2026 Salon Exhibition: An Afternoon to Remember
by Gwen Emminger, grad. 2022
February 28th arrived with exactly the kind of energy that reminds me why I love the PCNW community.
Walking into the auditorium that afternoon was something special. Photographs on all the walls, conversations buzzed, and laughter filled the room. The crowd was a beautiful mix: alumni, current students, new and old friends at every stage of their creative journey, all brought together by a shared love of photography. That kind of gathering is my kind of wonderful.
Several events in, something real is taking shape. A tradition is quietly building, and what made this gathering especially exciting was the fresh energy that came with it. New faces, new enthusiasm, and first-timers jumping in wholeheartedly. That is exactly what this is all about: a community that keeps growing, keeps welcoming, and keeps showing up for one another.
The heart of this event has always been straightforward: no applications, no jury, no sales, just art out in the open and free for everyone to experience. For some attendees it was their very first time showing work publicly. For others it was a long overdue reunion with familiar faces showing current work. New friendships formed, photo groups were born, and conversations stretched well past the two-hour mark.
That is the dream, right there.
Behind the scenes, a small but mighty crew made it all happen. Lisa Ahlberg and I co-organized, which is always equal parts exhilarating and humbling since there is always more to coordinate than you expect. Alumni contributed food and refreshments that kept the festive atmosphere going, and even people who couldn’t attend found ways to support, because that is simply the kind of community we have.
A big warm thank you to the PCNW crew including Terry Novak for opening the doors to us, Paulo for being our steady go-to guy, Macsen for preparing the space with care, the front desk crew for keeping everything running smoothly, and the marketing team for getting the word out.
And to Lisa, doing this with you makes every chaotic, rewarding moment worth it.
Here’s to many more afternoons just like this one, and to everyone who makes this tradition worth continuing.
Alumni Highlights
Harini Krishnamurthy
graduated 2017
interview by Joan Dinkelspiel, grad. 2017
“I am a photographic artist based in the Seattle, WA area. I work primarily with analog and alternative photographic processes and enjoy experimentation. I graduated from PCNW’s Certificate Program in 2017. My first solo exhibit Trails this way is currently on view at The Seattle Light Room gallery until April 25, 2026. I have had my work included in group exhibitions at PCNW, the LightBox gallery in Astoria, OR, and Tieton Arts in Yakima, WA. My work has also been published in The Hand Magazine and Analog Forever Magazine (online). I currently teach B&W and alternative process classes at PCNW and at The Seattle Light Room.”
How can we view your solo show at Seattle Light Room?
My first solo show “Trails this way” is now up at The Seattle Light Room’s new second place, “The Art Room” located at 4406C 50th Ave S, Seattle, WA. The exhibit runs from April 2 through April 25, 2026. The exhibit features work from my most recent series of work “Trails this way.” It is a celebration of our local trails and the work that goes into caring for them. Each image is a lumen print made by placing a digital negative on expired silver gelatin paper and exposing it to UV light. I then include additional layers of hand-painted or hand-stamped trail icons to the image. More details about the exhibit can be found here.
Other current shows?
I also have work in the group exhibition “In Practice” at PCNW, which features work made by PCNW faculty. My pieces in this show are from a completely different, ongoing body of work (“Dis / Connections”). The images try to channel my feelings on human connection and are made in the darkroom by selectively painting developer on parts of the image. It is an honor to have my work alongside so many wonderful teaching artists! More details on the show here.
Where and what are you teaching these days?
I am teaching the Photography II: Black & White darkroom class this quarter at PCNW. I also have a lumen printing workshop coming up at The Seattle Light Room on May 31, 2026.
Any new or continued processes and projects that you are exploring?
“Trails this way” has been my focus for the last year or so, and it feels good to share that work with others. I do want to continue working on “Dis / Connections.” I also have a couple of other ideas that I am starting to think about but nothing concrete yet. I’m certain they will include analog elements, but we’ll have to see how they evolve!
For more info about Harini Krishnamurthy:
Instagram @harinikphoto
www.harinik.com
Patrick Names
graduated 2013
interview by Gwen Emminger, grad. 2022
Patrick, let’s start with you: tell us a little about yourself and what you’ve been up to lately. We want to know the person behind the camera.
