Photo exhibits featuring county essence
on display at NMCC
PRESQUE ISLE – Photography exhibits featuring beautifully captured Aroostook County landscapes and northern Maine flora and fauna are on display in the halls and library at Northern Maine Community College through the month of April.
Dianne Leighton
The exhibits, which capture the essence of The County through the lenses of two talented area photographers, were coordinated to reflect this year’s Community College Month theme “Celebrating the County Community” which extends through April at NMCC.
The Edmunds Library is displaying more than two dozen photographs taken by Dianne Leighton of Limestone. The collection includes vibrant color photos of wildflowers and wildlife taken throughout the region in recent years.
Leighton was born in Perth-Andover, N.B. and moved to Limestone upon marrying her husband, Ralph Leighton. The couple loves the outdoors and frequently travel the woods and back roads in a pickup truck or an ATV to capture most of her photos.
A self-taught photographer, Leighton first took an interest in photography about 10 years ago. She takes pride in her attention to detail and close-ups of very small wildflowers (some no bigger than the top of a pencil eraser).
Among the flora and fauna selections of Leighton’s featured in the NMCC exhibit are lady slippers, lupines with a buzzing bee, fiddleheads and the swallowtail butterfly. All of the photographs on display are available for purchase through the NMCC library. The framed photos range in size from 4 by 6 inches to 11 by 14 inches.
A collection of photos on a much larger scale is also on display at NMCC this month. The corridors of the Edmunds, Christie and Martin buildings at the college feature two dozen county landscape photos taken by Presque Isle photographer Paul Cyr.
Twenty of the photos measure four-and-a-half feet by 40 inches and an additional four 24 by 18 inch photographs hang in hallways at NMCC. The photos, which were selected by the coordinators of the cultural and hosting events for the recent 2010 USSA Junior Olympics in Presque Isle were printed locally with Cyr’s permission to enhance the “Maine Event” theme that was incorporated into the events. The better-than-poster-size photos were used for the closing ceremonies held in the gymnasium at NMCC.
Photos included in the exhibit feature several familiar area farm scenes, potato harvesting in The County, Maine’s first commercial wind farm in Mars Hill, Mount Katahdin, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, and other seasonal recreational activities in northern Maine.
Through a special arrangement with Cyr, the large print photos on display are available for sale. Those interested in purchasing one or more of the photos in the exhibit should contact the Northern Maine Community College Foundation Office just off the main lobby of the Christie Building by stopping by or calling 760-1188.
The Foundation will have the selected photo or photos reprinted on a higher end paper and framed. Proceeds from the sale of each framed large print will benefit the NMCC Foundation’s Mitchell P. Cyr Scholarship Fund.
A DIANNE LEIGHTON PHOTO featuring Yellow Lady Slippers is one of the many on display in an exhibit in the Edmunds Library at Northern Maine Community College this month.
ONE OF THE TWO DOZEN LARGE PRINT photos of northern Maine by photographer Paul Cyr used to enhance “The Maine Event” theme during the recent 2010 USSA Junior Olympics closing ceremonies is on display at Northern Maine Community College through April.
