From Film Images to Digital Images

After using film to create photographs for more than forty years, I've finally gone digital. Yep! I  plunked down big bucks for a Leica M 9. Of course, it took me a while to adjust to the differences between film and digital images, but I finally got it right.
        Here's an example. I was strolling through town here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on my way to my favorite coffee shop when I spotted the scene shown in the photo reproduced below. I shot just one frame. Later that day, it inspired Elizabeth Guy to write the accompanying poem.
        If you've been reading this blog regularly, you know where the poem and photo ended up. You're right! "The Blue Door" and its accompanying photo will appear in my upcoming collection of poems and photos submitted by students, teachers, and others nationwide.
        When it's published, Reflections will contain 122 poems, 22 haiku, 100+ black and white or color photos, and more. Here's a sample page from the manuscript. I added the quotation and Creative Concepts words to help motivate students in their class discussions and writing.


CREATIVE CONCEPTS: Unexpected, Mystery, Serenity, Secret

"Blue color is everlastingly appointed by the Diety to be a source of delight."   John Ruskin

The Blue Door

Right there
In the middle of the city
High above the alleyway
A blue door

A balcony haven
Bedecked in flowers
Beckoning the sun
A promise of warmth
Serenity
Behind that blue doorway
A cool and calm retreat
What secret pleasures
Linger there inside
Above the street

Behind
A multi-paned
Azure stained                                                            
Unexpected door                    
                   Elizabeth Guy    

Write What You See and Prufrock Press

Published by Cottonwood Press in 2009, Write What You See: 99 Photos To Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner is now marketed by Prufrock Press, http://www.prufrock.com.  This thought-provoking collection contains photographs and a wide variety of inventive writing prompts to motivate students.

     Written by a veteran of the Korean War and retired educator who has served as an English Department supervisor and adjunct associate professor of English at the community college level, Write What you See includes a CD-Rom and a special section telling how teachers nationwide use photos to inspire writing. 118 pages, 8 1/2 X 11, Softbound, ISBN 978-1-877673-83-2, Grades 7-12, $24.95