Dorothy O’Connor, “Water”

“This project began with the desire to build an image around fire. I was fortunate to have the help of prop and wardrobe stylist Caroline Dieter, for planning the shot, gathering the props and designing the set, which took months to do. We were so pleased with the first image, that I decided to do a series based on the elements, i.e. – the next shot was to be water. Curiously though, the project began to take on a life of its own. The desire to work on and build certain elements in each set became a kind of compulsion for me, the need to make the picture in my mind a reality. Upon completion of each image I started to realize that I was looking at my own life. Each picture becoming an autobiography which, when viewed gave me the sensation much like interpreting my own dreams. I was essentially pictorially capturing my own memoir.”

Laura Noel, “Prize Bed”

“‘Prize Bed’ is part of a series called Love and Rockets, which explores how people use symbols of love and force in advertising and in private homes to express American values. One of the ideas explored in Prize Bed is the emphasis this culture places on commerce as a form of recreation. The scene depicted here plays on the universal desire for love, yet packages this essential emotion as a commodity.”

Pam Moxley, “The Chase”

“I have always felt that looking through the lens of a camera is much like looking at life from the perspective of a child. The magnificence of life is fresh and waiting to be discovered. I see things when I photograph that I would never see without a camera in my hands.

Through this mixed media series, I hope to transport you, the viewer, back to your own childhood, to a time of unbridled moxie. I hope that you can remember what it was like to never hesitate, to embrace all the surprises that cross your path.”

Lynn Marshall-Linnemeier, Do What I Say

“Stereography emerged as an entertainment medium gaining enormous popularity by the late 1800s. It has been likened to television. Racial tensions also escalated during this time as America sought to heal itself from the ravages of the Civil War. Do What I Say explores the cultural tensions surrounding corporal punishment and the racial stereotypes that resulted in the oversimplification of the practice. Within the African American community, especially in the past, spanking a child was accepted. However in many stereocards it was used to paint African American women as abusive. This is contradictory considering the role that African American women played in rearing both black and white children.”

Kathryn Kolb, “Tulip Poplar Leaves

“I am always aiming for the point at which design and meaning intersect seamlessly… . I feel that my strength as a photographer is not so much in creating something new, but in noticing how things are… My photographs are full frame ‘straight shots’ from which I make ‘straight prints’ on traditional enlargers. I use no filters, digital processes, or any other special techniques in shooting or in the darkroom.”

Christian Bradley West, “Debbie’s Bird”

Christian Bradley West is a fine artist working in a number of mediums. Christian considers himself primarily a portrait artist, but for a new photography series he has been exploring his relationship with object. This new set of photographs becomes another form of portrait. In the photo “Debbie’s Bird” he uses a small bird that is from an old carnival prize that has broken off from its base with the other birds. It is an object that belongs to a dear family friend and one that he remembers vividly from his childhood and he carries a deep connection with its presence.

John Bohannon, “Cirque”

John Bohannon is a fine art photographer living and working in Atlanta, Georgia. John finds inspiration in all things from the mundane to the fantastic. His imagery creates dream worlds were the viewer is pulled into the soft realms of stillness and enchantment. In the photograph “Cirque” John conjures the feelings that one has as a child when looking up at the steeples of the tent with anticipation of all the magic that lay housed within the transient space, and this familiar memory is shared by all who had the chance to go to the circus or fair as a child.

Diane Kirkland, “Crow Creek Falls”

“For many years I’ve enjoyed hiking and photographing in the north Georgia Appalachian Mountains. Walking slowly through the woods, I try to stay alert and be intensely observant to the uniqueness of a scene in order to capture the land as exciting and communicate my perceptions. Discovering pattern or design and finding cohesiveness in seemingly random unrelated items is simply recognizing an underlying order that is already in place. Harmony of form or color and the transforming qualities of the play of light are often lost in the confusion. Subtlety enlivens our senses.

I especially enjoy photographing the woods on a slightly overcast but bright day, or around the time of dawn and dusk. The quality of light is much softer and the lighter toned objects seem to glow. Awareness of the simple loveliness that surrounds us and the ability to translate what I see into a photograph is rewarding.”

David Walter Banks, “Umbrella Moon”

David Walter Banks (b. 1982) is an American born photographer living in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a conceptually based documentary and portrait photographer. His work is aimed at questioning the way in which we view the everyday reality around us. Banks was a candidate for the 2009 PDN30, and his work was recognized by the 2009 Magenta Foundation Flash Forward 2009 census of emerging photographers. His work was recently exhibited at the LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph. Banks is a founding member of the photographic cooperative Luceo Images and his clients include; The New York Times, TIME, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, ESPN, The FADER, Spin, and XXL Magazine among others.

Corrine Adams, “Swinger 4”

“The swinger moves out in space, and, for a moment, time stops. In this moment, he is caught between a past that is no longer and a future that is yet to be. He is joyous, flying free, yet he is a slave to gravity.

He soars, yet he is held taut. He is caught in the brink… somewhere between the “holding onto” and the “letting go.” It is the paradox of life.”