Capturing Moments in Time

Staten Island native Patrick Surace received his first camera, a 35mm film camera, as an elementary school graduation present from an uncle. This gift opened a new world for him—one where he was able to develop his creative side.  After a short instructional lesson, Patrick was bitten by the shutter bug and found himself sending roll after roll of Kodak Kodachrome and TRI-X through the mail for processing.  It was a few years later that he became interested in darkroom procedures and began developing his own prints.

Patrick’s passion for photography runs in the family—four great-uncles were all successful studio photographers with studios in Manhattan and Pennsylvania.  Patrick’s father and uncle used to visit their studios and learned the craft  themselves, although they didn’t follow in their uncles’ footsteps professionally. They did, however, teach young Patrick all they knew about taking photos.

Throughout his life, Patrick had two parallel careers.  His mainstay was in law enforcement as one of “New York City’s Proudest” working in Manhattan until retiring a few years ago.  The other career was photography, finding time on his days off to take pictures of events such as proms, graduations, and weddings. 

     This is my favorite image on display.

     It's a shot taken in Vermont's Old
     Bennington Historic District.
      .

After retiring from the police force in 2003, Patrick decided to move from the big city to a space that was reminiscent of his formative years on Staten Island where he was  "surrounded by beautiful lush country terrain.”  He found this in Schaghticoke, NY, where he lived until his recent move to Troy where his studio is located.  He currently does portrait, landscape, event, architecture, product, still life, and publicity shots.

The “creative gene” seems to have been passed further down the line to Patrick’s three children.  One son is an aspiring photographer assistant in Manhattan. His other son lives in Los Angeles and is a graphic animator. His daughter recently returned from a job with CBS in Los Angeles and is now living in Manhattan.

This photo was taken in Savannah,
Georgia's marketplace.

Try to stop by the Folsom Library to check out the beautiful shots Patrick has taken in and around the Capital District and beyond.  They’ll be on display until sometime this summer. The photographs, framed and unframed, are also for purchase.  I have a list of prices.  If you can’t make it in, check out his galleries (still life and product; city, street, and abstract; nature and floral; interiors; landscape and architecture; portrait, and high dynamic range or HDR) online at http://www.patricksuracestudios.com/ Patrick truly has a natural talent for capturing beautiful photographic images.

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

Please excuse my mistake.  Emma Willard founded Troy Female Seminary in 1814, ten years before Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was founded, not three years as I posted below.

Adrienne

Lunch & Learn for April

“Wrought With Steadfast Will

and
The Historic Connections Between Emma Willard and Rensselaer” 

 

Presenter:  Trudy J. Hanmer,

Associate Head Emerita at Emma Willard School

As associate head of Emma Willard School for 30 years, Trudy played a variety of roles, including director of college counseling, director of admissions, and member of the history department.  During 1986-1987 and 1989-1990, she served as acting head of school.  From her earliest days on the campus, she was fascinated by the school's history and was determined to capture that history in a book someday.  Wrought With Steadfast Will: A History of Emma Willard School  is the result.  Find out what connections Emma (1787--1870) had to RPI, which was founded three years after she founded Troy Female Seminary, the original name for her independent university-preparatory day and boarding school for young women. 
 

Image of Emma Willard
courtesy of Rensselaer's
Archives and Special Collections

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date:  Friday, April 12

Time:  12noon to 1pm

Place:  Folsom Library's Fischbach Room

 

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

 

 

 

 

Lunch & Learn for March

Friday, March 8

12 noon to 1 pm

Folsom Library Fischbach Room

Free!

Everyone is invited.

Bring your own lunch or purchase one in the Library Cafe.

Dessert will be provided.

 

 

Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library

2nd Annual RPI Spirit Day

February 1, 2013

 
Folsom Library staff got into the spirit of things by wearing red or a piece of clothing with the Institute's logo to celebrate RPI Spirit Day today.

Here's a photo of some of the staff (and a couple of students I dragged away from their studies!) who displayed their pride in Rensselaer.  They joined students, staff, faculty, and alumni from around the country and beyond as they got into the spirit. 
 


Back row from left to right:  Fran Scott, Manager, Architecture Library/Reference & Instructional Services; Tanis Kreiger, Acquisitions & Electronic Resources Librarian and Manager - Public Services; Jeff Miner, Assistant Vice President for Information Services; Professor David Goldenberg, Lally School of Management and Technology;  Connie Fritz, Science Librarian; Ian deJoode, sophomore work/study student. 

 

Middle row: Kathy Stebbins, Business Coordinator, Technical Services; Anna Gardner, Library Associate, Public Services; Colette Holmes, Management Librarian; Adrienne Birchler, Coordinator.

 

Front row:  Two students who wished to remain anonymous and Ellen Dearborn, Library Associate, Public Services.



 

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

Lunch & Learn for February

Date:  Friday, February 8, 2013  
Speaker:  Stacy Pomeroy Draper,
                Curator, Rensselaer County Historical Society
Topic:  "The Great Fire of Troy"
Time:  12 noon to 1 pm
Place:  Folsom Library's Fischbach Room

 

Adrienne Birchler

Coordinator

Friends of the Folsom Library

 

Library Offers Campus Subscription to Chronicle of Higher Education

For those Friends who don't read Inside Rensselaer, I'm posting the notice Friend and member of the Board of Directors of the Friends Meg Gallien included in the latest edition of the Institute's bi-weekly newspaper.  Meg is the Alumni News Editor.

Through the support of the Friends of the Folsom Library, the Rensselaer Libraries have renewed a site license to the daily online version of The Chronicle of Higher Education, which allows the campus community access to the newspaper at no cost.

“Given The Chronicle is ‘the’ news service for higher education, I think this is a wonderful service,” said Bob Mayo, director of the Rensselaer Libraries. “Providing a site license saves money to those who were paying for a subscription but, perhaps more importantly, provides access to the many who did not have a subscription.”

This is the second year that the Friends of the Folsom Library has underwritten the cost of an institutional subscription to The Chronicle. The Friends is a service organization comprising Rensselaer faculty, staff, alumni, retirees, and interested community members dedicated to enriching the collections, services, and events provided at the Folsom Library. 

 

When I manned the Library's information table this month at Rensselaer's Annual Benefits Fair and Staff Appreciation Day event, several faculty and staff who stopped by said they are so pleased that Friends is providing free online access to this valuable publication.  And those who were just learning about it said they were definitley going to enlighten members of their departments since their current paper subscriptions are quite costly and now unnecessary.  One person told me this was the biggest and best piece of information he received at the benefits fair.  That made my day.   

Adrienne Birchler
Coordinator
Friends of the Folsom Library