Victory Tischler-Blue says, "I love the ocean and as a kid, was so fascinated with free diving that I would swim underwater holding my breath for an excruciatingly long time. While submerged, I would listen to the muffled, whooshing sounds of the waves above and just linger in that weightless, timeless realm for as long as I could before resurfacing for air. I found the whole experience addictive and intoxicating because within that sensory world time stood still and moments became eternities. One second or a thousand years – it could be both or neither.

Motion picture and photography are the two main mediums I work in and whether I’m producing a film or shooting a single frame image I seek to create cinematic visuals that traditionally will hold the emotion back and keep it still for those few extra beats before cutting it loose, relieving the pressure and allowing the drama to unfold.

 All my visual work is bound together by a single common thread – the moment of realization that nothing is ever as it seems. There is such power in that emotion because locked inside, deep within that fleeting sliver of time and space, is where all the magic happens."

Victory Tischler-Blue is a motion picture producer/director and fine art photographer whose dark, single-frame tableaux evokes a deep sense of melancholy, tension and cinematic drama.

"I'm always drawn to the outliers," Tischler-Blue says. "For me, photography is all about intimacy and the element of surprise. There's a magic that comes along with things not planned and staying open to that leaves a lot of space for the unscripted to manifest."

A former member of the iconic '70s all-girl rock band the Runaways, Tischler-Blue often casts outliers and those who, through their own sense of self or the judgments of others, find themselves straddling their own personal edge.

"There's always a minor chord running through my productions - whether it's a motion picture project or a still image," she says. "Everyone has a story - some are just darker than others..."
Born and raised in Newport Beach, California, Victory Tischler-Blue currently divides her time between homes in Los Angeles, Laguna Beach and Palm Springs, California.

© 2018 / Desert Studios International    

studio@desertstudiosLA.com
www.desertstudiosLA.com

Tricia Capello says, "We are in a shift, a collective shift from self help towards self realization and connection. I, like many, am being drawn to fulfill my purpose, help raise consciousness and open hearts. My work is a part of this unfolding, and these images from my ongoing series 11:11 evolved from my own personal transformation.

All of the images are serendipitous moments throughout my awakening where I have listened deeply and followed my intuition, nothing is constructed. Beyond time in nature and meditating, I feel that being behind my camera is one of the most powerful ways I connect to my soul and to source.

It reminds me that there is something so much bigger than just the physical world around us and it is trying to get our attention, even in the most mundane moments of our day. Throughout my creative journey it has become apparent that these guiding energies often speak through my images and imprint vibrations that want to help us transform into our highest beings of self.

“The Last Goodbye, The First Hello” - This chance photograph was taken just a few short hours before my father unexpectedly crossed over. It will forever mark his homecoming back to a light-filled world."

Capello is a fine art photographer born and raised in Providence, RI.  Her work has been exhibited and published throughout the United States and internationally. She began her career in fine art photography after over a decade in marketing in advertising. In 2012 she attended Corcoran College of Art & Design then continued to the New England School of Photography in Boston. She then went on to study under Joyce Tenneson and Cig Harvey. In addition to her art she is a contributor to LA Yoga and Boston Yoga magazines and serves on the board of New Harmony Farm. Capello is based out of Newbury, MA with her young family. 

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

- 2018 - Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM - representation and show scheduled for January of 2019 

- 2017 - Solo Show - Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA

- 2017 - Lenscratch - Artist Feature - September

- 2016 - First-time recipient of the John Chervinsky Emerging Photographer Scholarship 

- 2016 - Third Place FOCUS Photo l.a. - Los Angeles CA- 2016 - Fotograf Magazine "Discoveries" - #28 Cultura/Natura  

www.triciacapello.com

everything has it's beauty but not everyone sees it
                   - Confucius/Andy Warhol
 
Todd A. Stuart says, "As we travel through the vibrant landscape every day, we look but do we see?

Observing the world around us more closely engages us with our day-to-day lives. Observation helps us gain empathy.  Empathy connects us to each other. 
 
