[262] Photographer Stein returns to MTSU’s Baldwin Gallery with new ‘Harlem Street Portraits’

MURFREESBORO — Acclaimed photographer Harvey Stein is returning to MTSU's Baldwin Photographic Gallery with a new exhibit, "Harlem Street Portraits," that opens Tuesday, Jan. 20, for a monthlong run.

Stein, who brought his photo collections from Mexico and Italy and from Coney Island to MTSU in 2007 and 2011, respectively, also plans a free Feb. 5 public lecture at 7 p.m. in Room 103 of the Bragg Mass Communication Building on campus.

He shot the photos for the "Harlem Street Portraits" exhibit over a 23-year period to capture the "energy and grace" of the New York City neighborhood he says has always been "welcoming and vibrant and eager to connect."

The photos in the Baldwin Gallery exhibit, which ends Feb. 26, also are included in a hardbound book published in 2013.

The Baldwin Photographic Gallery is located in Room 269 of the Bragg Mass Comm Building, and its operating hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. The public can schedule a visit to the nationally renowned gallery by contacting MTSU photography professor and Baldwin curator Tom Jimison at tom.jimison@mtsu.edu or 615-898-2085.

Stein, an award-winning photographer, author, educator, curator and lecturer, is director of photography at the Umbrella Arts Gallery in New York City and has had his photos exhibited worldwide as well as included in 50 museums and private collections. He teaches at the International Center of Photography in New York City and also conducts major photo workshops across the United States.

Of the Harlem photos, Stein explains that they’re “mostly collaborative portraits that abandon the strategies of candid photography and instead engage the individual with their full knowledge and involvement.

“I usually don’t point, shoot and scurry on,” he continues. “I want to enter into some kind of exchange and dialogue. Usually at my instigation, we share a brief conversation or laugh, comment on the passing scene, come to a shared understanding. I want my subjects to be as aware of my presence as I am of theirs.”

You can learn more about Stein’s work at his website, http://harveysteinphoto.com. The Baldwin Photographic Gallery website is located at http://baldwinphotogallery.com. A searchable campus map of MTSU, complete with parking details, is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParking14-15.