Most of my time lately has been taken up by my 15 month old son Nix! He has brought so much joy and excitement to our lives and has definitely been an inspiration for me to continue working on this project. I want to make the little dude proud of his Dad. I have also been coaching more and more basketball at the high school and youth levels recently. It’s been fun!
Your images radiate joy, passion, and adventure. Walk us through your current project: from concept, to the Philippines, Rwanda, and now Oaxaca, Mexico. How did it all come together?
Thank you! Sports, and in this case basketball, have the power to elicit joy on a daily basis, so capturing that is very important for me.
After pursuing other interests, I wanted to get back into photography and create a body of work. I brought along my camera on an extended free diving trip to the Philippines, knowing I wanted to start a project, but having no idea what it was about yet. As I was riding around the island on a motorbike, I couldn’t help but notice all the basketball courts I would pass. From there, I would stop at different courts and start shooting.
This project became a natural fusion of my three passions: travel, basketball, and photography.
I returned to the Philippines a second time, shooting mostly in the cities. Looking to expand to other countries, I partnered with an international sport-for development non-profit organization (Shooting Touch) that uses hoops as a tool for health and social change in rural communities in Rwanda. I spent a couple weeks visiting the multiple courts they built and photographing the basketball activities they run.
I had heard they love to play basketball in the mountain region of Oaxaca and found a local photographer that has been shooting everything basketball in the area for many years. He took me to a few tournaments in small villages in the Sierra Mixe region. I would have never guessed they love hoops so much there, especially since Mexico and soccer are so synonymous. But in the mountains there isn’t much room for soccer fields, so that is a big reason why basketball is widely played.
What is your process and approach to your photography? I’m curious how you build trust with your subjects?
I am naturally shy, so shooting strangers in foreign countries where I am the only non-local takes about as much courage as I possess. This is also why I have pursued this project, it pushes me outside of my current comfort zone and forces me to grow both as a photographer and person.
It always takes me a bit to ease into shooting at these courts. I want to be as respectful as possible, so I do not pull out my camera and shoot right away. I sit and observe, make eye contact and smile, and ask if taking photos is okay. Luckily, every court I have been to has been happy to have me there taking photos. And to my surprise, I tend to mostly be ignored, which is perfect.
What do you hope viewers take away from your work?
The impact basketball has on these communities is profound. Their daily lives are unimaginably hard compared to ours. Basketball represents an escape from these hardships, it is a safe place where they can express themselves physically and emotionally, and connect with one another. Even if it’s only for an hour, it allows them to forget everything else and just play. That sense of freedom and joy is what I hope this work captures.
Is there a single photo or moment from this project that has stayed with you?
I was photographing a youth practice on a court in rural Rwanda when I captured a moment of pure joy between two girls. The expression on their faces still makes me smile every time I see it. It’s powerful because, most likely, their day began fetching water from a local stream—there’s no running water in their community—but there is basketball. That contrast is what makes the moment so meaningful to me.
Tell us about the title of each project and what they mean to you.
“Children of the Mist” (batang hamog) is a term I borrowed from the Filipino language that has been applied to the crazy obsessive basketball culture of the Philippines. This saying specifically refers to the poverty-stricken youth of the country, living in the shadows of the slums, that appear and vanish just as quickly as mist in the night. It felt fitting given my experience watching so many players flock to the courts as the heat of the day began to subside.
“Ubuntu” is an ancient African word derived from Bantu language, encompassing a philosophy that includes essential human virtues, such as compassion and humanity. Often it is simply defined by the phrase “I am because we are.” It is this focus on togetherness and collaborative development through basketball that was so evident during my time visiting courts in Rwanda and why the spirit of “Ubuntu” perfectly sums up this project.
Looking ahead, what’s next?
I am currently working on a book of my work in the Philippines and am hoping to have that self-published by the end of this year. Each country might come out as “volumes” in a series, especially as I visit more places. Next might be Puerto Rico, but I always have my eyes and ears open to new places where basketball and culture merge.
I have to ask, what’s in your bag? Walk us through your gear, your must haves, and what you absolutely cannot travel without when heading into a shoot.
I am a minimalist when it comes to shooting, and a compact set up is easier to travel with. So I shoot with a Sony A7RV (mirrorless) and usually am shooting with a 35mm 1.4 lens. I did bring my Sony 16-35mm 2.8 lens and used it quite a bit on this last trip. I always have a back up camera, lens, batteries, memory cards, and an external hard drive on these trips because most of the time these locations are very remote and I try to plan for the worst-case scenario.
