Behind the Glass Gallery - June 2025
Come visit the Mercatile on Main on First Friday June 6th from 6 to 8 PM to check out the June edition of Behind the Glass!
This launch event features artists from a culmination of a recent class conducted at the Flower City Arts Center. This gathering of artists, curated by Rob Bell, showcases the distinct perspectives of three talented individuals as they present their work under the theme "Found Frames."
Links referenced in this episode:
@laurelliphotography - @smitleysstreetpics - @flowercityarts - @merconmain - @byrobbell
Mentioned in this episode:
Joe Bean Coffee - Coffee that lifts everyone.
Use promo code Lunchador for 15% off your order! https://shop.joebeanroasters.com
Transcript
All right, we're back.
Speaker A:We're back with our next episode of behind the Glass Mirror.
Speaker A:Rob Bell here with Chris.
Speaker B:Hey.
Speaker C:Hey, you.
Speaker A:We're here to talk about our next First Friday event on June 6, Mercatella, Maine, 6 to 8.
Speaker A:So please come down if you're free.
Speaker A:And yeah, I'm excited about this group because this is a group that was curated by our fellow fellow curator here, Rob Bell, and he's gonna, basically, he'll probably guide the whole episode.
Speaker A:I'll be here to, you know, support.
Speaker A:It'll be his first one that he's doing on his own mostly.
Speaker D:But that's not true.
Speaker A:But yeah, yeah, but Rob's on his.
Speaker C:Own all the time.
Speaker A:All the time.
Speaker B:You know, I mean, he's.
Speaker A:He's dolo all the time.
Speaker A:But no, I'm excited about this because this is kind of like a culmination of a class that you taught at Flower City Arts Center.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:Where the last class is actually today with our three students.
Speaker A:And yeah, you can, you know, definitely let us know how they were able to implement what you taught.
Speaker A:You could talk a little bit about, you know, what you basically were kind of implementing with your curriculum with this class and the whole basis of it.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker A:Yeah, and we'll talk about, you know, what they're going to bring to the gallery.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker A:Yeah, so I'm excited about this.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Let's introduce who we got first.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So right now we have Marcus Essien, we have Matthew Smitley, and we also have Nick Lorelli.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So we're gonna.
Speaker C:We're gonna take a quick break.
Speaker C:Not on the live video.
Speaker C:Speaking of which, we are streaming live, so we're gonna be doing that for most of the episodes going forward, so streaming live on Instagram and on The Lynchador Podcast, YouTube.
Speaker C:So if you want to follow that later, you'll be able to watch the whole video there and also clips later on social media.
Speaker C:So we're going to go to our quick break for the audio recording and we'll be right back.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker D:So when Flower City first asked me to teach this class, I was excited because usually I teach a college class and no offense to my college students, if any of them are listening, they probably not, but if anybody is, there are times when I get students who are just there for the credit.
Speaker D:And I figured that with this class teaching adults, anybody who would come to a photography class at 6:30 on a Wednesday was probably very interested in and photography.
Speaker D:So I was excited to be around that energy and I was blessed to have these students show up because they came with a lot of curiosity and a lot of.
Speaker D:Just a lot of energy to wanna be.
Speaker D:To understand this facet of photography.
Speaker D:We talked about street photography, which from the beginning was something I didn't think that I was teaching y' all, but more or less introducing the things that kind of stimulate my creativity and to see if we could kind of learn together.
Speaker D:So each one of y' all from week one, just really brung it with the images and the energy.
Speaker D:We had great conversations.
Speaker D:And this is the culmination of that class.
Speaker D:Kind of like a graduation, so to speak.
Speaker A:It's your final project.
Speaker A:Hope you do well.
Speaker D:And just.
Speaker D:Just so everybody knows, this wasn't the idea for the class.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker D:About two, with.
Speaker D:With about two weeks left in the class, Rich and Q approached me and say, hey, would your students be interested in being a part of the June's gallery?
Speaker D:And I said I could ask them, but that would be amazing because I think that they.
Speaker D:They deserve it.
Speaker D:And it would be a nice kind of ending to the energy that we.
Speaker D:That we built.
Speaker D:And we came up with a theme, Found Frames, which is kind of a double entendre.
Speaker D:One, the photographers decided to frame their works in unusual frames that are found and not just ordered off of Amazon or bought from Hobby Lobby.
Speaker D:And then the idea of found frames is something we talked about a lot.
Speaker D:Just being present in street photography, walking the streets and being conscious of what your eye catches and the decision to take a shot and what goes into that.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker D:So that's a little intro into this show, which I think is unique from all the other behind the glass shows.
