'Photos to Be Saved From the Fire' exhibit in Freeport

If you had to rescue one photograph from a fire, which one would it be?

That’s the question that photographer and painter Marc Josloff of Freeport asked of his fellow Long Island Center of Photography members.

And the result?

“Photos to be Saved from the Fire” – an LICP member exhibition of more than 20 photographs currently on view at the Freeport Memorial Library in Freeport through Jan. 30. An artist reception will be held Sunday afternoon.

Josloff, who curated the show, says the idea “just popped into my head.”

He asked other photographers to “try very hard [to think] that this was happening – that all of their work may be destroyed in a fire” and not to think about their choices too long.

“Just go for it. Take one,” Josloff says.

The photo submissions varied -- from witnesses watching the fall of the World Trade Center towers during the Sept. 11 attacks, a travel photo of a man from Khiva, Uzbekistan, to an image of a photographer’s teenage son drinking milk.

“I found that many of the entries were generally emotionally based, because the work that they contributed was not necessarily exemplary of their current work,” Josloff said.

Other entries represented turning points in the artist’s work, like the photo Josloff selected of his visit to San Francisco in the 1970s. He left the film in the glove compartment of his car on a hot day.

Though the film was “gooey,” Josloff developed it and darkened the splotches of sky.

“It had much more power and strength with the black sky than it had before,” he said. “Whenever I think that something is lost, stick with it and sometimes you end up with a better result than what you would have had otherwise.”

Each photograph in the show is accompanied by a written statement from each photographer about why they selected the particular image. While one photographer wrote a simple response – “because it’s nearest to the door” – others reflected on memories of childhood.

“The responses are all touching. They’re quite different and I think that’s what makes the show interesting,” says Josloff

WHAT: "Photos to be Saved From the Fire,” organized by Long Island Center of Photography – a nonprofit organization that strives to establish a facility on Long Island with educational resources and to showcase contemporary work.

WHEN /WHERE: Artist reception 2 – 4 p.m. Sunday at Freeport Memorial Library, 144 W. Merrick Rd. in Freeport. Exhibit on view through Jan. 30.

COST: Free

INFO: 516-379-3274 (Freeport Memorial Library) or longislandcenterofphotography.org

Note: Displayed photo is a photo detail of a larger image size).