NORTH EAST, MD — In a display of creativity and commitment, ‘Project 365’, a unique photography exhibition, is set to open at Cecil College, showcasing the works of eight diverse photographers. What began as a friendly challenge among associates twelve years ago, has now blossomed into an engaging and yearly art exhibition.

The intention behind ‘Project 365’ is beautifully simple – take a photo every single day, post it online, and construct a year-long narrative through the lens of each photographer. This year, the exhibit will be stationed at the Milburn Stone Gallery on the North East Campus, hosted by the Cecil College Art and Design Program.

An original member of Project 365, who is also an adjunct at Cecil College, Mary Johnson, speaks highly of the inclusive nature of the project. With participants ranging from amateurs to professionals and students, the project displays a remarkable assortment of photographic artworks.

Among the exhibitors is Barry Gorrell, a photography veteran with a career spanning 47 years, who has developed an interest in drone photography post-retirement. Another participant is Barbara Bell, a watercolor artist introduced to ‘Project 365’ by Johnson’s brother, who uses her photos as a reference for her artwork.

The exhibit also includes works from Jennifer Fox, a nature-inspired visual arts educator; Dave Vallée, a hobbyist photographer; and Rita Schreiner, a current student at Cecil College.

Completing the lineup is Kathy Buckalew, a multi-genre photographer and teacher, and Julie Perone, who discovered her passion for photography after retiring from a career in psychology.

With such an eclectic collection of artists, visitors to the ‘Project 365’ exhibition can expect to immerse themselves in various photographic narratives, each image holding its unique story to tell.

The exhibition will take place at the Milburn Stone Theatre Gallery, running from May 31 to August 30, with a reception scheduled for June 21.

To experience this magnificent showcase of dedication and artistic expression, visitors are welcome to visit during gallery hours, which include Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday and Friday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., and three hours before showtimes at Milburn Stone Theatre.

For more captivating art events at Cecil College, keep an eye on their social media and website.

For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News and Microsoft Start.

In today’s technological world, even professional photographers and artists are recognizing the iPhone as a useful (and even practical) photographic tool. Join photographer artist, Kelli Klymenko in his one-day class for beginner and advanced students and you’ll go beyond the basics and learn to shoot professional quality photographs with your iPhone.

You will learn how to shoot, edit and share remarkable landscapes, portraits and the macro world around you using only your iPhone. Kelli will guide you through simple tips and tricks that will take your photography to the next level. Discover how to capture the essence of a place and your subjects rather than just taking a picture. You will also learn basic video and video editing techniques for use with apps such as Facebook and Instagram.

Learn how to get the highest resolution images on your iPhone and apps

Practice creative techniques including HDR (High Dynamic Range)

Shoot panoramas
Learn about the latest editing, filters and stylizing apps
Learn about iPhone equipment: remotes, tripods and more
Learn how to use the hottest new tools on your iPhone
Materials Required For Students To Bring: Please see Materials List

May 31, 2024 | Friday | 9 am – 2 pm AZ time

Medium – iPhone
Materials List – Click the Materials List tab above
Registration – Each student must enroll individually. Click the Cancellation Policy tab above for more info.
Location/Time – Sedona Arts Center

Arctic Exposure, a distinguished photo tour company founded in 2013, is celebrating ten years of transporting photography enthusiasts to the Arctic’s most awe-inspiring landscapes. Renowned for its unique blend of travel, education, and photography, the company offers immersive workshops that allow participants to capture the untouched beauty of the Arctic through their lenses. From the remote Highlands of Iceland to the mesmerizing northern lights, Arctic Exposure’s workshops are designed to enhance photography skills while fostering a deep connection with the elemental wonders of the Arctic wilderness.

Arctic Exposure, a distinguished photo tour company founded in 2013, is celebrating its decade-long legacy of providing immersive photography workshops across the Arctic’s most breathtaking landscapes.

 Known for its unique blend of travel, education, and photography, Arctic Exposure offers enthusiasts and professionals the opportunity to capture the untouched beauty of the Arctic through their lenses.

“From the remote wilderness of the Highlands of Iceland to the dancing northern lights above, our workshops are designed to enhance your photography skills and truly connect you with the elemental beauty of the Arctic,” says Skarphéðinn Þráinsson, founder of Arctic Exposure, also affectionately known as Skarpi. 

