While Cleveland and Ohio are having a moment in the baseball playoffs, a documentary is circulating about hometown photographer Herb Ascherman, whose voluminous archive includes images of nighttime fireworks after a Guardians’ victory.
A “fiercely proud Clevelander,” Ascherman is one of the last masters of large-format photography and the platinum printing process. He stars in the short film The Eye of Cleveland, which screened October 17 at the PhotoMuse Festival of Photography in Thrissur, India.
Released in 2025, The Eye of Cleveland was named Best Documentary Short at the Columbus (Ohio) International Film and Animation Festival. It has more than 100,000 YouTube views and has screened at the Barcelona Indie Filmmakers Festival and the 2025 Chagrin Documentary Film Festival near Cleveland.
Who Is Herb Ascherman?
For over four decades, Ascherman has chronicled greater Cleveland and its people, making more than 9,000 portraits, mostly black-and-white. Thirty-two of his photos are part of the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Both a student and teacher of photography, Ascherman owns more than 2,300 books on photography. His philosophy, he says, is the “pursuit of quality.”
Curious crowds form when he sets up outdoor shoots with his 15-pound Deardorff 8×10 view camera and 15-pound tripod.
In 1977, Ascherman founded the Cleveland Photographic Workshop, which showcased more than 1,000 photographers. In 2006, he founded the Cleveland Society of Alternative Photographers to promote the 19th-century photographic processes still being used today.
Ascherman’s 1985 project, 50 Faces: The Holocaust Remembered, has been shown nationwide.
Platinum Processing
Born in 1947, Ascherman continues to use platinum photo processing, the 19th-century method that replaces traditional silver halides with platinum/palladium metals. Platinum particles are absorbed directly into the fibers of high-quality cotton or rag paper, resulting in a matte finish with exceptional tonal range.
Prints are long-lasting, without fading. The platinum process requires a negative the same size as the print. Each print takes two hours, says Ascherman.
“Only a dozen (photographers) do platinum processing commercially,” he says.
Ascherman learned platinum processing more than a quarter-century ago from renowned photographer/printer Salvatore Lopes of Boston.
“Smart phones, social media, and artificial intelligence have made it very difficult, if not impossible, for a photographer to make a living dedicating oneself to their craft like Herb did,” says filmmaker Jim Koenigsaecker.
The Eye of Cleveland
Trained as a photojournalist, Koenigsaecker was the 2023-2024 Knight Fellow in Visual Communication at Ohio University, learning filmmaking. For his master’s project, he made a 12-minute documentary on Ascherman (The Eye of Cleveland).
The film documents Ascherman making an in-studio portrait and features interviews with a curator at the Cleveland Museum of Art, a local gallerist, and a volunteer at the Cleveland Orchestra (Ascherman made portraits of orchestra musicians).
Ascherman appreciates the film as a tribute to his craft and his city. Plus, he says, the Cleveland-based documentary highlights photography talent outside major markets like New York.
The documentary ends with Ascherman photographing Cleveland’s evening skyline with his bulky camera on a tripod.
Fireworks illuminated the skyline after a Cleveland Guardians victory, as viewers hear celebratory booms near the downtown stadium.
Cleveland, a small-to-midsize market for pro baseball, is battling in the 2026 playoffs. Down two games against the Chicago White Sox, the Guardians won that series 3-2. The Guardians now face the Tampa Bay Rays in the best-of-seven American League Championship series.
“Cleveland is a comeback city,” says Ascherman. “This area used to have 26 steel mills, now there is one. But now we have two of the top hospitals in the country. We have a fine orchestra. A fine art museum.”
… and a playoff-caliber baseball team. Plus, the 4-2 Cleveland Browns won on Sunday, October 18, defeating their division rival Baltimore Ravens.
Affiliate Disclosure PetaPixel articles may include affiliate links; we may earn a commission if you buy through one.
