East Bay’s small Frame1A Gallery making big splash in area photo scene

To those of us among the great unwashed the rarified world of fine art photography may seem like something only determined in New York City and other cultural meccas However a pair of Bay Area photographers has decided Alameda can be a part of the sepia tone scene as well Since July of this year the duo of Jeff Heyman and Sharonda Grant who goes by Westeigh have operated Frame A Gallery and Photographic Salon a tiny one-room space that also spills out into a hallway just east of downtown Alameda in an old house that s also home to therapeutic and other offices on Central Avenue It ain t the exactly The Whitney whitney org but it s a start The two photographers met through an exhibit they both had photos in at San Francisco s de Young Museum in and hit it off From there they started doing photo workshops together at Alameda s Frank Bette Center for the Arts and realized they both cared about the photo population and how we required to make something for people who are not getting their work on the walls says Frame A gallery co-owner Heyman In other words they requested a photo gallery Initially they were considering opening up in Carmel often referred to as the birthplace of West Coast photography and one of the world s fine art photography meccas where Ansel Adams prints can be had for thousands of dollars However the pair s grand plan was derailed after a tour of the area where they both returned feeling the work available was devoted soley to old masterwork It s all Ansel Adams and Edward Weston And the photos cost a lot So it seemingly wouldn t be a space for new upcoming emerging photographers says Heyman Photographs printed on surfboards isn t our idea of photography That s when the pair decided to develop a small space for emerging Bay Area photographers We were feeling if we had the opportunity to have a small space to show emerging photographers that are local to the Bay Area we would love to do that says Heyman Then serendipitdously the Central Avenue space became available Westeigh who works as a financial fraud investigator describes it as an intimate viewing space An Oakland native she is a self-taught photographer and San Francisco State molecular biology graduate who got her first camera in the shape of Spiderman at age and has been snapping away ever since Considering that the majority people in the present day only take photos on their phones and never print them out she says a lot of people don t take photos seriously until it s the last remembrance of a loved one Under the current circumstances fine art photography may seem like a lost art but not to Westeigh Lately she has even been going in to her darkroom to print out photos taken on film It s very tactile I ve been printing in the dark room lately and it takes me about minutes to develop a roll of film And then after I develop it it has to dry and then I can go and print it It s a process It might take you an hour to get a photo says Westeigh It s a magical experience to see it appear It s like something that was in your mind on film Heyman comes from a more traditional art photography background He also studied at San Francisco State earning his bachelor of fine arts degree in in fine art photography A retired U N and Peralta Area College District community information officer Heyman took photos in far-off locales like Bosnia while with the United Nations Frame A welcomes all photography methods for exhibition consideration but their upcoming show is only for shot-on-film photos which has hit a nerve The next show in February is an all-film show says Heyman Thirty people entered and the only criteria was you had to shoot it on film in the last year You could print it any way you want in the dark room but it had to be shot on film Another feather in the cap for the small but mighty gallery is their upcoming participation in next year s Carmel Center for Photographic Arts PhotoCarmel series of events begining in April Frame A will be one of three Bay Area galleries to provide photographic programs to the East Bay during the celebration PhotoCarmel is an opportuniry for locals to see to the same caliber of photographic discourse and artistry happening in Carmel says Heyman At Central Ave in Alameda Frame A Gallery and Photographic Salon is open from a m to p m Saturdays and by appointment For more information online visit frame a com Paul Kilduff is a San Francisco-based writer who also draws cartoons He can be reached at pkilduff gmail com