BELFAST — Far Up Close, an exhibit of three photographers, opens at Waterfall Arts on Friday, May 22, with a reception from 5-8 p.m. The exhibit encompasses selected work from three Waldo County photographers, two emerging and one long-celebrated.

Lou Garbus (1917-2010) picked up a camera at the age of 12 in New York City and made thousands of images of his family and the people he met as a career mail carrier and through his community life in the Bronx and Searsmont. He was a passionate, popular teacher of the art of photography and creativity. His favorite subject was people and his images are warm and intimate.

Raised in Montville and Liberty respectively, Abe Goodale and Harlan Crichton make sensitive images of the people and places they encounter in their travels: Abe, as he walks through South America and Harlan on his motorcycle treks across the US.

Goodale is an artist, educator and professional wilderness guide with the National Outdoor Leadership School. He recently spent a year walking through the mountains of Patagonia, Chile and Peru, stopping in remote villages and getting to know the indigenous residents. He photographed and wrote extensively of the people and their culture. Goodale returned to Maine in April and is working on a series of paintings of the people and places he encountered.

Crichton grew up in a community of artists and graduated from the Maine College of Art in 2012 with a BFA in photography. He reports that he's always been curious about new people and new places and while travelling, he looks for out-of-the-way towns and spends time there, talking with residents and photographing them with a view camera. He currently lives in Moscow, Idaho.

Artist talks and screenings are scheduled: Crichton on Wednesday, May 27, and Goodale on Tuesday, July 14. An Artist Screening, with film clips of Lou Garbus by his long-time friend and filmmaker Dana Rae Warren takes place on Wednesday, June 17. In the clips Lou talks intimately about his art and life. All events begin at 7 p.m.; admission by donation at the door.

The Far Up Close exhibit is part of the 2015 Maine Photo Project, a statewide collaboration among museums, galleries, historical societies, and other nonprofit cultural organizations across the state. The project is organized by the Maine Curators' Forum. For more information, visit www.mainephotoproject.org.

Since 2000, Waterfall Arts has served as the midcoast area's non-profit community art center, offering innovative classes, open studios, workshops, exhibitions, studio rentals, and cultural events. The exhibit is supported in part by the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and yearlong business sponsor, Revision Energy. Waterfall Arts is located at 256 High Street in Belfast. For more information, visit waterfall arts.org or call 338-2222.