Alan L. Sockloff

"My work has no hidden message-simply my goal is to capture and create images that lie somewhere between challenging and pleasing to the eye and soul."
-Alan L. Sockloff

Alan L. Sockloff was born in New York City, raised in Coral Gables, educated in Atlanta, employed in Philadelphia and retired in Brunswick. While thriving as a professor of quantitative psychology at Temple University, it was his love of photography that led him to early retirement, allowing more time to devote to photography.

The son of an amateur photographer who believed portraits to be his specialty, Alan and his sisters spent their early childhoods subjected to numerous portrait photo sessions. Despite this inauspicious beginning, Alan did develop an interest in photography and used his Kodak Pony 35 to record family travels and good times with friends. As he aged, his cameras increased in size, passing from 35mm through medium format to large format. His printing skills expanded after having studied silver gel photography with John Sexton and George Tice, as well as alternative processes with Christopher James and Brenton Hamilton, the latter three at Maine Media in Rockport, ME. Specializing in both wet darkroom black and white as well as alternative processes, Sockloff’s preferred subjects have been diverse, varying from abstract patterns of scrap metal and dynamic water flow to travel photography and land- and waterscapes. Over the years, he has exhibited his photos in group and solo shows in Pennsylvania and Maine.

While living in Bucks County, Sockloff’s studio had been the outdoors, and carrying his heavy equipment long distances was an essential part of going to his studio. Besides the scrapyard series, his largest projects during that time had been studies of the Tohickon and Falls Creeks in Bucks County as well as Kitchen Creek and its waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park. Of special interest to him in these projects are the results of random processes: lines & curves, texture, shading, and the forms that are created. These quasi-magical forms fascinates him, most when they take on partially recognizable, although not always obvious, shapes.

Sockloff and his wife moved to Brunswick full-time in 2007. Previously he had been photographing throughout Maine since 1990. Maine has provided a unique opportunity because of the great diversity it offers in subject, mood, weather, and lighting. Just as its landscapes are filled with rock formations and pine trees, its seascapes are dotted with numerous harbors and wharves, lighthouses, working boats, and dinghies says Sockloff.

His medium had been solely large format photography to produce analog negatives. Recently he has been using digital photography to produce digital negatives as well. He uses black and white silver gel as well as alternative process (cyanotype, kallitype, and gum bichromate) printing techniques.

Education
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, B.A. 1963, M.A., 1967, Ph.D., 1969, Psychology

Photo Workshops
Bucks County Community College, Bruce Katsiff, "View Camera," 1994
Maine Photographic Workshops, George Tice, "Master Printing," 1998
Anderson Ranch Art Center, John Sexton, "Advanced Large Format," 2000
Maine Media, Christopher James, "Alternative Processes," 2010
Brenton Hamilton,"Tri-Color Gum", 2014, "Calotype," 2015

Connection to Bucks County
Sockloff resided in Bucks County for a total of 33 years: 6 years in Warminster and 27 years in Holland. He and his wife moved full time to Brunswick, Maine in 2007.

Solo Exhibitons
Alfred Lowenherz Gallery, Uncle David's (and Bruce's) Scrapyard, 2001
Gallery 1101, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Scrap, 2002
The University of Maine, Machias, Coastal Maine from Eastport to Bailey Island, 2004
Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, Dynamic Water: Abstractions and More, 2005
111 Maine, Brunswick, Water, 2007-08
Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick, Eastport to Bailey Island: Coastal Maine, 2013

Group Exhibitions with Large Participation
Lafayette College, The Pleasure of Seeing: Six Photographers, 1998
Abington Art Center, Photography 2000 Pennsylvania
Allegheny College, Photography 2002 Pennsylvania
Recycled, Reclaimed, Reconstituted, 2001
Addison Woolley Gallery, Portland, Maine, Scrap in the Abstract, 2010
Addison Woolley Gallery, Portland, Maine, The Shape of Water, 2011
Addison Woolley Gallery, Portland, Maine, Something Old, Something New: Still Life Photographs, 2012

Group Exhibits with Small Participation
Abington Art Center, Annual Juried Show, 2002, 2003
Art Association of Harrisburg Annual Juried Exhibition, 2002-2004
Art of the State, Pennsylvania, The State Museum, Harrisburg, 2000, 2002, 2003
Artforms Gallery, No Color, 2002
Artsbridge at Prallsville Mills ,1995, 1996, 2000, 2002
Artsbridge Invitational Show at Ellarslie, 2002
Boothbay Regional Art Foundation, Maine Photography Show, 2008, 2014
Center for the Arts in Southern New Jersey Photography Exhibition, 1996-2003
Chocolate Church, Annual Photography Show, Topsham, ME 2008
Daniel Kany Gallery, Re-View: Abstract Photography by Maine Artists, Portland, ME
Historic Yellow Springs, Photography: Contemporary Prospects, 2001
Lancaster Museum of Art, Photo National, 2002
Maryland Federation of Art, Art on Paper, 2002
Ocean City Arts Center, Annual Juried Photography Exhibition, 2001
Perkins Center for the Arts, Photography, 1999-2001
Philadelphia Sketch Club, Photography Juried Show, 2002, 2003
Phillips' Mill Photographic Exhibition, 1994-2004
River Arts, Damariscotta, ME 2011, 2013, 2014
The Stage Gallery, Photography, 2002
Saltwater Artists Gallery, New Harbor, ME, 2008-2011
Thornton Oaks Arts Show, Brunswick, ME, 2013
3Fish Gallery, Portland, ME, 2013-2016
Washington Gallery of Photography, Regional Juried Exhibition, 2003

Major Awards and Prizes
Winner, Camera Club of New York, Second Annual Juried Show Competition, 2001
Winner, Center for Photography at Woodstock, Photography Now A-Z, 2001

Teaching Appointments, Residencies, and Other Professional Appointments
Director of Instrument Construction, Measurement & Research Center, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 1969-1975
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 1969-2003

Influential Artists
Andrew Wyeth (realism), Edward Hopper (minor key expression), Ansel Adams (outdoors wonders, black & white technique)

Important Teachers
John Sexton, George Tice, Brenton Hamilton (printing technique for all)