Speaker D:But start with Nick and talking to Nick.
Speaker D:I know, I know he's a.
Speaker D:I know he likes to be behind the camera.
Speaker D:He's a little shy, but we're gonna bring him out of the show today.
Speaker D:You mentioned your father's a photographer.
Speaker E:Yes.
Speaker D:And this is something that you've kind of always wanted to do.
Speaker D:Can you talk about your background and everything that brought you up to the point of deciding to take the class at Flower City?
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:So I've been doing photography on and off for over 10 years, since I was a teenager.
Speaker E:My dad was a gardener.
Speaker E:I worked at the Roosevelt Estates.
Speaker E:So he had a lot of exposure to, like, nature, landscape, photography.
Speaker E:And I always looked up to that.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker E:And so I spent a lot of time doing that in my teenage years.
Speaker E:I kind of fell out of love with photography because I couldn't kind of get to what my dad was doing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker E:And then I eventually got myself my own camera in college and kind of started getting back into it.
Speaker E:And then once the pandemic hit, I really started to, like, find that love for, like, going out.
Speaker D:Nice.
Speaker E:And then I recently got my dream camera a couple months ago, got the membership at the art center.
Speaker E:I'm like, I really got to.
Speaker E:It's now or never.
Speaker E:And I went through.
Speaker E:I went through the different classes, different people teaching.
Speaker E:I just saw something in Rob's portfolio that really kind of caught my eye, and I thought that was kind of where I wanted to start working towards.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker E:And I just signed up for the class, and here we are.
Speaker D:Nice.
Speaker D:So one thing that I noticed very early in your work, Nick, was you mentioned your dad did a lot of landscape photography.
Speaker D:And I think you are really talented at, like, scale and how you frame certain images in their relation to what's around them.
Speaker D:I know one of the first shots you shared was kind of this wide shot of this car, this classic car in the parking lot with, like, a streetscape kind of behind it.
Speaker D:And the way the light was hitting the buildings, it was just.
Speaker D:It was.
Speaker D:It was landscape, but it was city at the same time.
Speaker D:What do you look for when you walk in the streets?
Speaker D:Like, what is your eye drawn to?
Speaker E:It's hard to say.
Speaker E:A lot of.
Speaker E:A lot of things I like, kind of like birds have been something that I've kind of seen in my work recently as well as, like, people, but how they relate to their surroundings.
Speaker E:So, like, that car, how it related to the buildings around it.
Speaker E:One of the other pieces was of, like, the local artist doing the.
Speaker D:What was it?
Speaker E:The.
Speaker E:The water towers.
Speaker D:The graffiti at the water tower.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:So I try to kind of bring in, like, a single subject and show how it, like, relates to a surrounding.
Speaker E:So kind of looking for those kind of things that you'd pass by, but kind of how they leave their mark on their surroundings.
Speaker D:Has your dad seen your work since you've been shooting again?
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:My mom's more of a fan than my dad, but he's starting to come around, especially the stuff that has nature in it.
Speaker A:Now, why is that?
Speaker A:Why do you think?
Speaker A:Why do you think that?
Speaker E:I don't know.
Speaker E:I think I've always been, like, a mama's boy, so I always vie for space at home.
Speaker E:So whenever I can convince my mom to put some prints up on the wal, it's a little win.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:Is your dad, like, very critical of.
Speaker D:Of your.
Speaker D:Of your stuff?
Speaker E:Yeah, I have.
Speaker E:I'm kind of a Little bit of a gearhead.
Speaker E:And he's had.
Speaker E:I got him a point and shoot.
Speaker E:Was it SX740 canon?
Speaker E:And that's like, he's been using point and shoots for like 20 years and he, he always gets something crazy out of it.
Speaker E:And here I am loading around like £30 and he thinks I'm.
Speaker E:Thinks I'm crazy.
Speaker A:Are you shooting film or digital?
Speaker E:Digital Nikon.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker D:Okay, so another thing that's interesting about our time, we went on a couple photo walks during the class and Nick was our resident behind the scenes photographer.
Speaker D:On those walks, he would catch shots of us shooting.
Speaker A:So it's candid.
Speaker D:And me, myself, I hate when other people take photos of me because I'm like, you make me look crazy.
Speaker D:But Nick is actually really, really good at it.
Speaker D:Like, I've posted a few of those photos on Instagram.
Speaker D:What was.
Speaker D:You said you like photographing people.
Speaker D:Was that just a natural instinct to step back during those walks and capture us?
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:So I spent a lot of time photographing family events.
Speaker E:And as someone who does not like having my picture taken, I like to be able to kind of get people in those moments where they do have a picture of themselves that looks good.
