MCCC Gallery to Open Season with PANNAROMA -- MCCC, On View 9/2-25

"Pannaroma - MCCC" opens the new season at the Gallery at Mercer County Community College (MCCC). The exhibit features panoramic photographs by 18 photographers who used a specially designed 1x3 panoramic camera built by Thomas Roma, the Director of Photography at Columbia University. The show has been previously exhibited in New York City, Miami and New Orleans.

"Pannaroma," named for Roma's wife, Anna, opens Tuesday, Sept. 2 and runs through Thursday, Sept. 25. The public is invited to an opening reception on Thursday, Sept. 4, 6 to 8 p.m., that will feature statements by some of the photographers. The MCCC Galley is located on the second floor of the Communications Building on the college's West Windsor campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road.

According to MCCC Photography Professor Michael Dalton, co-curator of the exhibit with Gallery Director Dylan Wolfe, Professor Roma created 31 cameras from the mid-1980s through the 1990s built on a handheld 35mm Nikon F. Dalton notes that panoramic cameras at that time were significantly heavier and used larger film, requiring the use of a tripod. "Professor Roma's goal was to make the taking of panoramic photos easier and allow for more versatile subject matter," Dalton said.

Many of the photos in the exhibit capture interaction between people and their environment, a departure from the sprawling natural scenery typically depicted with panoramic cameras. "The Roma camera allows for more," Dalton says. "The result is a wide-ranging group of photographs that draws the viewer into the content of the photo."

"Pannaroma" features work from professional photographers, including a number of Roma's former students. In addition to Roma himself and MCCC's Dalton, the exhibit includes photos by Inbal Abergil, Tony Chirinos, Sasha Waters Freyer, Lee Friedlander, Stephen Hilger, Yoav Horesh, Zsolt Kadar, Richard LaBarbera, Jeff Ladd, Kai McBride, Laura Mircik-Sellers, Claudio Nolasco, Anibal Pella-Woo, Dennis Santella, Raghubir Singh and Daniel Willner.

Hours for this show are Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. More information about the 2014-15 exhibits at the MCCC Gallery is available at www.mccc.edu/gallery. Directions to the campus and a campus map can be found at www.mccc.edu/directions.

Pictured: "Anna and Tom" is a 1988 photo portrait of the Romas by Lee Friedlander. "Pannaroma - MCCC" comes to the MCCC Gallery Sept. 2-25. More information is available at www.mccc.edu/gallery.