Arctic Exposure’s most notable workshop, the Highlands of Iceland Drone Photo Workshop, is a prime example of this immersive approach. It brings photographers to one of the most otherworldly locations on Earth, where rugged volcanic landscapes, cascading waterfalls, and vast expanses of uninhabited terrain unfold in every direction. Participants find themselves amidst Iceland’s highlands’ raw, untamed beauty, where the ever-changing weather adds more drama to their photographic pursuits. 

“Our workshops go beyond photography; they are a journey into the heart of Arctic wilderness,” Skarpi adds. “We facilitate not just the capture of images, but the creation of memories that resonate with the dramatic landscapes and the vibrant stories they hold.”

The small group sizes of Arctic Exposure’s tours ensure personalized attention, enhancing both the learning experience and the cultural immersion. Accommodations are often in remote guesthouses and hotels, and meals focus on local ingredients. The company strives to blend comfort with adventure, providing a cozy backdrop to the day’s photographic pursuits.

This story is a part of the 100 Stories from Iceland.

Name: Skarphéðinn Þráinsson, Skarpi
Title: Founder and Head Guide
Company: Arctic Exposure
Phone: +354 6174550
Email: info@arcticexposure.is
Address: Skemmuvegur 12, 200 Kópavogur, Iceland

Arctic Exposure is a premier provider of photography tours and workshops specializing in the Arctic regions of Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Canada, and the Faroe Islands. Founded by a former engineer turned professional photographer, Skarphéðinn Þráinsson, the company offers all-inclusive, educational travel experiences designed to enhance photographic skills in capturing the raw beauty of the Arctic. With a focus on small group sizes and local expertise, Arctic Exposure stands out for its commitment to responsible and enriching travel.

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Inside the opening night party of Camera Roll Orgy – the NYC group show revealing the lost gems from the iPhones of the city’s revered photographers

A photograph stops time for a fraction of a second. Then, life keeps moving. But what if a photograph could be used to preserve the place you love from changing?

It’s why Sierra Grace spends most of her days off doing what she refers to as “light trespassing” around Hollywood Beach.

Grace is part photographer, part archivist and part activist — raising red flags about development and demolition of historic buildings on her Instagram account LushSuburb. She’s a frequent voice at city meetings around South Florida.

“I have always had a compulsion to take pictures. And pretty pictures help get a point across,” she said while guiding WLRN around the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk. “That’s how I do good work with it, you can catch people’s attention and then get them mobilized.”

More than a decade ago, Grace started creating an archive of “old Florida” motels and shops that represented the esoteric and art deco architecture around South Florida. She posts the photos on social media where her followers connect with the nostalgic aesthetic.

Then, during the pandemic and the housing crisis that followed, Grace became more politically active — sometimes urging her followers to sign petitions to save historic buildings or speak out against anti-preservation bills like HB 1317.

Preserving the Broadwalk

On a recent afternoon, Grace wore her blonde hair up and tucked under a red baseball hat. She draped her camera over her shoulder and a fanny pack around her waist. And even though she was walking the beach in the middle of the afternoon, she wore construction boots — necessary for visiting certain sites, she said.

“It’s not that we’re anti-development, it’s that we’re anti reckless development,” Grace explained. This “reckless development” — according to Grace — threatens the look and feel of Hollywood Beach.

She stopped at the historic Neptune Motel on the Broadwalk — the motel was purchased by a real estate investment group in 2022.

“Could you imagine … if this was a massive tower now? It would be the beginning of the end of the character of the Broadwalk,” Grace said as she walked into the courtyard to take some photos of the beachfront motel.

The Condra Property Group plans on building a 3-story beach club and restaurant over the Neptune. They are also planning an 18-story apartment building with affordable housing units a few blocks away on A1A. They plan to utilize the Live Local Act, which prohibits local officials from weighing in on zoning, density and height restrictions for eligible developments.

Qualifying projects are defined as any residential housing project on commercial, industrial or mixed-use land that allocates at least 40% of units to be affordable for residents earning up to 120% of the area median income.

Restoration vs. redevelopment

Grace tries not to draw too much attention to herself when she’s out photographing — she likes to use her iPhone instead of a larger DSLR camera — but often she’ll run into people curious about what she’s up to.

It happened while she was showing WLRN around — a woman asked Grace what she was taking photos of, and Grace asked how she felt about new development on the beach.

“This is going to make it so much more like Miami Beach, versus the intimacy that we have here right now,” the woman told Grace. “And just in general, the comfort. I come here often to avoid tourism.”

But Grace hasn’t lost hope for Hollywood. She grew up moving throughout different cities in Broward and Miami-Dade counties which helped shape her appreciation for the unique style of South Florida.