Speaker E:And I think that you guys all have like different techniques when you were taking photos.
Speaker E:So even like some of it was a process of me trying to like learn from you guys, but kind of capture how you were looking at the world around you.
Speaker D:That's awesome, man.
Speaker D:Was there a conversation that we had in the class that kind of stuck out to you more than anything?
Speaker D:I mean, we talked about a lot.
Speaker D:We did a lot of goofy prompts, had them shoot random objects, really, and things.
Speaker D:Things of that nature.
Speaker D:But anything that stuck out, did you think helps your process going forward?
Speaker E:Yeah, I think particularly like the captioning for the photos as well as kind of describing the places, if it was a person, kind of help building that intentionality and kind of that forethought into the things I'm doing.
Speaker E:Because sometimes I get caught up in the moment.
Speaker E:But taking that process slowly helped kind of see what I wanted to get out of it than just taking it and being like, it looks cool.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's also really interesting to see, you know, to hear that the photo descriptions kind of made a difference.
Speaker C:We've been doing the audiobooks for in this Moment and we've had the.
Speaker C:All the pictures in the books described.
Speaker C:So people have been writing the photo descriptions both for people who are visually impaired, but also just, you want to listen to a Book about it and listening to it with the descriptions change the way I think about that stuff in books, too, because I've heard it described, and there's a richness to it when it's done well.
Speaker C:When you have to write out what you're either what you're planning on doing or what you've done, you really have to evaluate it differently.
Speaker C:You have to feel it.
Speaker C:And imagining describing it to somebody that can't see it is a great challenge and also really cool and force you to really think about the process.
Speaker D:I think a lot of photographers want to let the photo do the talking.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:You know.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I'm very, like, lax with my.
Speaker A:With my captions.
Speaker A:I'll put up, like, if it's a nighttime photo, I'll put up just a night emoji, and that's it.
Speaker A:When it comes to, like, showcasing in a gallery or something like that, I have to, like, really dig deep and, okay, what was I doing during that time?
Speaker A:Or where was I at?
Speaker A:Or what story am I trying to tell?
Speaker A:It's more in depth to actually get to, you know, what I want people to get from that picture.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, I've seen.
Speaker C:I've seen your stuff in a gallery.
Speaker C:You know, picture one, storefront.
Speaker C:Picture two, literally storefront.
Speaker C:Picture three, storefront.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:That's literally almost what it looks like.
Speaker A:It's a whole process, and I'm glad that you were able to implement that into the class, which is great, because a lot of people don't really think about that.
Speaker D:Well, it's storytelling, and I think that was a big part of what we talked about in the class was storytelling, and Monroe Avenue, I think, was a big part of what we did.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Can you talk things going on.
Speaker D:Can you talk about what it was like to be out there and shooting on the street during.
Speaker D:During some of those times?
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:I just want to add real quick.
Speaker A:When I did my class for Flower City Art center, we did a photo walk, and when we.
Speaker A:I took my students out there, there was a guy.
Speaker A:The cops were there, and there was a guy with a machete, like, walking up and down the street.
Speaker C:So, like, what a great subject.
Speaker A:It did not last that long.
Speaker A:We were like, all right, guys, let's go back.
Speaker C:I was going to say everybody chose to take a picture of the same thing.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was pretty wild.
Speaker A:This guy was just walking around.
Speaker A:The cops were trying to grab him, and he was just like, you know, just walking, just ignoring them.
Speaker A:It was pretty wild.
Speaker D:When we went out, it was cold.
Speaker D:It was Very cold that night, but.
Speaker A:Oh, it was a hot day for.
Speaker D:Us, but, yeah, but yeah, talk a little bit about that walk, though.
Speaker E:Yeah, I think we did two, right.
Speaker E:Monroe Ave.
Speaker D:The second one was on Oxford.
Speaker D:Oxford, yeah.
Speaker E:But I think Monroe can definitely be like a bit of a microcosm of Rochester.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker E:It's an incredibly interesting place with some old beautiful architecture and some new busted down buildings.
Speaker E:I think it's like a great place to kind of learn what you like to photograph because there's all sorts of different people, buildings, everything going on.
Speaker E:So I think it was a really good kind of like kickstart into the rest of the class to kind of look at those photos that I took and see what caught my eye and what was good out of those.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:It is very much like a back lot.
Speaker D:Like, it could double for a lot.
Speaker D:If you were gonna shoot a movie, Monroe Avenue could be like.
Speaker D:Oh, yeah, you know what I mean?
Speaker D:Like a double for a TV show or a movie or something like that.
