Howard Jennings's ninth solo show, "Sensitivity Training!" Thirty-Year Retrospective Exhibit 1978-2008," is, in part, dedicated to his late father and stepmother.

It also documents the evolution from his 1968 studies with Bill Crosby at Plattsburgh State to his re-energized digital aesthetics. The show features social documentation images, abstract Sabattier effects (solarizations), and never exhibited portraits from his travels in Greece and the Dominican Republic.

"I can't wait to go back," said Jennings of Greece. "It was amazing light and heat. It was 112 degrees in Athens. The blues were incredibly brilliant, the hues. It's a different kind of light. There's nothing more beautiful than where we are in the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain, but it's a different kind of beauty."

He and his wife, Laura, were typical tourists visiting various ruins and historical spots with the off-the-beaten-path exception of Varvitsa, a small village near Sparta. His brother-in-law's in-laws lived there.

"I was able to get portraits of these people I wouldn't have been able to get as a typical tourist," Jennings said. "Hopefully, the viewer gets some sense of the personalities. That was pretty exciting for me."

SENSITIVITY TRAINING

In the Dominican Republic, Jennings and his wife were tourists but also volunteered at a local school.

"That will depict the poverty they were dealing with. We brought school supplies, and they had a picnic with ice cream and sandwiches. Most of the Dominican images are from that. We did a tour and went into some coffee bean plantations. I was able to get some portraits there. That was a whole different kind of light as well."

Jennings's social documentation arises out of his desire to sensitize his viewers to social conditions in our local area. His influences include Dorothea Lange, W. Eugene Smith and Lewis Hine, whose Depression-era and social-documentation photography brought attention to the disenfranchised.

"People around the world think all the United States people are rich and live in mansions. This is far from the truth. The idea behind this show, Sensitivity Training,' is the images will evoke an empathy and certain sensitivity to our fellowman."

Jennings's work has appeared in numerous magazines, books and publications including Adirondack Life, Photographers Forum and Darkroom Techniques. He recently participated in the International Haiku Conference and Festival at Plattsburgh State. He collaborated with poet Roberta Beary to create haigas, a Japanese literary form, which incorporates an image and haiku.

"We seemed to be in sync as far as our approach and the kind of translation and so forth. She was a sweetheart and obviously very talented. I really never had that kind of opportunity before, to have someone to collaborate with my work that way."

MOSTLY DIGITAL NOW

At Plattsburgh State, Jennings received a master's degree in special education and studio arts. He was encouraged by Patricia Reynolds, an internationally recognized artist and Willsboro resident. In the summer of 1982, he was selected to study with his hero, Ansel Adams, an octogenarian at the time, at the Robert Louis Stevenson School in Carmel, Calif.

"Normally, his workshops were at Yosemite. It was his last workshop. Part of the time, I was in his home, his lab and book-writing room. He was a classical piano player."