20
B+WCOMMENT
susanburnstine.comAt the age of 71, now suffering visual impairment, CJ Pressma
remains a passionate, determined and prolific photographer.
Susan Burnstine looks at his experimental work, past and present.
AMERICAN
CONNECTION
W
hile teaching this
past summer
at Santa Fe
Photographic
Workshops, I had the good
fortune of working with
Louisville based photographer
CJ Pressma who proved to be one
of the most inspired students
I’ve had the pleasure of working
with to date. As Pressma is
visually impaired, he’s overcome
great odds to create his uniquely
powerful images, but what’s
most remarkable is that he’s one
of the most determined artists
I’ve ever met and his enthusiasm
for photography is boundless.
Pressma first fell in love with
photography in 1962 during
his freshmen year at Antioch
College. After earning anFrozen Truck Night LightsLegs on Beachundergraduate degree there, then
an MFA in Photography from
Indiana University, he founded
and ran an alternative school forcreative photography from 1970
to 1978 called the Center for
Photographic Studies.
Perhaps Pressma’s most definingmoment in his photographic
journey happened in 1972 while
watching the Fellini film, Roma.
He became captivated by specific
flashes of light that occurred in
a brief stretch car scene in the
film. ‘It is strange to me (almost
absurd) that such a small element
in this film was so influential
in my work,’ he says. ‘I guess it
was the power of those flashes,
the shadows they created and
the mystery of the night that
compelled me to start making
my Night Lights images.
Pressma recreated the effect of
those flashes in his photographs
many times during the 1970s, but
stopped making pictures after
opening a multimedia business
in the early 1980s and didn’t start
making pictures again until he
closed the business in the 1990s.
During his forties, Pressma
began losing his vision due to
diabetes, which he first developed
at the age of 12. He was always
aware that his vision could one
day become compromised yet
he approached life fearlessly.
He lovingly attributes his self-
confidence, independence and
determination to pursue his
passions to having very wise
and supportive parents who
taught him to believe he could
do anything he wanted to do.
At the age of 50, Pressma
became blind in one eye due
to diabetic retinopathy then
underwent aggressive laser
treatment in both eyes, which
destroyed his peripheral vision.
‘You might say I see like a camera
sees with a slight telephoto lens,’
he says. His mobility and balance
have been affected, but he says,
‘I guess rather than change the
way I work, it has made me more
determined to work in the way I
like and find ways to go to places
that are probably a bit more
dangerous for me. No big deal –20-21_USA_CONNECT_185 ER/MB.indd 2020-21_USA_CONNECT_185 ER/MB.indd 20 26/11/2015 11:3926/11/2015 11:39