The St. Johns Cultural Council is pleased to present Snapshot St. Augustine, photographs by Kenneth M. Barrett, Jr., on display in the Rotunda Gallery in the St. Johns County Administration Building.

The St. Johns Cultural Council will host an opening reception for this exhibit on Tuesday, August 4, beginning at 8:15 am, just before the Board of County Commission meeting.  The public is welcome and encouraged to attend. The St. Johns County Administration Building is open to the public from 8 am until 5 pm Monday through Friday.         

Prowling about the dune lines, tidal flats and Florida scrub, Ken Barrett, Jr. has been seen fiddling with his cameras and tripods in Anastasia Island State Park.  Raised in St. Augustine, a University Florida graduate in photojournalism he continues to write the odd story now and then about marine related activities.  Self-professed ship's cook he practices procrastination and self-discipline working on his sailing story, Standing Off the Bar, about the Schooner Mariah and fictional captain Ian Leather Payne.  His photographs of St. Augustine and marine themes have seen gallery walls and have been published by The National Park Service, St. Augustine Historical Society, Pineapple Press and University Florida Press.  Most recently his photographs have appeared in Walking St. Augustine by Elsbeth Gordon.  A life member of the St. Augustine Art Association he is currently photographing what he refers to as 'old Florida.'  

           Photographs selected for this exhibit cover a wide range of events and activities in and around St. Augustine.  The removal of historic and everyday structures, long lost signage, historic reenactments, views of the shorelines and landscapes are captured using black and white films, color slide and print film and finally digital imaging. Ken has printed all his black and white images in his darkroom using Ilford papers.  The snapshot idea is a reference to Ansel Adams who remarked that the snapshot allows us to record the everyday events which surround us, and later these take on a newer meaning.

          “The snapshot is not as simple a statement as some may believe.  It represents something that each one of us has seen - more as human beings than photographers - and wants to keep as a memento, a special thing encountered,” Mr. Adams was quoted as saying.

          Ken also agrees with what Alfred Stieglitz said about vision and its execution.  “I believe that the artist and his art are only a part of the total human experience; the viewer in the world is the essential other part”.  As a celebration of St. Augustine’s 450 years of rich history these photographs are my view of our changing community. 

The St. Johns Cultural Council would like to thank the St. Johns County Board of Commissioners for their continued support of this Art in Public Places project. The Cultural Council is funded in part by a grant from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and with the support of the Florida License Plate Fund. For more information visit www.stjohnsculture.com.