The poet and photographer combined
The above literary piece (used with permission) is by Kelly Hartland paired with one of my nature photos. I have been toying with the idea of a collaboration between two classes of artists – the poets and photographers. The concept isn’t unique, there have been poetry/photo books by poet and photography authors who combined their works. I broached the subject to Kelly who thought it was a great idea, and to Lila (of the blog Lila’s Twist) who was excited about it. We now have digital publishing platforms where we can create and publish online books and magazines. I have been doing it for the past four issues of the Digital Magazine edition of this blog. But this here at WordPress is a community, and a collaboration is a collective undertaking. If this project ever hopes to push through, what is needed aside from the materials is a concerted effort, the deliberate coming together of talent and creativity by everyone involved. Can these two breeds of artists, distinct in perspective and perception, different in methods and styles, but one in rendering imagery and inspiration, actually join forces? Oh, you tell me. Two of them just collaborated above.
Junsjazz Images & Inspiration 
I think this is a really viable idea. How do you propose to link or introduce the photographers to the poets? I’d be interested to know and to participate.
January 17, 2013 at 6:46 pm
Hello Ellen! I am open to suggestions and proposals on how to actually link the two groups. As I said in my post there should be a deliberate and willful coming together because the project, if we envision the participation of many, will involve time, coordination and other things. It should have a sense of volunteerism and spirit of cooperation. Like for instance I will volunteer to lay-out the inside pages, while someone who is great at graphics will do the cover design, while someone has to handle the literary submissions, and another will take care of image submissions, and how do we actually pair off one photo with another poem and vice-versa. There must be communication (in skype or other chat means). There are a lot of things to look into, which one person alone cannot do. I’d like to hear the thought of others on this. Thanks Ellen for your interest. Any of your beautiful nature photos can be paired off with an appropriate poem.
January 18, 2013 at 2:54 am
When you are at the point that submissions can be solicited you might want to ask those submitting photographs to suggest and poem topic and ask the poets to suggest a photo subject. At least then you’d have a starting place for your editors.
January 18, 2013 at 4:18 am
I recommend Robyn Lee’s Healing through the Lens and would be open to this. One of the Photography Clubs that I belonged to collaborated with a writing class and did a show at the local library. It was well received. I would be open to it myself.
January 18, 2013 at 7:48 pm
Thanks Jane for the info and your interest.
January 19, 2013 at 8:03 am
And I see seedbud here has “liked” this article and she/he does a beautiful pairing of photos and haiku .
January 18, 2013 at 7:50 pm
Thanks Jane! I will explore seedbud’s site
January 19, 2013 at 8:05 am
Great choice of photo Junsjazz – the poetry and photo sit perfectly together.
January 28, 2013 at 9:40 pm
Hi Kelly! This is the merger I was aiming for – the power of words and images combined. Thanks always!
January 29, 2013 at 2:01 am