Dreamscapes

As many of you know, I participate in the Photo Art Journals group. A recent theme was "Dreamscapes" and I was tickled pink to receive my copy in the mail this week. The format for this book deviated slightly from past books as the photos required were 5x7-inches, instead of the standard 4x6-inches. While admittedly more expensive with regards to photo developing, I love the bigger size and hope Catherine chooses this format again.

Our group leader, by the way, is the very talented Catherine Anderson. Her photographs always inspire me. Truth be told, this is a truly inspiring book. The artists all interpreted the theme in their own way, making this such a work of art. A real keeper!

Above is the image I selected to submit to the book; I photographed the angel in Richmond, Virginia, at the Hollywood Cemetery. Our books are typically straight-up photographs, with photoshopping done only for colour correction, contrast boost, etc.; however, this time around, we were encouraged to get as digitally creative as we wanted. Perfect!

Below, the back of the image, complete with its accompanying quotation -- the quotes and/or journalling are a vital part of each and every book. Thanks so much Catherine, for putting together a dreamy book!

The EYES have it

The mailman brought me a wonderful treat just a few days ago: the latest Photo Arts journal. The theme was Eyes and, as always seems to be the case for me, I had trouble deciding what to submit. I had so many choices, but during the process of trying to narrow it down to one appropriate image, I found myself where I often find myself, looking through the photographs I've taken in Savannah, Georgia. I am always drawn to the pictures I've taken there.

For the Eyes journal, I decided to focus on little Gracie Watson's eyes (no pun intended, really). Above is a larger view of the statue at her gravesite, while below are the front and back of my Eyes contribution. Please make sure you read what I wrote on the back (clicking on it to make it larger will help).

At the risk of repeating myself (I'm sure I've said this before here on my blog): if you ever go to Savannah, do not miss Bonaventure Cemetery. Even if you typically don't visit graveyards when on vacation, this one is a must.

FRONT

BACK

A new dawn, a new day

One of the Photo Arts journals I participated in last year had the theme of "sacred". I was reminded of that book today when I saw this week's theme over at Unique Exposure's Photo Challenge: New Dawn. You see, my contribution to the Sacred book involved the dawning of a new day and what that means to me. You can see my photograph for Sacred above; click on the image to make it much bigger. I won't add anything more as reading the inscription I wrote for the back of the image really does say it all for me. No more words required.

PhotoArt: Discarded

It's always wonderful to receive a package in the mail and it's extra-special when it's the new book from my Photo Art Journals group. The theme is Discarded, a topic open to such a wide range of interpretation. My copy arrived in the mail this week and it was a delight to slowly savour each and every page; the participating artists did not disappoint!

My contribution is above; as always, click on it for a better viewing experience. I went back and forth so many times when trying to choose what to include, but when I realized I had photographs of two different discarded chairs, both left at the curb, I knew my search was over. I typically do not do any extensive photoshopping on the images I submit to the group, but decided selective colouring was the way to go for both these photos.

The quotation reads:

do you watch
from the curb
as the world
passes by
afraid
you might get in
its way
--ann mortifee

As always, a world of thanks to the talented Catherine Anderson -- the creative genius who makes belonging to this group such a pleasure!

Amazing architectural photographs

The postman brought me a real treat today: the "Architecture" PhotoArts journal. I have been eagerly awaiting its arrival. PhotoArts is a group of very talented photographers, a group of which I'm proud to be a member, and approximately every six weeks we create a new journal, a new book of images.

The current theme was architecture and I had a devil of a time selecting just one photograph to include. Yes, it would have been acceptable to submit more than one image -- I've done that with past books -- but decided to force myself to choose just one. It was hard! I ended up selecting a photograph I took in Pittsburgh last year; it's in my Pennsylvania gallery at Flickr. You can see it HERE, although my submission to the book was slightly cropped. And, above, is my design for the back of the image.

I have enjoyed every PhotoArts book, but I definitely think this one is my favourite. A big THANK YOU to Catherine Anderson, the creative genius behind PhotoArts!

Bloomin' beautiful

Thanks to the encouragement of my good friend Nancy, I joined a Yahoo Group earlier this year that has fast become near and dear to me. Photo Art Journals is a group devoted to both the love of words as well as the art (and love!) of photography. Is that not me, or what! A few times a year, the group produces a book of photographs, all accompanied by meaningful quotes or personal poetry or prose. Photo Art Journals' creator is the amazingly talented Catherine Anderson, who takes everyone's photographs, puts them together, and creates magic. I have seen the books with Nancy's contributions and now I'm delighted to be a part of the newest book, BLOOM. It arrived earlier this week and what a treat that was!

First, I heard the sound of the mailman at the door. And sure enough, there was a small box waiting for me. I knew exactly what it was -- I'd been expecting it, as the contributors in the U.S. had already announced on our group message board that their books were arriving -- and I must admit I was excited as I opened it. Here is what I saw:


Isn't that a beautiful pouch! But what it contained was even better:


Truly stunning! The cover, the peace rose, is a photograph by Vivian Montre. Lovely!

This thick book -- ripe with photographs -- was an obvious labour of love, as its creation must have entailed hours at the cutting table and sewing machine, creating a wonderous fabric-bound book of floral photographs. The images are all attached at the top on one long strip of fabric, then the book was closed accordion-style, and held together by a large safety pin. If I undo the pin, it unfolds to a bloomin' beauty that I could -- and likely will -- hang across a wall in my studio. It's so beautiful and so inspiring.

By the way, here's my contribution. The words are my own creation.


So this is a public THANK YOU to both Catherine and the other group members. Thank you for sharing your art. I can't tell you how much I look forward to the next book, and the next one after that, and the next.........