Speaker D:And when we were showcasing our photos from that walk, y' all had like the same.
Speaker D:I think everybody has a different shot of the theater.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, right.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker D:But it was a shot that you had posted online that was almost identical to a shot that he.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker D:On the walk.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:And I.
Speaker D:We was comparing it.
Speaker D:Like, it's interesting to see different perspectives of the same thing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker D:So, yeah, that's real cool, man.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So when.
Speaker C:When you were talking, when you were talking about, you know, growing up, you said you were doing, was it agriculture or was it you.
Speaker C:What you were doing when you were younger?
Speaker E:Oh, I did a lot of, like, nature, wildlife.
Speaker E:Because my dad was a gardener.
Speaker E:Landscaper.
Speaker E:Took Roosevelt Estates.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because I grew up in greenhouse Christmas trees selling.
Speaker C:So small family business, meaning we did all the work and my dad was the owner and we did the work and weren't paid.
Speaker C:But there's something.
Speaker C:There's something about that too, where, you know, it's that different attitude.
Speaker C:I reflected on that as well.
Speaker C:My dad's a bit of a gearhead, but when he, you know, when he wants.
Speaker C:When he likes something, he stays with it, Stays with it.
Speaker C:Doesn't always want to change.
Speaker C:And I love that little bit of difference because I feel that with him too, where we can talk about some of that stuff, but we don't always see eye to eye on how we're doing it.
Speaker C:Like, oh, he became a Nikon guy.
Speaker C:He stays Nikon all the time.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Like, he's got some pretty nice Nikon Gear now, admittedly.
Speaker C:But, you know, I love that.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker C:That's the conversation.
Speaker C:Because I've been thinking about that more.
Speaker C:That relationship, that interaction, and when you have that similarity, like, oh, wow.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:That kind of hits a little bit.
Speaker C:But it's also nice that you can have that conversation because you get to learn about him in a different way.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:Than just as the son.
Speaker C:When you're younger, you get to know him a bit more through the way he's taking pictures.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:And it's definitely helped me to kind of get across that barrier that I definitely had where I was like, oh, I don't have the best stuff.
Speaker E:I can't go shoot these things.
Speaker E:And my dad has, like, amazing photos, sells calendars, prints, all this.
Speaker A:Oh, wow.
Speaker E:And, like, is, like, pretty known around the town.
Speaker E:I'm like, okay, if he can do it with a $400 camera, I don't have any excuses anymore to not go put the work in.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:That's wild.
Speaker A:I wish that I.
Speaker A:When I was younger, because my dad worked at Kodak and I was around so many different cameras and whatnot, he would bring home stuff that I ever seen before, and I wish I was able to implement it when I was younger, and I appreciated it.
Speaker A:I'm glad that you're able to, you know, tap into that, you know, aspect of your dad and his photography and, you know, kind of carry on the legacy, you know, and so I'm sure he's pretty proud of you being in the gallery.
Speaker A:What did you say when you told him you're gonna be in the gallery?
Speaker E:They were really excited.
Speaker E:They're disappointed they can't make it for opening.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker E:But they're gonna come towards the end of October because I have a Juneteenth and the day after off.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker E:So they're planning on coming during the week.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker E:Because he's retired, but my mom teaches, so.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Thank you, Nick.
Speaker A:I appreciate you for, you know, giving it to time and telling us your story.
Speaker A:And we're gonna move it along to our next artist.
Speaker A:Matthew.
Speaker A:How you doing, Matthew?
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker B:How are you?
Speaker A:Good.
Speaker D:Matt.
Speaker D:Matt is the bike man.
Speaker A:The bike man.
Speaker D:He bikes mostly everywhere.
Speaker A:Listen, when I had.
Speaker A:When I had my scooter, I had.
Speaker A:I was able to get captured the best pictures around Rochester because I wasn't in a car.
Speaker A:Can go down one ways.
Speaker A:I can find and navigate through little places and alleys.
Speaker A:Fine.
Speaker A:Hidden street art.
Speaker A:I loved it.
Speaker A:And I'm sure on a bike you get that same aspect.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:And when You're.
Speaker B:When I'm riding, you're already kind of, you know, flow state.
Speaker B:You're.
Speaker B:You're in the moment.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:It's slow enough to see your whole environment, but it's fast enough to get around.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And not be in any one place at any one time.
Speaker B:You also have to move through neighborhood streets.
Speaker B:Most people, like, you, want to get from here to the airport.
Speaker B:You get on 590, you go to 390, you get off, you're at the airport.
Speaker B:You want to get from here to the airport on a bike.
