The Tuscany region of Italy is known for its art, its history and its evocative landscapes. Now through January 4, 2004, a taste of Tuscany is only a short day-trip from Middle Georgia at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta.

Fernbank is hosting a historical perspective of the region in an exhibition of ancient artifacts entitled The Etruscans: An Ancient Culture Revealed.  The exhibit contains artwork in the most ancient of media - pottery, jewelry and painting. The objects come from the Cambi Collection, a large private collection which has never before been outside Italy.

Accompanying and enriching the artifacts is an exhibition in one of the newest artistic media – a photographic exhibit by the American husband and wife team, Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee. The couple traveled to Tuscany in 1999, 2000 and 2001 to make the photos displayed.

The Etruscans emerged and grew wealthy in the 8^th- century, BCE. By the 4^th-century, they had been overshadowed by Rome. The Etruscans were long thought mysterious, but now we know a great deal about them. Archeologists have unearthed remnants from their long buried buildings and pieced together the Etruscan culture.

The Etruscans lived in the area now known as Tuscany, a region filled with rolling hills, small towns and fascinating structures. It’s scenery made for photographers Smith and Chamlee, who are respected for their landscape photography.

"In landscape photography like this, there is always the ineffable notion of visual metaphor that transforms a mere record into something that affirms, reevaluates, and bears witness to our place in the world,” says Robert Sobieszek, Curator of Photography and Deputy Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. “Choosing well, making connections, constructing relationships and rerelationships, discovering hidden glosses, suggesting new associations, and mediating subjective reflections of the real are, in the end, what matters most.”

To make the trips, Smith and Chamlee loaded up their specially equipped Land Rover with photography equipment, shipped it to Rotterdam, and drove across Europe to Tuscany. They camped and worked out of the vehicle for more than a month on each trip. The Rover was essential. It carried, and allowed the couple to work with the large and cumbersome view cameras they use.

The exhibit consists of 70-photographs by Chamlee and 59-photos by Smith. She focused on the scenic hillsides, mountains, dirt roads, crops and antiquated buildings. He turned to the lovely foliage-enhanced terrain and the architectural elements of Tuscan edifices. Both photographers are critically acclaimed, and each offers unique views of the Tuscan countryside.

Paula Chamlee began her artistic career as a painter. She found photography in the mid-80s and fell in love with the world outside her studio. She began work with a large view camera in 1990.

Despite being largely self-taught as a photographer, Chamlee has been the recipient of numerous grants, including the Leeway Foundation grant for “Excellence in Photography.” She has exhibited widely and many of her prints are in private collections.

Chamlee’s work has also been the subject of books. Her early published efforts concentrated on her photos of the natural landscapes of the American west. . For her second book, “High Plains Farm, “ she retuned to her roots. She photographed and wrote about the farm where she grew up in the Texas panhandle. Chamlee’s work was the subject of a PBS documentary also entitled “High Plains Farm.”

Michael A. Smith earned a B.S. in pre-law from Temple University, but found his calling when he began working in photography in 1966. Only a year later, he moved from the small cameras used by almost everyone else to a large view camera.

Smith began traveling the country in a 1961 International pick-up truck that had begun life as a fire department vehicle. His photographs of the American west soon earned critical acclaim. By 1980, he turned to a different landscape. He applied his eye to urban settings.

Smith was approached by Roger Mandle, Director of the Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art, with an urban project commission. Mandle had seen how Toledo was changing, and believed Smith could document the city. Smith agreed, but only after getting Mandle’s assurance of artistic freedom. Smith warned he might photograph only cracks in the street. Mandle replied, “As long as they are in Toledo.”  The Toledo project was so successful, it led to similar projects in New Orleans, Louisiana and Broward County, Florida – all at the request of various urban commissions.

In 1992, Smith was honored with a 25-year retrospective exhibition at the International Museum of Photography at the Eastman House in Rochester, New York. To mark the occasion, Michael A Smith: A Visual Journey–Photographs from Twenty-Five Years was published.

The couple is currently working on a joint project – a book of still life photographs entitled The Bonsai of Longwood Gardens.

Smith and Chamlee both use the 8x10 view camera, a format frequently used by celebrated photographers such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. The camera makes a negative 8-inches by 10-inches, which is equal in square inches to an entire roll of 35-millimeter film. In 1977, Smith began to use an even larger camera – an 8x20. He used both cameras in Tuscany.

You can preview the exhibit by visiting the couple’s website – www.michaelandpaula.com. They have scanned many of their Tuscany photos and posted them on the site, but be forewarned. No scan displayed on the internet can match the exquisite subtlety of fine photographic prints such as those made by Smith and Chamlee.

The exhibit covers two floors at the center. The photographs are also featured in two companion books to be published in the Spring: Tuscany, Volume 1, photographs by Paula Chamlee, and Tuscany, Volume II, photographs by Michael A. Smith. The books can be ordered by email from books@michaelandpaula.com.

The Fernbank Museum of Natural History is located at 767 Clifton Road, N.E. in Atlanta. For ticket sales, you can call  (404) 929-6400.  The museum is open every day except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas day. Hours are 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Admission for adults is $12 and for children 12 and under is $10.

In this day of digital cameras, PhotoShop ™ and giclee prints made on inkjet printers, Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee still make their photographs with methods more than 100-years old.

They use large format view cameras, producing negatives that are 8x10 inches or 8x20 inches. They make such large negatives because they do not enlarge them. They make contact prints – the negative and printing paper are pressed together in a glass frame while the paper is exposed. The prints are the same size as the negatives. It’s a process that yields much greater detail in the prints.

Even the paper they print on is special - Kodak Azo paper.  Back in 1898, Photo Materials Company of Rochester, New York first manufactured Azo. In July of that year, Photo Materials was bought out by Eastman Kodak, and Kodak has made Azo paper ever since. It’s made with a silver chloride emulsion, which is so slow, Smith uses a spotlight to expose it.

Smith and Chamlee mix their own paper developer. They use an elixir developed by Smith containing amidol as the developing agent. It’s the most active developing agent known. The combination of Azo paper and amidol developer yield prints with a tonal scale unachievable with other methods.

Smith and Chamlee’s unusual methods also extend to their film and film developer. In 1994, Kodak announced it was discontinuing their favorite film, Super-XX.  The couple bought Kodak’s last remaining supply and stored it in a freezer. They believe they have enough film to last the rest of their lives.

They develop the film in their own formulation of ABC pyro. Pyro was the first organic photographic developer. It was first used more than 150-years ago. Pyro adds a tannin stain to the negative, which, combined with the silver image, produces negatives of great contrast and sharpness.

Smith has written extensively on the couple’s methods. You can read more at their website – www.michaelandpaula.com.