4 months
I picked up my I-phone with intention in July 2018.  I needed a creative outlet.  I shot a few things around the house and starting editing with a new download - Lightroom CC.  I found an image I had shot back in April and converted it to my first monochrome image.  I uploaded that image along with 4 other I edited to my long dormant Instagram account. My Journey started.  
 
Journey is an interesting word.  In Old French, the word is jornee and means ‘day, a day's travel, a day's work.’  Since July, I have focused on seeing, capturing, processing or printing every day.  Most pictures are a day’s travel from my house.  Photography has become part of my day’s work.  
 
The three images here represent another type of journey, a creative exploration. April Fools,the earliest picture is focused on capturing what I see in the landscape.  Trying to portray the reality of the setting.  Fall Risingis more about the feeling I had walking through the park that day, the feeling that comes each year when fall is giving up to winter.  Night Movesis an internal reflection trying to capture the struggle with darkness and the need to find the light. These three images represents a movement in this exploration from capturing what I see to expressing emotions.  I hope that translates to the viewer, but I am really doing this for myself.
 
I am still experimenting. My journey continues."

Todd is an artist, entrepreneur and educator based in Oxford, Ohio.
He is a Lecturer and the Director of Arts Management & Entrepreneurship at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  

Todd holds an MFA and an MBA from the University of South Carolina.  He is also a graduate of the University of Florida with a BA in Theatre.

Prior to teaching, he worked professionally as a theatre designer and artisan and as an entrepreneur involved in start-ups in both the design and consumer goods industries. His research interests are centered on the intersection of arts entrepreneurship with strategy, innovation and design thinking.

His photography focuses on the small beauty in the details of everyday life. 

www.toddastuart.com

Ted Barkhorn says of his series, 'The Pareidolia Photographer: A Spiritual Journey, "Spiritual journeys often find us unexpectedly; a visual trigger shoots memories and recognition to the surface as we reach back to move forward.  And so it was for me as a photographer grounded in the Roman Catholic faith when I discovered what I call anomalies in nature.

These visual deviations from expected forms invited my mind to travel to a place where what I saw was natural, mystical, and spiritual, an experience that fits the definition of pareidolia, our perception of a specific and potentially, meaningful, image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern.
 
Discovering pareidolia in my photography began when I happened upon inverted Redwood roots during a hiking expedition. Brutally harvested long ago in the Pacific Northwest, these majestic forms were gnarled and twisted; a distinguished yet disturbing presence in an accessible destination created to honor their lost majesty.  Intuitively I felt an element of pathos and so I began to photograph them. 

Three years went by, the images remained hidden away, ignored like an empty suitcase after a trip.  But a critical business venture demanded that I create a portfolio. As I did, I saw my work with fresh eyes: the outline of the Virgin Mary suddenly became apparent in a photo that appears to replicate in nature Michelangelo’s Pietà.
 
On further study it appeared to me - and to others who saw the work - that the photo of the wooden form conveyed Jesus released from the cross, held in the arms of his Mother. This discovery started me down a road less traveled, a voyage of spiritual discovery deeply rooted in my connection to the natural world. 

Photographing these extraordinary wooden forms became for me an organic process; I observed the spiritual intertwined with the natural.  Each image I experienced in nature, revealed itself in the camera as a visual representation of spirituality, bringing to mind passages from the Bible and sage commentary from philosophers, authors, and leaders, inspiring voices, whose thoughts parallel my own.  
 
My photography does not reference only the present however, like stained glass windows it draws people in. I seek to take viewers on a spiritual journey as faith and art come together. The images of the roots are as discovered in nature; though color may be sometimes be added to bring forward a pattern representing a spiritual touchstone, Samson’s locks for instance or the Leviathan, the images are genuinely true to nature.

Indeed, as Henry David Thoreau has said, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”  Each image is my perception of travels to a spiritual realm as every frame is a voyage into the inner sanctums of the imagination."

