of those tools.

"I bought the camera at a considerable discount because it was nonfunctioning," he said. "It took me 80 to 90 hours of cleaning and hoping it worked."

Ertman used the camera to capture some of the images on display in the exhibit, his first official show.

He has also handcrafted pinhole cameras, light-tight boxes with a single hole to expose the film to light, and a large-format camera with a single glass lens.

"With the single glass lens there is no correction like you get with a compound lens," Ertman said. "Around the edges you get that dreamy-distorted look."

He said he prefers film to digital photography.

"The difference is in the details and craftsmanship that goes into making a print," he said.

Ertman, a computer programmer, uses a program like Photoshop to measure the density of his negatives. That way he can gauge exposure time when making prints.

"I use that information to help save paper and see what a potential print will look like," Ertman said.

Randy Hays, president and founder of the Cadmium Group, said Ertman's work was selected for the exhibit because of his originality.

"There are a lot of photographers out there, but Thomas is an artist with what he does," Hays said. "He blends modern and centuries-old techniques."

Ertman was immersed in the world of photography from a young age. His mother was a photographer for the Cash-Book Journal and his father, a hobbyist, put together a darkroom in the bathroom.

In college he found inspiration in the works of Frank Hurley and Robert Demachy. Hurley is known for his images of Antarctic expeditions and the world wars. Demachy's photographic prints are manipulated to look like paintings.

Ertman started taking pictures but said his work was met with temperate results and his zeal turned into apathy.

When he was about 25, Ertman purchased a do-it-yourself pinhole camera kit made of paper while on an origami kick. He said that's when photography "moved from a hobby into an obsession."

He bought an old enlarger and a beat-up Canon 35 mm camera.

He began to stockpile old books dealing with the photographic process, collecting recipes for darkroom chemical concoctions and testing different papers and films.

He now restores old photographs and negatives using software to buff out scratches and re-darken faded areas.

"It's a part of history," Ertman said. "If anyone has taken the time to make a picture, it needs to be preserved."

Ertman's art will be displayed along with works from four organizations from Cape Girardeau and Effingham, Ill.

"The mission of the group is to help promote up and coming artists and motivate young artists," Hays said.

The Cadmium River Group's Summer Event banquet will have three dinner receptions at 6, 7 and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Global Cafe. The art will be on display through September. Hayes said the exhibit will feature a "Hollywood Room" with a Marilyn Monroe impersonator.

The cost to attend the banquet is $10. To make reservations, call the Global Cafe at 334-7955.