Speaker B:You wind through neighborhood streets, cross a pedestrian bridge to Cobb's Hill, or you go through the 19th Ward, or you go wherever.
Speaker B:But you.
Speaker B:You explore and you get a chance to see what's going on.
Speaker D:And I.
Speaker D:I can see that in your work.
Speaker D:It's real gritty.
Speaker D:Before we get into it, you didn't really do any photography before this class, right?
Speaker B:I didn't do any art.
Speaker B:I mean, there's.
Speaker B:I did.
Speaker B:Well, apart from a urban sketching and painting class at Flower City Arts.
Speaker B:Turns out I suck at drawing.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker B:I still.
Speaker B:I haven't given it up.
Speaker B:I'd like to learn how to draw, but I decided to go a different direction for this.
Speaker B:For this class.
Speaker D:Fun fact, that was the only class I almost failed in college.
Speaker D:Drawing.
Speaker D:I had to go up to the.
Speaker A:How do you feel that?
Speaker D:She was, like, so demanding.
Speaker D:Like, this is not good.
Speaker D:I'm like, well, I'm not an artist.
Speaker C:I was going to say your chiaroscuro shading's not very good.
Speaker D:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker D:Like, this is supposed to be an elective.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:She said, like, you didn't interpret your own feelings very well.
Speaker C:Your feelings aren't valid.
Speaker B:Is this one of the common avenues into photography is sucking your drawings?
Speaker D:I think so.
Speaker D:If you can't draw, you paint with your eye.
Speaker D:We talked about that.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker D:So what made you sign up for the class, Matt?
Speaker B:So a lot of it was.
Speaker B:I've been living and working in the city for the past 25 years.
Speaker B:I bike commute almost daily for a while.
Speaker B:I didn't have a car here all year round through the winter.
Speaker B:I also go and race bikes in other cities and always take some time and ride around, like Baltimore or Buffalo or Roanoke or wherever.
Speaker B:Wherever we end up.
Speaker B:And you see a lot of stuff that is, like, beautiful or strange, funny, weird.
Speaker B:You know, you see all kinds of stuff going on, and it's.
Speaker B:It seemed like an interesting thing to share.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:So I remember after the first week, I forget what the assignment was that I gave.
Speaker D:I think it was to draw something.
Speaker D:But Matt came back with this photo of this abandoned, like, hoodie that was on these train tracks.
Speaker D:And it was simple, but the vantage point kind of pointed your eye and, you know, down the tracks.
Speaker D:And it was.
Speaker D:It like, blew me away.
Speaker B:Thanks.
Speaker D:You know, especially because you said that you didn't really have a lot of experience shooting.
Speaker D:So I was like, you have, like, a natural eye for it.
Speaker D:And then as we talked, you kind of said that you like this idea of things that are broken but are still trying to thrive.
Speaker D:And I just thought that was super poetic because it's.
Speaker D:That's like Rochester.
Speaker B:It's like Rochester.
Speaker B:It's like Philly.
Speaker B:It's like Buffalo.
Speaker B:It's like Cleveland.
Speaker B:You know, this.
Speaker B:It's like a lot of countries or a lot of Cities in the U.S.
Speaker B:right?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker B:It's like me.
Speaker B:It's like all of us in this room in one way or another, probably.
Speaker A:Definitely.
Speaker D:So can you talk about what you look for similar to what we asked Nick?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So some of it's that, like, at first, I think it was things that were out of place, things that were.
Speaker B:That didn't belong somehow.
Speaker B:Not necessarily in a bad way, but just that just stood out because you see a lot of that.
Speaker B:A guy with the machete on Monroe, you know, it's not supposed to be there.
Speaker A:I mean, maybe he is.
Speaker B:If he's going to be anywhere, that's probably the place you ought to be.
Speaker D:Absolutely.
Speaker B:But like that.
Speaker B:Like that.
Speaker B:Like that hoodie or.
Speaker B:Or other stuff.
Speaker B:But one of the things.
Speaker B:And this is jumping a question, but early on, one of the things that you said is find your vision and.
Speaker B:And refine it.
Speaker B:Don't try to.
Speaker B:Because there was.
Speaker B:I think I had a real tendency to try to chase something that I think other people will think is cool.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:That I think this is going to be a cool photo for other people to see, which is the wrong frame to be in.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So that's the one way to frame it.
Speaker B:So framing in the way is.
Speaker B:This is your vision.
Speaker B:This is interesting to you.
Speaker B:You know, dig into that.
Speaker B:Why?
Speaker B:So first was things that stand out, and then it was like, well, it's things that are struggling or have been beat down a little bit, but still are still trying to do their job.