For more about Patrick Names:
Instagram @patricknamesphotography
www.patricknamesphotography.com
Eva Sköld Westerlind
graduated 1999
interview by Lisa Ahlberg, grad. 2005
“I am the white-haired lady you can find on the beach in Lincoln Park in almost any weather, often bending down to photograph the seaweed among the debris that the tide has brought in.
At least that’s what I have been doing the last couple of years. I have been searching for organic forms and interesting small-scale nature scenes in the tidal reconstruction that happens twice a day on the beach.
I was born in Sweden and came to the U.S. in 1977 with my American husband. After a career in academia and a long search for a creative outlet within the arts, I found PCNW and began taking classes in 1994.”
You were an earlier graduate from PCNW and I remember well your thesis show. Can you say a bit about that work and how you got from there to where you are today.
I graduated from PCNW’s certificate program in 1999. My thesis was a black and white analog series, called Solitary Traveler, where I used a pinhole camera to capture a small figure in fabricated theatrical settings, creating scenes about a journey through life.
This play with perspective, illusion and scale—attempting to create a sense of wonder inspired me to continue additional series in color, where I utilized more paraphernalia from my large collection of studio miniatures.
When I moved my detail-oriented focus from the studio to the outdoors, the perspective was similar. I photographed closeup details, capturing shapes and movements, sometimes in unusual angles, such as floating leaves with an underwater camera or snow in stages of melting.
My latest work has also included photographing and rendering visible the smallest and oldest living things in the natural landscape: lichens, fungi and mosses.
You have an exhibit opening soon at The Seattle Light Room, a gallery in South Seattle. I have been following your work in our alumni critiques. Tell us about the work you will be showing. Why have you decided to isolate your object from the sea from their environment?
After a more than 30-year career in photography that began at midlife, I will now celebrate by having a late-in life exhibit at The Seattle Light Room, most likely my last exhibit. I am grateful to the owner Jenny Hansen Das for this opportunity.
In Gifts From The Tide, I transform my photographs of natural seaweeds that I captured on the beach into abstract, often narrative or surreal images. It is a playful celebration of form, color and movement. My intent is to let the shapes become more evident and speak for themselves, such as evolving into sculptural forms. For me it was a new engaging, paint-like way of working with images from nature.
I want to thank everyone in the West Seattle Alumni Critique group for their encouragement and helpful feedback during this years-long project. I am also grateful for the inspiring workshops that PCNW has offered the last few years.
Lastly, I want to thank Gail Gibson for kickstarting my exhibiting career in 1999.
Do you have any other photographic projects that you would like to tell us about? Any new or continued processes that you are exploring?
I have several new ideas to work on if my energy allows. I would like to try pinhole photography again and also dig out some old black and white negatives to print in the darkroom, where my career began.
Eva’s photographs have been exhibited in the Pacific Northwest at G. Gibson Gallery, Frye Art Museum, Whatcom Museum, Kirkland Art Center, Seattle Art Museum Rental/Sales and others, as well as in exhibits in Chicago, Washington D.C., Houston, California, Idaho and Sweden. Her art is included in collections at Harborview Medical Center, Seattle Public Utilities, King County Arts Collection, Microsoft, University of Washington Medical Center, City of Tacoma, and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts in Texas, as well as in several institutions in Sweden.
Her book of photographs, Melt, was published by Pine Needle Books in 2015. Her work is included in Poetics of Light: Contemporary Pinhole Photography by Eric Renner and Nancy Spencer, Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, 2014. In December 2001, Harper’s Magazine published three of her images. She twice received the Artist Trust GAP Award.
Eva was represented by G. Gibson Gallery for fifteen years.
For more about Eva Sköld Westerlind:
Instagram @evaskoldwest
www.evaskoldwesterlind.com
Please join us at The Seattle Light Room for Eva’s exhibition Gifts From the Tide on view May 7-May 30, 2026. Opening Reception Friday, May 8th from 6-8pm.
Alumni Updates / News / Exhibitions
In Practice work by PCNW Faculty
on view through June 7, 2026
Many graduates of the Certificate in Fine Art Photography at Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW) teach classes and workshops. Several graduates are included in the current exhibition at PCNW in Seattle including Rachel Demy, Leah Freed, Daniel Gregory, Andrej Gregov, Harini Krishnamurthy, and Anna Ream.
