Creative Collaboration
Over the last year I’ve had the rewarding experience of working with Dayton-area poet Stephen Emerick on creating prints and books that effectively merge my visual discoveries of the nature and landscape of Ohio’s Hocking Hills with his words of quiet reflection and soulful interpretation.
One of the many personal rewards I receive from pursuing my avocation in fine art nature photography is experiencing each viewer’s unique reaction to my photographs and hearing from them how a particular image moved them in a certain way, elicited a thought or feeling or revived a long dormant memory. My photographs have served me well in reaching out and connecting with other creative and artistic souls, and in ways where words fail me.
But for some words are paintbrushes (or cameras). This is more than true for the poetry of Stephen Emerick. When those words are partnered with photographs that visually reinforce the poetic message being shared, then something even greater than each of the elements results, especially when both images and words originate from two similar artistic impressions of a “sacred place” known as Hocking Hills.
Poems from the Inn at Cedar Falls Welcome represents our first book. It can be purchased online at Blurb or in the gift shop at the Inn at Cedar Falls. Due to the success of that project we’ve created a series of what I like to call Poem Prints - fine art photographic images that combine two nature photographs with a poem. These can be purchased in print sizes starting at 8″x10″ at http://jimcrotty.imagekind.com/PoemPrints.