Speaker B:It's also sometimes it's things that look like they're bringing comfort or, you know, joy into a place that is run down or gritty or dirty somehow.
Speaker B:Sometimes I find that really interesting.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:All stuff like that.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:You also got some great shots of, like, the city in, like, the morning when it's empty.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Which I thought were great.
Speaker B:I've always thought that the city, like, when you're.
Speaker B:When you're commuting on it on a bike, especially in bad weather.
Speaker B:And there's lots of bad weather around here, for sure.
Speaker B:People shuffling to and from with their heads down.
Speaker B:But if you're, you know, on your bike, you got your head up, you're looking around you, you see a lot of interesting stuff, and, you know, the city doesn't stop being the city from December to March.
Speaker B:It's still.
Speaker B:It's still got a beat.
Speaker B:It's just different, but it's still an interesting place to be.
Speaker D:That.
Speaker A:Is there something right now that you have captured besides the hoodie one that, you know, Rob likes?
Speaker A:But is there something that resonates with you that you capture?
Speaker A:You're like, wow, actually, I shot this.
Speaker A:This is actually great.
Speaker A:I like the story I'm trying to tell.
Speaker A:And it's in.
Speaker A:It's creating this vision that I want to try and dive down to now when I document more.
Speaker B:Yeah, there's a couple.
Speaker B:There's one of this guy, Scott.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:He's one of the guys that is, like, at the exit or on ramps and off ramps panhandling.
Speaker B:But I ran into him on my morning commute, and he was right under the bridge.
Speaker B:I actually wanted to be at this bridge.
Speaker B:The underpass right near Wegmans on Winton.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:Right up here, right where I live.
Speaker B:Because there's a.
Speaker B:There's just a cool spot with pigeons there, frankly.
Speaker B:So I'm gonna go here and take pictures.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:And then he.
Speaker B:He walked by with his.
Speaker B:With his bucket, and he sat down.
Speaker B:He's like, I don't want to get in your way.
Speaker B:So I was like, can I take your pictures?
Speaker B:So I took his picture and I got a picture of him, like, head on.
Speaker B:And then I went back and I back got my bike on the cross street just up the road, and he's still sitting on his buck bucket, looking, like, away from me.
Speaker B:So I sat there and kind of waited for, like, see if I could catch a pigeon flying while he's sitting there.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:I really liked that shot because it worked out.
Speaker B:One, it kind of worked out the way I had it in my head.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker B:Two, it's.
Speaker B:He's on his commute.
Speaker B:You know, he's.
Speaker B:This is his version.
Speaker B:And commuting is One of those things that.
Speaker B:Where I find a lot of my.
Speaker B:My shots and a lot of things I think are interesting.
Speaker B:He's on his commute to where he's going just like everybody else.
Speaker B:He's, you know, he's just a guy trying to get to his spot, and there's all, like, there's a lot of traffic there in the morning, that all those people are all moving too, not paying any mind to him.
Speaker B:So I thought that was really interesting.
Speaker D:Now, this is a proud teacher moment, because early in the class you asked me, how do you approach people and take their photo when you on the street?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:So you went from that to you crying.
Speaker A:You ain't.
Speaker D:I'm getting choked up.
Speaker D:You went from that to interacting with this guy who most people, with or without a camera, probably wouldn't interact with.
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker D:Do you feel like you kind of got it once you got to that point about how to interact with people on the street when you're doing photography?
Speaker B:Yes and no.
Speaker B:I think it was a kind of a rite of passage, kind of like a barrier broken down.
Speaker B:I actually did not.
Speaker B:I left.
Speaker B:I didn't ask him his name at the time when I took the picture.
Speaker B:And I felt.
Speaker B:I felt really bad about that after I left.
Speaker B:Like, this is.
Speaker B:This kind of didn't treat him as much as a person as I should have.
Speaker B:I was.
Speaker B:I ran into him later that day.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker B:It was really cool.
Speaker B:I was like, hey, man, I don't remember me.
Speaker B:I took your picture.
Speaker B:What's your name?
Speaker B:I met.
Speaker B:And it was really.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:That was really cool.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker D:That's awesome.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:That's serendipitous.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker D:I don't believe in coincidences, but it just shows you were on the right path.
Speaker D:And we talked a lot about that, about, like, being respecting a space when you're in it and people.
Speaker D:And not just like taking a picture and running away or sneaking a picture, but like talking to the person, becoming a part of an environment, hearing a person's story and how that shows through in the photo.
Speaker B:So that was a good lesson, too, because it seems like it could get.