Ted Barkhorn grew up in Short Hills, New Jersey. His spiritual journey began at Saint Rose of Lima Elementary School where he was introduced to his first love — Nature.

Encouraged by a dedicated botanist who volunteered at the Cora Hartshorn Arboretum, Barkhornstarted to spend his free time there immersed in the serenity of greenery and earth.  Nature hikes, fly fishing and just being surrounded by nature became integral to his daily life; for him it was the new normal.
 
Barkhorn went on to Millburn High School and then graduated from Seton Hall University with a B.A. in Communications.  Never leaving his camera behind he shot photos of anything and everything that caught his eye and intrigued his imagination. 

Although photography became a passion, Barkhorn also discovered a love for chemistry and initially, even thought he wanted to be a chemist.  However, he found satisfaction in learning the chemistry involved in developing photographs.

Seeking to combine his two loves,Barkhorn’s desire was to work for a pharmaceutical company and so he did, starting out at Ciba Geigy Pharmaceuticals in Summit, N.J.

Having both the background in chemistry and creative services, working for Ciba seemed like a perfect fit.

What Barkhorn didn’t initially realize was that the job would become a springboard to his career in photography. He started out working in the Ciba printing and photography departments but before long he found himself globetrotting and discovering inspiring opportunities to perfect his craft.    

Barkhorn went on to start his own photography business. Though he specialized in shooting special events created for publicity purposes, his love for nature kept drawing him back.   As an avid hiker and runner, he would hike the White Mountains National Forest or the Appalachian Trail when he needed a respite, and always with his camera by his side.
 
Others in the family with similar creative talents were influential in his career.  Ted Barkhorn’s fraternal grandfather, Charles Barkhorn, was an amateur photographer.  His award-winning photographs were published in the Sunday paper in the 1930's and his Aunt Jeanne Pasley, a well-known sculptor in her day, sculpted a bronze bust of Ernest Hemingway that now sits comfortably in the Princeton University Library.  Another aunt and his sister are also gifted artists.

Barkhorn decided to settle down in his hometown of Short Hills. Realizing that his love for nature and the beauty of the outdoors was genuinely a lifelong passion, he started a landscaping business.  Fast forward to 2010, he took his family on a hiking trip in Mohonk Mountain in New Paltz, NY.  Directed to another area of the Mohonk Preserve as their original destination was closed, Barkhorn happened upon a group of interesting tree trunks. Inspired by these twisted limbs he stopped to photograph them.  On his return home, he developed the images and placed them in his desk.  He quickly forgot about them.
 
Almost three years after this encounter with the tree trunks, while preparing for a business endeavor that required documentation of his work, he created a portfolio of his before and after landscaping jobs to validate the authenticity of his skill. By chance, a photo from the New Paltz trip was placed at the end. 

Subsequently, the endeavor went well and a spiritually-minded colleague involved in the process was the first to notice the image in the back of the portfolio. She took a brief look and immediately saw an outline of the Virgin Mary in the photograph. Ted was too involved in executing the steps to complete business at hand to consider what his colleague had noticed.
 
Several months later, while taking a moment to catch his breath, he thought about what his colleague had said to him regarding the photo.  He went looking through his desk in search of the image…and sure enough, he saw it as clear as day…Jesus being held in the arms of his Mother.  He was amazed that he had not noticed it while photographing the Redwood root, but the perception of this imagery appeared to only be visible in the photo. 
 
He had a small photo of this amazing Pietà framed and presented it to his esteemed colleague as an act of gratitude and enlightenment.  She immediately began to cry. Normally she carried a crystal charm to feel protected, however, that particular day, the day Barkhorn gave her that very special image, she had in her pocket a Miraculous Medal of Mary.
 
Powerful and moving, this experience became a spiritual re-awakening for Ted, the first leg on his visual journey.  In that moment, he realized that his purpose was to go back to his roots: Photography and Nature.

