Pictured top left to bottom right: Peter M. Krask, Rachael Nusbaum, Julian Lucas, Maura Allen, Stu Levy, Polly Gaillard
Photolucida Board of Directors
Stu Levy (Photolucida President) is a photographer living in Portland, Oregon. He has led photography workshops on the Oregon Coast for over 30 years. He studied with Ansel Adams and was an assistant instructor for Ansel’s workshops in Yosemite and Carmel; he was also an instructor at the Ansel Adams Gallery Workshops. His photographs are in many public and private collections, including The Center for Creative Photography, the George Eastman House, the Portland Art Museum, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art (Atlanta), the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Francisco Civic Center, Portland Visual Chronicle and the Wilson Centre for Photography. He was one of the founders of the Photography Council of the Portland Art Museum and was the Council President from 2003 to 2006.
Julian Lucas is a purveyor and collector of photobooks. In 2015, Julian co-founded Mirrored Society, a bookstore that focuses on photobooks worldwide. Julian has since worked as a solo owner, continuing to curate titles from across the globe. In 2018, Julian founded Print Pomona Art Book Fair, a platform for independent photobook publishers, sellers, and zine makers, which was set to open in the spring of 2020. In 2020 Julian created The Pomonan, a digital platform that provides subjective journalism for creative writers, artists, and innovative professionals. Mirrored Society Center for Photography, an initiative and an extension of Mirrored Society Books, focuses on critical theories and practice of photography, in addition to gallery operation, management, and curatorial practice.
Maura Allen has been photographing the American West for over two decades. She shows and sells her work as a fine art photographer and mixed media artist. Growing up in Northern California, Maura earned her BA in Latin/Classical Studies at Stanford University, studying how iconic figures, myths, and moments define a culture. When she began photographing the American West with ranchers and wranglers as her trusted guides, she realized many of the same cultural forces were at play. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of Photolucida, Maura serves on the Board of Trustees of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, AZ. When not on the road, Maura lives in the Williamson Valley (AZ).
Peter M. Krask is a writer, photographer, and mentor based in New York City. He has studied at the International Center of Photography, privately with Carol Dragon, with whom he collaborated on the exhibition “life . . . still” and in a master class with Hellen van Meene. He is currently mentored by Richard Tuschman. Recently, his work-in-progress, Lives of the Saints for Boys, was seen in a group show at the Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, OH, and an image from The Corridor was selected for the group show, Home, at the Los Angeles Center of Photography. His black-and-white project, Ars Longa, was exhibited at Gallery Infinito in New York City. He received second place in the 22nd International Toy Camera Competition for Songs of Disaster and Forgiveness which was exhibited at the Soho Photo Gallery. He is a mentor for New Inc, the New Museum’s incubator for art, design, and tech. @petermkrask
Rachael Nusbaum has been a photography lover since she took her first photo class as a high school freshman in NYC. After that, the local art scene opened up to her, and she was inspired to capture the street life around her. She holds an undergraduate degree in studio art from Wesleyan and an MFA from Stanford. She then taught photography at UC Berkeley, including courses in alternative processes and large-format photography. After years of curating shows and organizing programs in galleries and museums, including Vision Gallery and The Legion of Honor, she ran the North America office of Lonely Planet Images, a travel stock photo agency. She currently works for Yummly, a cooking website, where she art directs amazing food photographers and videographers and also shoots her own work for publication on the site.
Photolucida Staff
Polly Gaillard has spent most of her career in the arts, specifically photography. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Arts from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Polly taught college photography courses for 12 years, including summers abroad, teaching for American Universities in Prague and Italy. As a fine art photographer, she’s participated in national portfolio reviews, published an artist book, and has exhibited her work nationally in group and solo shows. Polly has juried exhibitions and has written extensively about photography and photographers – she understands being behind the camera, the long slog of a personal project, and the feeling of vulnerability that may come from putting your work out there in a crowded world. In 2023, Polly became Photolucida’s Program Director, heading up its legendary Critical Mass international photography competition. @pollygaillard
Photolucida Advisory Council
Alyssa Coppelman, Elizabeth Flinsch, Paul Kopeikin, Geoffrey Koslov, Mary Virginia Swanson