Speaker B:It could get cheap.
Speaker B:If you see somebody who's really struggling just because it's.
Speaker B:Because it's novel.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That really cheapens it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:There was a guy, He's.
Speaker B:He was walking middle of the intersection, kind of circling manhole covers.
Speaker B:You might have seen this guy around, but he's.
Speaker B:There's something going on.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And it was.
Speaker B:It was interesting, but it really.
Speaker B:He's Obviously in a bad way.
Speaker B:And it would have really cheapened that whole thing to try to take pictures of him.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think that was.
Speaker B:I think that was a valuable thing to keep in the back of your head as you're.
Speaker B:As you're doing this.
Speaker B:Not to say that people are struggling.
Speaker B:You shouldn't photograph that or bear witness to it, but you should be aware of, like, what your purpose is.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:There's a fine line between exploitation and being present.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:And yeah, it's an interesting question.
Speaker C:I kind of wanted to go back to.
Speaker C:You're talking about how this was, you know, something that was new to you and you were kind of thinking you wanted to tell a story.
Speaker C:What.
Speaker C:Where were you in your head when you were thinking, like, oh, I want to start to express myself differently?
Speaker C:So what was the impetus for that beyond, like, oh, I think I have something to tell, but was there, like, hey, if you've been looking for a hobby, have you been looking for a way to express and just couldn't figure it out in your head?
Speaker C:Because I've been there where I didn't know what I wanted.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:When it came to expression, I tried a whole bunch of different things before I found out that this was the way that I could do this best.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:Where were you in your head when you were like, oh, try drawing.
Speaker C:Try photography.
Speaker C:What.
Speaker C:What was that?
Speaker C:What was your mental state?
Speaker B:Total existential crisis.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah, I'll admit.
Speaker C:Like, I'll.
Speaker B:Midlife existential crisis.
Speaker C:So no kids.
Speaker B:Nothing means anything.
Speaker B:What.
Speaker B:What about.
Speaker C:So, weirdly, like, Rob and I were talking about this.
Speaker C:We were prepping to do a storytelling event for the DNC where I was going to tell my story about some of that stuff.
Speaker C:And I've done some stuff like that before, but that when I started writing about food and writing restaurant reviews, that was the reason.
Speaker C:Not from age, but from, like, I didn't have a way to show myself.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:I didn't have a way to exist outside of just doing my day job and then, you know, consuming.
Speaker C:I didn't have a way to participate and engage with the city that I live in and the people that live here.
Speaker C:And that was my moment where, you know, I.
Speaker C:I had those.
Speaker C:That moment of despondent and, like, I.
Speaker C:I need something.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker C:And this is what I found.
Speaker C:And it was, you know, food and drink and then podcasting.
Speaker B:We have similar, you know, we're in similar kind of industries.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And our.
Speaker B:Our day jobs.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I think I'm good at my job.
Speaker B:There are parts of it That I like.
Speaker B:I like teaching people stuff.
Speaker B:I like doing things for customers.
Speaker B:I like being successful.
Speaker B:It's allowed me to consume in a way that I didn't think I'd be able to.
Speaker B:But it also is not exactly fulfilling.
Speaker B:It's not like a lot.
Speaker B:There's not a lot of self expression there.
Speaker B:And I knew these things were missing from my life, and I.
Speaker B:So I started trying to find ways to experience them.
Speaker B:You know, have kind of just a fuller life outside of that.
Speaker C:And it seems like you might have found your angle.
Speaker C:It seems like photography has kind of grabbed you a bit.
Speaker B:It has.
Speaker B:And it's a really good fit for.
Speaker B:For moving, like moving around on a bike.
Speaker B:I think it's.
Speaker B:It's a really cool way to see the world.
Speaker B:It's a really cool way to get pictures.
Speaker C:It's a hell of a feeling, though, isn't it?
Speaker C:Like when you decide to express yourself and then you find something that clicks.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Like there's something special about that that's kind of hard to define until you've experienced it.
Speaker B:It's pretty cool.
Speaker B:And I wouldn't expect myself to buy into something like this behind the glass exhibit or doing podcasts or anything like that.
Speaker B:It's really pretty cool.
Speaker A:Well, thank you all very much, Matt, for, you know, giving us your.
Speaker A:Your time and tell us your story, and we're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back and we'll finish off with our artists.
Speaker A:All right, we're back, and we're gonna finish up with our three artists.
Speaker A:Nick, what are you bringing to the gallery?
Speaker E:So after a very long time of trying to figure this out.
Speaker E:So actually, Matt suggested a couple different themes at the last class we were at together.
