11/14, Spring Street Gallery, Saratoga Springs
Photography provided by Jon Dragonette
“What started in solitude, with a camera in hand, became a conversation between inner and outer wilderness,” he writes in his artist statement. “The mountain tests the body, but solitude tests the mind.”
Photographer Jon Dragonette will host an artist talk on Saturday, November 14, from 7–8 p.m. at Spring Street Gallery in Saratoga Springs. He will discuss his photography exhibition, The Wilderness Within, which runs at the gallery until December 11. Working primarily in film photography and traditional darkroom processes, Dragonette’s work explores the connections between nature and the human experience.
Born and raised in Saratoga Springs, Dragonette recently returned to the Adirondack region after more than 20 years working in California in commercial and editorial photography for national and international projects. Before this homecoming, he had already started to shift his practice toward documentary photography and traditional film processes, developing a more personal, introspective approach to his work. Returning to this landscape where he grew up became an opportunity to continue that transition.
The photos in The Wilderness Within were all taken during a 16-week-long solo trip in the Adirondack backcountry. Dragonette trekked through the mountains with a 4x5 large-format film camera, managing in challenging winter conditions that made solitude and resilience central influences on the images. Through this trip and photography project, Dragonette reconnected with his Adirondack roots.
The black and white photographs taken on this journey are presented as platinum/palladium prints, which is one of photography’s oldest printing processes. Developed in the 1870s, this process involves hand-coating cotton rag paper with light-sensitive platinum and palladium solutions. The image is then formed from metal particles embedded in the paper fibers, which produces a richer tonal depth and a distinctive tactile quality, unlike digital printing.
Dragonette explains that this photographic essay goes beyond exhibiting this printing technique and the beauty of the Adirondacks. “What started in solitude, with a camera in hand, became a conversation between inner and outer wilderness,” he writes in his artist statement. “The mountain tests the body, but solitude tests the mind.”
For Dragonette, the mountains are a subject but also a way to examine the relationship between the world outside and the wilderness within ourselves. This project explores the role of nature as a teacher. What happens when we let discomfort challenge us, when we surrender to the slowness, and when we choose to remain rather than to escape?
As Dragonette says, “In that surrender, clarity emerges, not an answer, but a deeper way of being with the questions.”
Through the physical challenges of winter trekking and the layered process of this photographic printing technique, Dragonette also reflected on change and resilience. The camera was a tool to reflect and contemplate the larger questions that emerged in the wilderness.
During the artist talk on November 14, Dragonette will share insight into his process and the experiences that influenced this project and explore how his return to the region has changed his perspective on his relationship with landscape and the inner self.
Dragonette’s photography has been exhibited throughout the United States. His photograph Chinatown received Best in Show at the 44th Annual Photo Regional in Troy in 2022. He received the Best Portrait/People Photograph award from the Photography Foundation Awards in London in 2025. He is also the author of Still-Life: Los Angeles Amid Quarantine, a photobook documenting Los Angeles during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is now held in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, the National History Museum of Los Angeles County, and the Los Angeles Public Library’s Special Collections. He currently lives and works in the Saratoga Springs area.
Spring Street Gallery is a non-profit arts organization dedicated to providing exhibition and performance opportunities for local and regional artists. The gallery celebrates arts as an essential part of building an inclusive community through exhibitions and workshops that encourage learning and making purposeful changes in our lives by opening ourselves to the perspectives of others.
The artist talk with Jon Dragonette is on Saturday, November 14, from 7-8 PM at Spring Street Gallery in Saratoga Springs. Admission is free. The Wilderness Within is at the gallery until December 11.