Jeanne Campbell Is One Montclair Resident Who Has "The Photographer's Eye."

Jeanne Campbell has "the photographer's eye." Whether she's traveling the
world or close to home she captures the moment that catches her attention.

"Everybody has a camera today, so it makes being a photographer very difficult,"
the Montclair resident explained. "I want to do much more than record the fact that I was there. The photographer has to know what the camera can do. That technical information allows you to bring out what you see." Her goal is to produce a photo with an "individual look ... to go beyond photojournalism."

Campbell, who has three children, made sure each of her six grandchildren received a camera as a gift. She remembers the fun of using a Brownie camera as a child growing up in Mobile, Alabama. "My Southern accent comes in handy if I'm trying to get permission to take a photo from someone in charge," she said. "I just say I'm a tourist from New Jersey and usually that's enough to let me go ahead!"

These days she travels with a digital camera, which makes going through security at
various airports much easier. "In foreign countries, security would always say it is okay to put the camera with film through the X-ray machine, even if it wasn't. Now I can just pull out the memory card and send the camera through. And I don't have the extra chore of mailing canisters of film home," she said. Campbell added that working in the darkroom was a great experience, before the digital age took over.

Travel is a big part of her life with her husband Malcolm, who is in charge of printing the photos with the aid of the modern computer. In 1998, they went to Tuscany; 2000 took them to the Philippines; 2001, New Zealand; 2003, St. Petersburg. They have been to Japan, China, Tibet, and India, which she said was "fascinating with extremes of poverty and great wealth."

How does she communicate with people in other countries where she doesn't speak
the language? "The camera is a language of its own," she replied. "I pantomime the
question 'Can I take your picture?' and the person I am addressing will indicate yes or no with body language!" If she is asked to send her subject a copy of the photo, she is pleased to oblige.

Campbell likes to share her love of photography with people in Montclair. She often
presents an exhibit with a brief travelogue to folks at the Montclair YMCA, usually
after a foreign journey. She comments on each photo as her husband operates the slide projector. She has also given travel talks through the Montclair Adult School program. Her photos have been included in Fine Arts shows around Essex Country, as well as in nearby states.

A former advertising copy writer, Campbell remembers several adventures with cameras that turned out well — and some that did not. "One of my favorite shots was taken in Mombassa. I was told 'don't take a photo' as I glanced at a fascinating scene of a woman in a shop," she said. "So I took it hanging out the window of the car I was riding in."

While traveling in Indonesia, on her way to see the famous Komodo Dragons, she jumped into the river with a valuable camera around her neck, and the camera was ruined!

In the future, she would like to see more of the United States, especially the western states like the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming. "I'd also like to visit the exotic 'stans' of the former Soviet Union, like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan," she said as she showed this reporter around her studio, which is filled with beautiful photographs from all over the world.