Speaker E:And so I kind of dug deep and I found a set of five photos that I've taken over the past year.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker E:All centering different birds.
Speaker E:Local birds of Rochester in a variety of situations around the town.
Speaker C:Okay, tell me it's not house sparrows.
Speaker C:We hate those stupid birds.
Speaker C:No, they're all over the damn place in our yard.
Speaker C:And my wife hates those birds.
Speaker B:Got real triggered over the house barrel.
Speaker C:Oh, she hates them.
Speaker C:Like she loves all the rest of the birds.
Speaker C:She hates those little ones.
Speaker E:So if I'm remembering all of them correctly, I have a hawk or a falcon of some kind.
Speaker E:Rock dove, a seagull, a turkey vulture, and something else that we'll see on the 6th.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker A:I love the range that we're bringing to the guy because we've never really showcased Both birds before, so that's really great.
Speaker D:All right, maybe we can get.
Speaker D:What's the Red Wing magazine mascot?
Speaker A:Spikes.
Speaker D:Spikes.
Speaker D:Maybe we can get spikes in the building.
Speaker A:Yeah, that'd be awesome.
Speaker C:I like that.
Speaker C:So where can people find you online if they want to check out any.
Speaker E:Of your work at Lorelli Photography on Instagram.
Speaker E:And I think that's it.
Speaker E:There's probably a defunct website somewhere from five years ago.
Speaker C:We all have defunct websites from five to 10 or 15 years ago.
Speaker A:Some of us still have Hotmails.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:All right, well, thank you, Nick.
Speaker A:I appreciate you.
Speaker A:We look forward to seeing your stuff on our walls.
Speaker A:Thank you, Matt, what are we bringing?
Speaker B:There are some shots that were done as parts of science from class and a lot of stuff from riding around a lot from commuting stuff like that.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And where can people find you?
Speaker B:I have Instagram, Smitley street pics.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker A:Love it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Well, appreciate you guys coming and talking to us a little bit about a little preview of what you bring to the gallery.
Speaker A:Do you want to, you know, end with anything, Rob?
Speaker D:I'm interested to see the frames.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker D:I think that that is going to be an interesting part of this, the.
Speaker A:Whole nother new kind of.
Speaker D:Yeah, it's going to add a lot of character to the show.
Speaker D:Okay, so I hate frames, right.
Speaker A:I like just being straight.
Speaker A:Like I like, for example, when I was at my last gallery exhibit, I just had them spray mounted on foam core and just had hung them up in there.
Speaker A:I just like the picture just being up there.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Then Matt Vanderly walks in just shaking his head at you.
Speaker A:Matt actually helped me with our behind the Glass shout out to Matt.
Speaker A:Those were foam core.
Speaker A:Also the end of the year celebration.
Speaker A:Cuz I wanted to showcase just the picture and not really, you know, distract from the frames.
Speaker A:But this is great because these frames that you guys are finding or found are definitely going to, you know, cohesively correlate with what you're trying to display in terms of birds.
Speaker A:Turn to street picks.
Speaker A:So it's going to be great.
Speaker A:All right, so my friend Chris, can you close it out?
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:So thanks everybody for tuning in live to the video and hopefully you check out some of the video stuff later on the lunch or YouTube or on behind the Glass on Instagram and catch some of the live stuff a little later.
Speaker C:Otherwise, if you want to learn more about podcasts, go to lunchadore.org to check out all of the shows on the Lunchadore Podcast network.
Speaker C:Want to highlight two of our newest shows, Bossy Roc from the team of Kelly and Kelly from Salinas and Marshall Street.
Speaker C:They're talking about being business owners and being really brutally honest about it.
Speaker C:It's a fascinating discussion and I know as somebody who's a very, very small business owner, it's really great to hear those real stories about those things.
Speaker C:And I also want to highlight a brand new show on the network from Emily Hestney lynch called It's a Lot where Emily talks about social media.
Speaker C: comes around being present in: Speaker A:Shout out to Emily.
Speaker A:That's great.
Speaker C:It's a lot.
Speaker C:So thanks so much for listening to this episode of behind the Glass.
Speaker C:We'll see you on which day?
Speaker C:Richard June 6th.
Speaker C:Next Friday, June 6th, 6 to 8 at the Mercantile on Maine.
Speaker C:We'll see you next time on the lunch of our Podcast Network and Behind the Glass.
Speaker C:This has been a presentation of the Lunchadore Podcast Network.
Speaker C:Maybe we'll find out at the gallery once and for all.
Speaker C:Are birds real?
Speaker C:We're not sure.
Speaker C:Check the captions.
Speaker C:We'll find out together.