In his heart and mind, it was clear this was what he was supposed to be doing. Inspired by these ancient Redwood roots, the more he studied his images, the more he found correlations not only to Biblical passages but to the ideas and words of compelling thought leaders from Albert Einstein to John Lennon. And so he began to dedicate himself to capturing these hidden images of spirituality as he discovered them in nature, pure, unadulterated, forms inviting all to invest their imagination and discover the beauty of love and life.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
 
EXHIBITIONS/PRESENTATIONS
 
THE BOOKHOUSE   Milburn, NJ    Exhibition February 2017 to present
Gallery showcasing the work of local artists
 
SOUTHAMPTON ARTS CENTER   August 2018  Art and Lifestyle Presentation
 
263 BOWERY  Gallery NYC. Exhibition on roster for December 2018
 
THE TENTH MUSE Gallery, Maplewood, N.J.  Exhibition on roster for Winter 2019
 
MILLBURN LIBRARY Millburn, NJ   Exhibition on roster for 2019 March
 

PRESS COVERAGE
 
Spring 2018   New Jersey Patch - Feature on Ted Barkhorn Photography
 
Spring 2018    201 Magazine - Feature on Ted Barkhorn Photography
 
Dec/Jan 2018  New York Lifestyles Magazine
 
Dec/Jan 2018  Millennium Magazine
 
Spring 2019   No. 3 Magazine

Image: 
Heart of God by Ted Barkhorn -  For me, the depth of this piece reflects my perception that God's love for humanity is beyond comprehension.

https://tedbarkhorn.com

Image: Eye of God -  As a man of faith, I believe that God's eye sees us from a perspective that is loving and powerful all at once.

Breath of God  - God's words are pure; they lead me on a spiritual journey revealed though the imagery of my photography.
 

Review by curator Susan Spiritus www.susanspiritusgallery.com "There wasn’t a better single image that was submitted to the “JOURNEY” competition that expressed the overall theme than this photograph by Sylvia de Swaan!

The three exhausted people riding together in the train cabin, asleep and obviously unaware that their picture was being taken, perhaps by a stranger, or maybe not. It is clear that they have been asleep for quite some time – their journey being a long one with much travel ahead. It is also apparent to me that these people are sharing the car; a second-class cabin with several others and each has a limited amount of personal space.

While I am not sure of the relationship of the couple – husband/wife or mother/son; it is clear that they are sharing their space together, while the person on the end with his coat over his head wants to shut out everything around him and have his space to himself. It is obvious that they are all in for the long haul journey ahead."

Spiritus asks Sylvia de Swaan, "I’m so curious about the entire setting for the photograph:  What was your relationship to the occupants in the car? Were they total strangers or were you traveling with them? Time of day/night? Why did you choose to photograph sleeping people? Were they aware (after the fact) that you took this picture?"

Sylvia de Swaan says of 'Baltic Express', "It was taken May 23/24th on an eighteen hour train  journey on the Baltic Express, A route that starts in Bucharest and meanders up through Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, with a final destination at Bahnhof Lichtenberg in Berlin. I got on at Nyugati station in Budapest and took my seat (#53), in a compartment with five other passengers.

Three of them were Dresdeners, elderly parents with their grown son, who had been on their first venture out of their country in 37 years.

The other two, Hungarians; an attractive couple with a faint air of mystery and elicit romance about them. I was travelling alone, the first of my extended journeys to explore the terrain of my early childhood as a survivor of the Holocaust and refugee from war. 

I chatted with the Hungarians in English and with the Germans auf Deutsch, telling them that I'm an American Photographer doing a story about train travel in Eastern Europe (a half truth) and asked if they wouldn't mind if a took a few photos of them in the course of this journey.

They all seemed amenable to the idea and so I took some photos of them awake, but was especially taken by the scene before me late in the night when the Hungarians were all asleep.

Naturally I didn't see the full impact of the photos until after I was home and I'd developed the film. 

Earlier on 19 of May I witnessed the amazing turnout in Prague to the speech given by Vaclav Havel in Vencelav Square & many other scenes."