“Every Florida city has its vernacular. Floridians, we’re really known for like crazy roadside architecture. We just kind of do what we want freely. So it’s unique. There’s nowhere else that exists like us,” she said. 

Grace guides us by the Marlin hotel, a carefully remodeled art deco building complete with Miami-Vice-teal paint and a pink neon sign.

“It’s a great example of restoration, she says. “It’s perfect. It’s painted. People have great experiences. They make good money. It contributes to the look and feel and the character of Hollywood.

Photographing local landmarks

David Paulo is another photographer working to preserve parts of Broward. He started taking photographs of what he calls “Broward County landmarks” last year.

He’s self-taught and uses a FujiFilm point-and-shoot film camera. It’s unobtrusive, light and creates warm images that he shares on his Instagram account ShotByLeather.

We met recently in Sistrunk, a historically Black neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale. It’s in neighborhoods like this where Paulo’s work has its greatest impact.

“I don’t think most people would be comfortable walking down these ways,” he told WLRN. “I think it’s extremely vital to preserve the history. By me taking these photos, essentially, I’m capturing history.”

Whereas most photographers stick to the beaches and downtown areas, Paulo roams the streets of neighborhoods like Lauderhill and Dania Beach to create snapshots of some of the most recognizable buildings in the area.

“It’s so important to me because this is where I’m from and I’m seeing it change rapidly with all the development,” he told WLRN.

Walking the streets of these neighborhoods is vital for the work that Paulo does. While taking WLRN on a tour, Paulo was stopped multiple times by members of the community who were curious about his camera.

“I connect with the community. It’s deeper than just taking pictures. It’s also knowing the people in your community, digging deep,” he said. “As humans, we’re supposed to connect with other humans.”

Many of the neighborhoods Paulo photographs are bustling with construction of new apartment buildings and with the new development comes the threat of gentrification.

“Change is good, as long as change comes with equality,” he said. “I’m not talking about gentrification and pricing people out. I mean changing the dynamic of the neighborhood.”

Photographing buildings before they are torn down

Paulo’s photographs are unvarnished and mostly unedited. When he sees something he likes he takes a few steps towards or away from it and fires a few shots with natural instinct. He prefers to shoot during the day when the sun is high and shadows are intense, casting a tropical light on buildings so that they emit a blinding glow that South Floridians are all too familiar with.

There is urgency in the work of both Grace and Paulo. They are both Florida natives who have seen the landscapes of the places they grew up in change rapidly.

“Everything is changing. So I’m trying to preserve as much community as I can through my art,” Paulo said.

On a recent afternoon Paulo wanted to photograph one last landmark — the amphitheater at Huizenga Plaza in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

“I know you remember the Broward Performing Arts Field trips?” he said. “And then after we’d go to Subway, we’d have sandwiches and sit at Huizenga Plaza and just chill, enjoy the breeze.”

But when he got there, construction tape surrounded the rubble of the former amphitheater. Soon a restaurant will take its place.

“I’m mad I didn’t get a picture of it bro,” he said. “And look, now it’s gone. History’s gone.”

Editor’s Note: In Snap, we look at the power of a single photograph, chronicling stories about how both modern and historical images have been made.

At an outpost in Afghanistan’s eastern Korengal Valley, in the midst of a heightened American military campaign against the Taliban, two soldiers appear to be fighting — each other. It’s a play fight and the young man on the bottom has his comrade in a headlock, forcing a kiss on the cheek.

The photograph, taken in 2008 by the late British photographer Tim Hetherington, is from a time when nearly a fifth of all combat in Afghanistan was taking place in the six-mile valley.

In the long stretches of boredom that would arise when the enemy was nowhere to be found, the men had to find other things to do at their remote outpost.

“These guys are tough, aggressive guys and when there wasn’t any combat, they turned their aggression on each other — in a fraternal way,” explained Sebastian Junger, a writer and journalist who first brought Hetherington to Afghanistan on an assignment for Vanity Fair magazine in 2007.

Both Hetherington and Junger became “enamoured with the opportunity to show the intimacy of a platoon in combat,” Junger said in an interview via telephone. The pair went on to co-direct what would become the Oscar-nominated documentary “Restrepo” filmed over the course of the same platoon’s deployment.

Bobby, the soldier on the bottom of this image, is remembered by Junger as “incredibly funny, extremely smart.” On top is Cortez, “an incredibly sweet kid,” said Junger, adding that he was “sort of the pretty boy in the platoon.”

