Artist Showcase – Russ Suniewick

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Artist Showcase: Russell Suniewick

Russell Suniewick was born in Somerset, NJ, in 1945. He showed a talent for photography at a young age but chose to focus on the study of instrumental music, clarinet, at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music from 1963-67.

Like many of the men in his class, he auditioned for a military band after graduation. Though accepted by the Navy Band, he failed the enlistment physical because of his father’s medical history. This led him to enroll in a trainee program at ABC affiliate WMAL-TV Channel 7, where he shot production stills and publicity photography, demonstrating his natural talent. He joined forces with fellow trainee Ernest Ashenbach to establish Color 16, building their first color reversal motion picture processor of Ernie’s design from scratch. In 1982, the business expanded and Color 16 became Colorlab, a full-service lab processing 16mm and 35mm original motion picture film and remastering to motion picture film and electronic archival video formats.

During his years at Colorlab, he oversaw, together with Ernie, the development of motion picture preservation of all gauges. Russ pioneered in rescuing decomposed nitrate film and training and nurturing a cadre of motion picture restorers.

Russ retired from Colorlab in 2015. In retirement, he has continued to capture remarkable images, as exhibited here.