Montara artist makes photos with just photo paper, plants, and electricity

Montara artist Robert Buelteman is one of two artists featured in an exhibit at the Presidio Officers’ Club from August 25 to November 19.

Since 1999, Mr. Buelteman has made extraordinary photographic images without the use of cameras, lenses, or computers. With photographic paper, plant life, and electrical current, Mr. Buelteman captures the intricacies and structural secrets of his subjects. The process produces brilliantly lit portraits of plants and flowers, capturing their essence in a glowing, otherworldly blaze of color. The exhibit’s 25 large format images are on loan from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and are part of Mr. Buelteman’s Through the Green Fuse series.

The exhibit also features   Edward S. Ross’s 85 scientific, patiently photographed close-ups of insects alter the viewer’s sense of scale and reveal intimate details about the entwined world of plants and insects. Mr. Ross is curator emeritus of entomology at the California Academy of Sciences. When he could not find candid photos of living insects, he taught himself close-up flash photography. He has published many scientific papers and his insect photographs have appeared in many books and magazines. He lives in a Japanese- style compound set in a hilly garden with a view of Mt. Tamalpais. At 91, he continues his work as an entomologist and nature photographer.

The last gallery in the exhibit space is called "The Hive" a kid’s space where parents and youngsters can engage in minds-on, hands-on activities. Information about how scientists name things, evolution, flowering plants and the critical role insects play in our lives on Earth.

The Presidio Officers’ Club Exhibition Hall is at 50 Moraga Avenue at Arguello in San Francisco.