photo by Carol Weiler
Above left, Sometimes, a photograph – when seen later by the photo-taker – can reveal wonderful surprises. This photograph was taken at a Parisian cafe by Carol Weiler, who was charmed by the cute little beagle dog. It wasn’t until later, back home in Sartell, that Weiler looked again at the photo and realized she’d also captured a young woman showing off her engagement ring to another woman – the beagle’s owner. This is one of 19 photos in “2 the Eye: European Photographs of Jerry Gerads and Carol Weiler” at the St. Cloud Public Library. It can be seen until Feb. 27. 

photo by Jerry Gerads
Above right, a tranquil, limpid light flows through a window of the famed Chenonceau chateau in the Loire River valley in France. This image is one of 19 now on display at the St. Cloud Public Library in an exhibition entitled "2 the Eye: European Photographs of Jerry Gerads and Carol Weiler.” It will run through Feb. 27.

When world-travelers Carol Weiler and Jerry Gerads leave home, they might forget to pack their toothbrushes, but you can be sure they won’t forget their two trusty traveling companions – Canon and Lumix.

The Canon is Weiler’s camera; the Panasonic Lumix is Gerads.’

The Sartell couple are avid photographers whose works have been widely exhibited and universally admired.

Their latest exhibition is now showing at the St. Cloud Public Library, through Feb. 27. Its title is “2 the Eye: European Photographs of Jerry Gerads and Carol Weiler.” The show consists of 19 color photographs taken in France, Spain and Italy.

The couple’s photographs tend to be mysterious and surrealistic, at times bordering on the abstract. Many of them come across as moody evocations of time, expressed through landscapes viewed in misty, melancholy weather. But, not to forget, some of the photos evoke a whimsical spirit, like the picture taken by Weiler in a Paris cafe. On the spur of the moment, Weiler was charmed by a small beagle dog, held on a leash by a young woman. It wasn’t until she was back home in Sartell that she noticed she had captured, by accident, another charming subject in the photo. One of the women at the table is extending her arm and hand across the crowded table to the woman with the beagle, showing off her engagement ring. The two couples at the table are smiling, delighted about the engagement news. Not the beagle. It looks vaguely bored, tugging at its leash, eager to take a stroll down a Paris boulevard.

Another photo with a touch of whimsy is the striking shot of a couple sitting on an outdoor bench at the Auguste Rodin Museum in Paris on a rainy day. The visitors’ backs are toward us, the viewers, and above their heads are two black umbrellas (as if in homage to the Belgian surrealistic painter Magritte). Above the couple on a massive column sits Rodin’s famous sculpture, “The Thinker.” The photo’s composition is beautifully set off by tall, conical, clipped tree-bushes – another evocation of Magritte, known partly for his dream-like images of clipped hedges, as well as black umbrellas.

Other intriguing photos include the following:

• A hallway inside the Chenonceau chateau in France’s Loire River Valley. Wonderful, limpid light floods through the window toward the viewer and illuminates the scene with a subtle clarity, like the light that follows a refreshing rain.

• A mannequin propped up off the ground at an outdoor market in Loumarin in southern France. The mannequin is the torso of a chic fantasy woman who sports a sea-wave hair-do and cupid-red lips.

• An almost sinister image of one of the buildings designed by famed architect Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona, Spain. The apartment building, photographed at night and glimmering with spectral light, somewhat resembles a giant barnacled crustacean that had risen from a nightmare sea.

• A cafe night street scene in Arles, the southern French city where Vincent Van Gogh lived and painted in the last 19th Century. The photo, in fact, is reminiscent of Van Gogh’s famous night cafe painting with its yellow-orange cafe lights piercing into the black of night on the narrow cobblestone street. A viewer of the photo can imagine a constellation of swirling stars in the sky above – a starry, starry night.

• A haunting photo showing a row of centuries-old brick-and-stone row buildings on a road with a steep stone embankment below above the Dordogne River in France. Photographed in a thick morning mist, the buildings seem to be emerging mysteriously from a fog of memory. Or are the buildings dissolving into a mist of forgetfulness?

Weiler became a shutterbug when she was only 10 years old after she received a Kodak Brownie camera as a gift. She’s loved the hobby ever since. Although Gerads, too, always enjoyed taking photos, his approach was a bit more utilitarian. When traveling in Europe many years ago, for example, he took photos to help illuminate his history lessons for his young students. (Gerads is now retired from his 37-year career as a history teacher at Tech High School, St. Cloud.) When he met Weiler in 1988 (they married in 1990), Gerads began to start seeing his photo hobby as more of an art form.

For both photographers, the moment of magic – the epiphany – comes when the light, the subject and the composition of a photo suddenly coincide perfectly.

“It might be a person or the detail of a building or a landscape,” Weiler said. “A lot of what makes a good picture depends very much on the lighting.”

The couple takes thousands of photos, and a “keeper” photo is quite a rarity. They might take dozens of photos of one subject and decide later not to keep any of them – or, in come cases, just one.

Gerads and Weiler never argue about their photos or tell each other how to take them. They do, however, offer suggestions and will say, “Hey, Carol, why don’t you take a photo of that building over there?” Or vice versa.

Their photographic “eyes” are similar, too, since they enjoy similar subject matter – moody landscapes, portraits of people snapped on the sly, objects that pop up from mundane reality as examples of the startling or the unusual.

In some cases, Weiler and Gerads take photos of the same subject but from different angles, usually. Later they decide which one they prefer.

The couple’s favorite country to visit and to photograph is France. During their latest trip, in 2010, they spent time in Paris, then rented a car and toured the Loire River Valley’s “castle country” and the southernmost, Mediterranean area known as Provence.

“People always keep hearing how rude the French are,” Weiler said. “That bothers me because it just isn’t true.

We met the most wonderful, hospitable French people on our trips. Everyone was so gracious and so helpful.”

Weiler and Gerads are also willing to share the many skills they have learned about photography. For instance, Weiler will teach a free photography workshop from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, March 22 and 29 at the Waite Park Public Library. The basic workshop will offer tips on the use of simple point-and-shoot cameras and on using computer applications to improve one’s digital photos.