Additional review by curator Ellen Wallenstein: "This photo is nostalgic for anyone who has ever ridden a train through Europe at night, in a compartment full of strangers. The late night/early morning is timeless in all senses of the word. The use of black & white makes it a throwback to memory of train travels, and early Hitchcock movies.
 
Watching a sleeping intimacy: Strangers On A Train. A man and a woman interconnected by their touch.
What time is it? Are they seated moving backwards, or forwards? On the right a man is sleeping under his jacket, a non-onlooker whose presence completes the rule of thirds.
 
We are on the Baltic Express,somewhere in the late 20th century. As i see it i can feel it - the closeness of the cabin, his hands on her legs: summer sleep, bare feet.
As i see it i can hear it- the quiet breathing of the woman; his snores; the understated clickety-clack of wheels beneath.
 
A journey to the past through the present as photography stops time. Bravo, Sylvia."
www.ellenwallenstein.com
 
Additional review by curator Wendi Schneider: "There is a poignancy in the vulnerability that emanates from this image and gives me pause. It triggers reminders of that which we cannot control, and also of the intimacy that can develop quickly in close quarters or even from afar."
www.wendischneider.com
------------------------------------------------

Sylvia de Swaan says, "I'm a fine art and documentary photographer who works on long term self assigned projects that explore personal and collective memory and identity, the state of the world and the places where I have lived.

The three pieces submitted to this compeition are from a body of work titled "Return:The Landscape of Memory" that are about my travels in post communist Eastern Europe to retrace the routes that my mother, sister and I traversed as stateless refugees at the end of the Second World War.

Since there was nothing before me of the pre war stories my mother told and little of the scenes that I experiences in my childhood, the question I asked myself was, how does one photograph an absence? I therefore brought with me a few family photos and other artifacts to mark my connection to the lands of my ancestry.

I was born in Romania and immigrated to the United States when I was nine years old. The highlights of my life and career have been that at age 16 I was accepted to the High School of Music & Art, where I received my first training as an artist, that in my junior year in college I decided to go on a six month visa to Mexico, where I ended up living for eleven years; met a group of remarkable people and gained much recognition for my work, which at the time consisted of paintings, artist books and installations; that I had the good fortune to be invited to apprentice with the photographer Rodrigo Moya and that eventually photoraphy became my primary medium. 

My work of the past twenty years have earned me, among others, four NYFA Fellowships; three travel grants from ArtsLink; residencies at Light Work, Bemis Center for Contmporary Art; Anderson Ranch Art Center, as well as fellowships from Art Matters, the Aaron Sikind Foundation, among others."

www.worldphoto.org/blogs/20-09-16/make-meaningful-work-sylvia-de-swaan-visura

www.sylviadeswaan.com

'The Journey' Home:
http://nyphotocurator.com/the-journey-susan-spiritus

First Place:
http://nyphotocurator.com/the-journey-susan-spiritus/first-place-sylvia-de-swaan-baltic-express----/1

Second Place:
http://nyphotocurator.com/the-journey-susan-spiritus/second-place-crystal-tursich-things-we-ve-saved---/1

Third Place:
http://nyphotocurator.com/the-journey-susan-spiritus/third-place-deborah-sfez-crossroads-i---/1

Honorable Mentions:
http://nyphotocurator.com/the-journey-susan-spiritus/honorable-mentions-janet-milhomme-left-behind-marsha-guggenheim-summer-in-sf-8-alison-roberts-indicant-iii-howard-lewis-through-the-valley-eric-renard-alone-in-seattle----/1

Best Series:
http://nyphotocurator.com/the-journey-susan-spiritus/best-series-virginia-hines/1

Exhibition #1:
http://nyphotocurator.com/the-journey-susan-spiritus/exhibition-1/1

Exhibition #2:
http://nyphotocurator.com/the-journey-susan-spiritus/exhibition-2/1

Exhibition #3:
http://nyphotocurator.com/the-journey-susan-spiritus/exhibition-3/1