The photograph is currently on display at London’s Imperial War Museum (IWM), accompanied by an excerpt from Hetherington’s journal written that same year: “In the end it has little to do with the war, and a lot to do with being men… Or in the case here, becoming men.”

The works form part of an exhibition called “Storyteller: Photography by Tim Hetherington,” which opened on the 13th anniversary of the photographer’s death (he was killed by shrapnel while filming and photographing the Libyan Civil War in April 2011).

Junger agrees with his friend’s sentiment. “One of the things that place is very good at is turning children into men. And I think that’s always been true of war.”

Young men in conflict

“The experience of war was the only opportunity that men had in a society to express unconditional love for each other,” is a quote that Hetherington often repeated, according to his friends.

He first learned it from another friend, photographer James Brabazon while the pair waited with Liberian rebel forces who were going to attack the capital Monrovia, during the Liberian Civil War in 2003. It was Hetherington’s first experience of combat.

Brabazon first heard the saying from his grandfather, a British soldier who served in World War II. “He just clearly, really took it to heart,” said Brabazon in a video interview with CNN. “Tim was really interested in the dynamics of young men… He was really interested in how young men related to one another, how they represented one another to each other, where those representations came from, how they were amplified and how they were perpetuated — particularly in conflict.”

In a remote outpost where society was “stripped away,” these bonds captured Hetherington’s attention more than the war itself.

“I became much more interested in the inter-relationships between the soldiers and my own relationship to the soldiers than I was in the fighting,” reads a quote from Hetherington in the exhibition. “My examination of young men and violence, or of young men… It’s as much a journey about my own identity as it is about those young soldiers,” he wrote.

Following his year in the Korengal, Hetherington published “Infidel,” a photography book of stills taken during his deployment with bits of commentary from himself and the US soldiers he was embedded with.

One contributor is Cortez, one of the subjects of the photo, who wrote: “I told them time and time again that if a grenade went off, I would actually throw myself on the grenade… Because I actually love my brothers. I mean, it is a brotherhood… I think any of them would do it for me also.”

‘It’s very important that this work happened’

The IWM, which holds the entire archive of Hetherington’s work, worked with researchers and different communities to find out how they engaged with conflict photography. Greg Brockett, who curated the exhibition, was especially interested in how refugee communities would respond to Hetherington’s work.

“It’s very difficult to say how people are going to respond… Because a lot of them have experienced war and conflict directly,” he told CNN over a video interview. “What struck me was there was generally an overwhelming sense of people who felt it’s very important that this work happened, and people were able to see the realities they experience.”

“I’m less interested in people taking away knowledge of Tim, I’m more interested in people taking inspiration away from Tim,” said Stephen Mayes, executive director of the Tim Hetherington Trust, who also spoke to CNN via video call.

Hetherington was distinguished from other conflict photographers by his approach, which involved spending prolonged periods of time with his subjects. He often used film cameras and would speak to his subjects while photographing them.

“He wasn’t interested in photography in and of itself, for its own sake. He was interested in how that would allow him to access the lives of others,” said Brabazon.

‘It took a little bit from his soul’

In this process, Hetherington worried about how photography could be extractive. “He wanted the process to be consensual and also to leave something in the community,” added Brabazon, recounting a series of street photographs Hetherington took in Liberia where he would take photographs of people, keeping one Polaroid for himself and giving another to the subject.

“I think that was really important, because it allowed people to have agency in the work that was being created… It’s about extending the courtesy of participation in the creation of the work to the subject themselves.”

Hetherington’s friends reflect on the tragedy of his death in Libya, believing he was killed in his prime as a photographer — not only because of the images he produced, but because of his reflections on what it meant to capture conflict.

Mayes mentions the old adage that making a picture takes a little piece of the subject’s soul. “Tim thought, definitely, in his mind, he’d sold his soul to the devil in a way, because he saw that in making every picture he made, it took a little bit from his soul.”

“What did Tim want the effect of his work to be? That is a question which I don’t think we will every really know the answer to, because he died in the process of working that out himself,” Brabazon explained.

In his final diary entry on April 19, 2011, Hetherington wrote about attending the funeral of a rebel fighter who was killed by a mortar. He wrote of the young men he met there: “They are grimily happy that we are here to help them. They feel that now the whole world can see.”

“Storyteller: Photography by Tim Hetherington” is on at London’s Imperial War Museum until September 29.

The V&A’s new exhibition showcases iconic photos by the likes of Tyler Mitchell, Nan Goldin, Ryan McGinley, Cindy Sherman, Robert Mapplethorpe and more