Four tough customers

"Butch, Natasha, Krissy and Tony, August 25, 1983'' (silver gelatin print), in the "Bell Pond Series' by Stephen DiRado, in his show "A Photographer's Embrace,'' at the Museum of Art at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, through Dec. 15.

The gallery explains: "Stephen DiRado highlights the artist’s thirty-five-year artistic career as a photographer. Known for his humanistic outlook, DiRado’s work evolved from straight photography of people and places to intimate, empathetic images made in collaboration with his subjects. Using a large-format camera and a black and white silver-gelatin photographic process, his long-term documentary projects explore the structures and identities of communities, families, couples, groups and individuals.

"Works on display include several from DiRado’s series, such as 'Bell Pond,' a series documented during the summer of 1983 of a densely populated community of new and old immigrants residing on Belmont Hill in Worcester, Mass. Bell Pond is a public park and pond, a magnet for families, individuals and teen gangs. Other series included in the exhibition are "Mall Series,'' and DiRado’s 'Martha's Vineyard, Jump Series, ' which depicts people in the midst of their leap of faith from a bridge into the waters....''