Name Norma Quintana | ||
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What Happens When a Photographer Decides to Follow the Circus
Norma I. Quintana (born in Cleveland, Ohio, 1954) is an American photographer and educator working in the tradition of social documentary. Quintana photographs with film, primarily in black and white using only available light. She is a founding member of the Bay Area nonprofit, Photo Alliance.
Contents
- What Happens When a Photographer Decides to Follow the Circus
- Education early career
- Photography career
- Circus Chimera
- Circus A Traveling Life
- Publications
- References
Education & early career
Quintana graduated from Case Western University in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio with a Master of Science in Social Administration in Juvenile Justice. In the 1980s Quintana moved to California from the Midwest and worked in Human Resources Management at Hewlett Packard.
Photography career
Quintana began her career in documentary photography in the late 90s, attending Napa Valley College for a photography degree curriculum completed in 2001. She attended the Anderson Ranch Arts Center Photography Workshop with Shelby Lee Adams, and Maine Media Photography Workshop programs in Oaxaca, Mexico with both Mary Ellen Mark and Graciela Iturbide.
She has lectured nationally at major universities and completed residencies at Penn State and American University in Washington D.C. Exhibitions of her work have been displayed at the Zoller Gallery at Penn State, the Katzen Arts Center at the American University in Washington, D.C. and the Rayko Photo Center gallery in San Francisco.
Circus Chimera
In 1999, Quintana found a flyer at a local cafe for the Circus Chimera, an American one-ring circus created by James K. Judkins, former Carson & Barnes Circus manager. She requested and received permission from the performers to photograph them behind the scenes. Thus began a ten-year working relationship with the Circus Chimera, until it was forced to close in 2007 due to changes in the United States' temporary work visa program.
Circus: A Traveling Life
The material from a decade of collaboration with the Circus Chimera went into Quintana's book, Circus: A Traveling Life, published in Fall 2014. The book was reviewed on Slate, CNN.com, the UK Guardian and Mother Jones. Curious Animal Magazine featured an image from the series, “Smoke” in their “Best Images of 2014”. A print feature appeared in B + W Magazine's March 2015 issue and Quintana was invited to lecture about her Circus series at B&H Event Space in New York City