A Note from The Seattle Light Room—Rebuilding Update
from Jenny Hansen Das, grad. 2023 and owner of The Seattle Light Room
In February, a filter housing in the darkroom burst, causing a flood that led to extensive damage at The Seattle Light Room, impacting both the darkroom and gallery spaces. We were closed beginning February 13, 2026 as we worked through repairs and rebuilding. We’ve since been working toward reopening and expect to be back open this spring.
Many of you have asked how you can help—the best way to support is simply to show up: visit an opening, take a class, or support the artists and programs that keep the space going. Keep an eye on www.theseattlelightroom.com and Instagram @theseattlelightroom for up to-date details on our progress.
Harini Krishnamurthy at The Seattle Light Room
Trails this way on view through April 25, 2026
This series of images is a celebration of our local trails and natural spaces and the work that goes into taking care of them. The images are lumen prints created by placing a “negative” of a digital image on expired silver gelatin paper and exposing it to UV light (to mimic the outdoors). Trail maps and other icons are layered on to the prints by hand, using ink and linocut stamps.
The Seattle Light Room—temporary satellite space The Art Room Gallery located at:
4406 C 50th Ave S
Seattle, WA 98118
Eva Sköld Westerlind at The Seattle Light Room
Gifts from the tide on view May 7 – May 30, 2026
In Gifts from the tide, I transform my photographs of natural seaweeds found at the edge of Salish Sea into abstract, often narrative or surreal images. This body of work is a playful celebration of form, color and movement from our local seaside landscape.
Opening reception: May 8, 2026 from 6-8pm
The Seattle Light Room
5040 Wilson Ave S
Seattle, WA 98118
Jenny Hansen Das on The Perceptive Photographer
hosted by Daniel J Gregory
Two PCNW alumni and faculty talk in this episode of The Perceptive Photographer Podcast.
Jenny Hansen Das completed the Certificate in Fine Art Photography at PCNW in 2023, and is also the founder of The Seattle Light Room, a community darkroom and gallery in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle.
Daniel Gregory graduated from PCNW in 2009. He is a photographer and photo educator. He is a core faculty member at Photographic Center Northwest. He hosts a number of workshops out of his studio on Whidbey Island every year, and also teaches through the Virtual Summit Series, CreativeLive, KelbyOne, as well as at workshops and conferences around the country.
Alumni Critique Group
Are you a graduate or current student of PCNW’s Certificate in Fine Art Photography? You’re invited to join us at an Alumni Critique Group! Feel free to join in at any time and bring new work to share.
WEST SEATTLE
Meets Second Wednesday of every month @ 11am – 1pm
Where: West Seattle C & P Coffee, 5612 California Avenue SW, Seattle, WA
Contact Eva: eswesterlind@gmail.com
About the Alumni Association
What is the Alumni Association and who is a member? The PCNW Alumni Association includes and is for all graduates of the Certificate in Fine Art Photography. We have a volunteer leadership committee that seeks to deepen the connection between Alumni, current Certificate Students, and PCNW, and explore ways in which we can further support, elevate, and celebrate one another.
Are you a graduate who is interested in getting more involved? We intend to renew the committee on a regular basis, with new members, and think this group can lead some great initiatives. Reach out to us at alumni@pcnw.org if you’re interested in joining the leadership committee, have ideas to help foster connection and professional development, or if you’d like to support upcoming initiatives.
Are you an alum with an upcoming exhibition, book launch, lecture, portfolio review, or other
event that you’d like us to feature in a future Alumni Newsletter and/or on the PCNW Alumni
page? Tell us about what you’re up to by completing the Alumni Survey Form or e-mail us at alumni@pcnw.org.
Posting on Instagram? Add another hashtag to your work: #pcnwalumni
Thank you to our current volunteer leadership committee members: Lisa Ahlberg, Gwen Emminger, Janet Politte, and Anna Ream. Our Chairperson is Gwen Emminger.
Additional thanks to the alumni who contributed to making this issue of the newsletter happen, especially: Lisa Ahlberg, Jennifer Brendicke, Joan Dinkelspiel, and Gwen Emminger.
