Devotion to BLACK & WHITE

Retired Laconia psychiatrist wins photography award

By ADAM DRAPCHO, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — Joe Sack’s family took a lot of pictures when he was growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – “They just loved taking Polaroids,” he said – but it wasn’t until Sack was across the Atlantic Ocean that he began a serious interest in photography.

Dr. Sack, as he is known to many in Laconia, is a retired psychiatrist who studied at Dartmouth College and then Johns Hopkins University, and in 1972 was in London on a fellowship, and he decided to purchase a Pentax camera, which the clerk at Harrod’s department store proceeded to show him how to operate.

“I submitted a couple of photos to Hopkins Magazine, and I actually won a contest,” said Sack. And so he began a passion for photography that continues to this day. Since retiring from his medical career, Sack has made photography his primary pursuit. This summer, his effort is being recognized by Black & White Magazine, which gave his submission an “Excellence Award” and chose one of his photos for the cover of its “2017 Contest Winners,” currently on stands.

His submission to “Black & White” were selections from a trip he and his wife, Diana, took in June of last year to Botswana and South Africa. He shoots with a Sony a7RII, which he said left him easily out-gunned in comparison to the other shooters on the safari truck, but he still managed to capture arresting images: An elephant calf mimicking its mother’s trumpeting, a line of elephants walking single file, a leopard baring its teeth, a closeup on a lion peering between branches.

He shoots in color but prints almost exclusively in black and white.

“In some ways, color distracts,” he said. Converting the images to black and white lends them a timeless quality, he said, and makes them “a little bit more interesting.”

Sack has previously had his photographs published in periodicals such as National Geographic, F2 Camera Craft, and the magazines for the Appalachian Mountain Club, Loon Mountain Ski Resort and the Association of Dartmouth Alumni. He has also amassed a portfolio that chronicles his travels and outdoor adventures, as well as the growth of his and his wife’s family, which now includes two sons and four grandchildren.

“The thing is, I retired in the beginning of 2011. One of the things I’m always interested in is how do people continue to stay productive, and how do people continue to pursue their passion,” he said. “I sort of had to ask myself: How did I become so competent in medicine? If I can figure that out, I could gifure out how to become competent in photography.”

The answer, Sack concluded, was to seek out the best teachers that would take him, and to study the art as much as he could. He took classes with esteemed printer Jon Cone in Vermont, and fine art photographer John Paul Caponigro in Maine. He also haunts the New Hampshire Institute of Art.

“It’s been an incredible education,” he said. He was willing to share one thing he’s learned: “The trick is to always have good projects.”

Next on his itinerary are a hike on Vermont’s Long Trail, and a trip to Southeast Asia. Wherever he goes, he’ll keep his eye out for another award-winning image.

For Sack, having his work recognized by publications such as “Black & White” offers vindication.

“I guess, substantiation that I seem to be doing good work. Fortunately, I don’t have to be making a living at this, and I don’t sell... But, there’s something (that’s) nice to be getting some outside vindication that your work is of some quality. So it was very nice to get some kind of recognition.”

Joe Sack caught this image of an elephant in Botswana.

Ski lifts at Gunstock Mountain.

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Sack was able to capture the moment that his son, Will, returned home from a deployment in Afghanistan and met his daughter for the first time.

Black & White Magazine selected this photo for the cover of its issue currently on stands. You can see more of Sack’s work at joesackphotos.com. (Courtesy photos/Joe Sack)