To local photographer Steve Berg, a silver print is the epitome of photography.
But the veteran photographer also knows his way around digital printing. An assortment of his work, known as The Collected Works, will be on exhibition March 12-30 at the Hinesville Area Arts Council gallery, 102 Commerce St.
The group will host an opening reception in honor of the show from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 15.
According to Berg’s artist statement, he wanted a camera for his ninth birthday, and he has been capturing the world from his own perspective ever since.
“You can read into a picture that does evoke an emotion, if it does … and the emotion that it evokes in you may be one thing, and the emotion that it evokes to me may be another,” Berg said. “It’s not like poetry that talks to you in words, it talks to you in images and feelings …”
The exhibition, which includes almost 50 color and black and white photographs, will showcase slivers of Berg’s work, which is influenced by an array of life experiences.
The exhibition is a blend of silver-gelatin prints, digital prints and digital prints from scanned negatives, with subject matter like landscapes and abstract light play. One eye-catching piece is a color print where a dew-dotted spider web stands in sharp focus in front of a swath of green grass.
Berg has worked in a variety of professions and lived in many areas, but he came to Savannah in the early 1970s and began working as a property appraiser. He moved to Liberty County about 10 years ago.
That role called on Berg to capture the images of the plots he appraised, but he found himself seeking more opportunities and decided to travel Coastal Georgia roads in search of more compelling subject matter.
Since then, Berg has become an award-winning Arts of the Coast member who loves to share his work.
“It’s always good to get your stuff out there. It’s kind of like what George Washington said to Betsy Ross, ‘He said, let’s run it up the flagpole and see if anybody salutes,’” he joked. Most of the featured photos are professionally framed and will be available for sale.
“Everybody loves to look, and it doesn’t cost anything to look, but they’re all for sale,” he said.
“That’s a real accolade: I like your work enough to spend my hard-earned money to enjoy it.”
Aviation, one of Berg’s principal hobbies, also has had a hand in his work. The pilot owns the Berg Park Aerodome in Midway, a grass-strip private airport that serves single-engine airplanes and “some lighter twins,” according to previous Courier reports. 
He’s also photographed many sailboat races and endeavors and has traveled as far as Kenya, Uganda and Alaska with his lens in hand.