Noted photographer Sol Goldberg has been called an Ithaca "home-grown treasure" -- and that he is -- and part of his growth took place at Cornell.
Goldberg, 73, an Ithaca native, worked as a largely self-taught photographer in the university's Photo Science lab from 1946 to 1956, before making his mark locally and nationally as a photographer for The Ithaca Journal. He won some 85 national press and Associated Press awards during his time at the paper with his often-humorous, always technically masterful photos. He then returned to Cornell as head of the Office of Visual Services in 1965, where he stayed until his retirement in 1988.
In 1950, while at Cornell, he pioneered a much-acclaimed and widely adopted method of producing sports-action publicity photos, using a triangle of strobe lights and photographing his subjects -- members of Cornell's football, hockey and basketball squads -- at night. The effect was starkly theatrical. He produced 1,200 to 1,500 sports photos a year for the university during that period, and he even was asked to handle athletic publicity photos, on a freelance basis, for Colgate and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1986, Cornell's Department of Physical Education and Athletics recognized his work when he was inducted into the university's Sports Hall of Fame.
Left, Goldberg used a wide-angle lens to focus
on the foot of Cornell's Pete Gogolak '64, who popularized the soccer-style place kick in American football.
Now a 96-page book of his photographs, Sol Goldberg's Ithaca: The Journal Years, has been published by the DeWitt Historical Society. The book is edited by John Marcham. An exhibit of Goldberg's photos is planned for February 1997, and Goldberg also will be signing copies of his book at the annual holiday party of the historical society, 401 E. State St. in Ithaca, from 3 to 5 p.m. this Sunday.
"In Sol's Ithaca and the upcoming exhibit, residents will be able to revisit a leisurely period in small town life and get a perceptive look at a decade past," says Marcham.
Sol Goldberg's Ithaca sells for $17.95 and is available at the DeWitt's Tompkins County Museum Shop, at local book stores, and by mail from the DeWitt Historical Society for $22 ($20.50 out of state).