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Roland Hartley

@rolandhu

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Six months from today...

I'm delighted to share one of the first original platinum–palladium prints from my series The Fall Line, which received the 2025 John Chervinsky Emerging Photographer Scholarship.

The exhibition opens December 18, 2026 and will be on view through January 11, 2027 at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA.

Save the date and I hope to see you there! taken in C & O Canal, Georgetown, Wash., D.C. by @rolandhu

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4 months ago

I visited Palenque El Conejo — a traditional mezcal distillery — on the outskirts of a dusty hamlet in the central valley of Oaxaca

As darkness fell, frankincense smoke curled through the open-sided shed. A young brujo — a spiritual guide — knelt before a candlelit altar. With rosary beads in hand, he led the gathering of friends and family in prayers and songs that seemed to reach back centuries.

Long before the Spanish arrived, the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica fermented agave sap into pulque — a ritual drink, sacred and communal, offered to the gods and consumed in ceremony. The Spanish introduced distillation in the colonial period, and from that encounter between worlds, mezcal was born.

What I witnessed at Palenque El Conejo — agave roasted for five days in a rock-lined pit, the piñas pounded by hand with enormous clubs, the liquid distilled in clay pots over open fire — has changed little in four hundred years. The "ancestral" designation is not merely a production category. It is a declaration of resistance and continuity.

#mezcal #oaxaca #pulque #agave "oaxacamexico #mezcal taken in Santa Catarina Minas, Ocotlán, Oaxaca by @rolandhu

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7 months ago

These images were made at a jaripeo during the Lenten festival in a dusty village in central Mexico. Ranchers brought forty bulls from across the region for a night of riding. The aim is simple: stay on as long as possible.

Unlike American rodeo, where rider and bull are scored over a fixed eight seconds for style and force, the jaripeo is about endurance and nerve.

#Jaripeo
#Oaxaca
#OaxacaMexico
#BullRiding
#RanchLife
#FiestaPatronal #patrimonialcultural
#mesoamerica
#mexicanculture
#culturalmexicana
#mexicodesconocido taken in San Antonio Castillo Velasco, Oaxaca, Mexico by @rolandhu

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8 months ago

by @rolandhu

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a month ago

Pasadena Photography Arts is thrilled to announce that the 2026 PPA Photo Award has been granted to Roland Hartley for his project, “Mezcal: Ancestral Fire.”
@rolandhu

This year’s PPA Photo Award was an open call for “Excellence in Contemporary Photography” accepting projects from emerging photographers around the United States.

Roland Hartley’s award-winning project is featured below alongside an exclusive interview with guest juror Craig Krull, gallerist and art historian (@craigkrull).

🗓️ Join Pasadena Photography Arts on Wednesday, September 23rd at 5 PM PDT for a VIRTUAL artist talk where Roland will share his creative journey and story behind the winning project.

@pasadenaphotographyarts by @rolandhu

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a month ago

We are thrilled to announce Roland Hartley as the recipient of the 2026 PPA Photo Award 👏👏👏

Roland’s award winning project, “Mezcal: Ancestral Fire,” is now featured on our website alongside an exclusive interview with guest juror Craig Krull, Gallerist and Historian.

And there’s more! Mark your calendars for a VIRTUAL artist talk on Wednesday, September 23rd at 5 PM PDT as Roland shares the story behind his project!

LOCATION: This event will be hosted virtually on Zoom. A link will be emailed to you after you RSVP

WHEN: Wednesday, September 23, 5 PM PDT

📸 RSVP TICKETS 👉 link in bio

#forum #artisttalk #photoaward #mescal by @rolandhu

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2 months ago

Houston’s Chapel of St. Basil, designed by Philip Johnson, is a study in pure geometry. A cube, a sphere, and a plane—cut in white stucco and black granite. Modern, minimal, and precise. Light does most of the work inside. Architecture distilled to form and light; super cool. Just a short walk from the Rothko Chapel and The Menil Collection.

#houston #houstonarchitecture #stbasilhouston #rothkochapel #menilcollection #blackandwhitephotography #leicamonochrom taken in Chapel of St. Basil by @rolandhu

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7 months ago

It’s been unseasonably hot this spring at the farm. Got up early to catch the dogwoods before their fragile white blossoms turn to brown.

#garden #historicgardens #monochrome #spring #blueridgemountains #leica by @rolandhu

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6 months ago

Delighted that my platinum print, El Dos por Quatro 3, was selected for The Halide Project’s upcoming exhibition in Philadelphia - Living Image 2025/26.

El Dos por Cuatro pays homage to the Tango, the dance that emerged from Buenos Aires’ interracial, working-class barrios in the late 19th century. The Tango, the cultural symbol of Argentina, is a fitting allegory for the drama, grace and elegance of its cosmopolitan capital. This print is from a series that captures the essence of this iconic dance through evocative imagery.

Thanks to juror Stig Marlon Weston, founder of Oslo’s CYAN studio, for including my work in this amazing alternative process show.

The exhibition opens with a reception Saturday December 6th at 5pm. If you can’t make it to the opening the show will be on view through January 18, 2026.

#thehalideproject #philadelphia #stigmarlonweston #monochrome #platinumpalladium #alternativeprocess #tango #faenabuenosaires #rojotango #leica #m11monochrom taken in Buenos Aires, Argentina by @rolandhu

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a year ago

“…the full moon rose,
Serene over field and flood;
And all the winding creeks and bays
And broad sea-meadows seemed ablaze”
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Ballad of Carmilhan” taken in Quogue, New York by @rolandhu

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3 months ago

Great way to start off the week. taken in Quogue, New York by @rolandhu

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3 months ago

The Vanishing Barns of Albemarle County, Virginia

Falling farm incomes and population pressure are pushing farmers to sell land that has been worked for generations. Development follows quickly, and these buildings—once central to rural life—disappear without record. When a beloved nearby barn was demolished to make way for a new subdivision, I resolved to document the barns of Albemarle County. These are some of the first photographs made in this ongoing series.

#virginialandscape #barn #blueridgemountains #albemarlecounty #leica taken in Albemarle County by @rolandhu

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9 months ago