LASM, opens January 26

“My own way of taking pictures,” Baton Rouge photographer Richard Albertine once wrote, “is to follow a path with a heart.” Albertine poured his own heart into capturing the spirit of everyday people and extraordinary places in luminous shades of black and white, and a collection of many of his never-before-exhibited images will be on display at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum beginning later this month.

When Albertine died in 2016, he left behind a body of work consisting of more than 1,000 printed photographs. “I was introduced to his work not long after he passed away,” says LASM curator Elizabeth Weinstein. “I was struck by the fact that he had been taught by the legendary photographer Minor White and was so accomplished, yet he was largely unknown. I wanted to reintroduce him as a local artist of note.”

Albertine’s artistry happened not just behind the lens but also inside the darkroom, where he experimented with chemical after-processes to enhance or alter tonal effects in his prints. “Each one is thus an original,” Weinstein says. “The exact effects cannot be recreated.”

The exhibition’s title comes from Albertine’s own musings on photography, in which he stated that every photographer’s “inner light” or “persistence of vision” shines through in his or her work. He often took pictures of his own friends and family members, but what set his work apart was the way he brought each piece of film to life in print. “Albertine’s pictures exhibit a hauntingly romantic sense of beauty,” says Weinstein.

A variety of photography-related events, programs and hands-on activities is in the works in conjunction with this exhibit and its companion show, “Picturing Vivian Maier: A Street Photographer Revealed.”  lasm.org