.
This year The Poets Corner’s Eco-Poetry reading will feature 12 poems juried by cohosts John Paul Caponigro and Meg Weston.
In Why Ecopoetry? There’s No Planet B John Shoptaw states, “Ecopoetry is nature poetry that has designs on us, that imagines changing the ways we think, feel about, and live and act in the world.” He goes on to state that eco-poems are both environmental and environmentalist.
For this reading, we looked for poems that help us see the earth anew. Without being didactic or moralistic, our poems can express our concerns about our impact on our planet alongside our sense of awe and reverence for nature, wilderness, and the wonders of this world we live in.
Celebrate Earth Day and come hear this inspiring gathering of voices.
“Order, unity, and continuity are human inventions, just as truly as catalogues and encyclopedias.” – Bertrand Russell
Continuity lies at the heart of the art of storytelling. The types of images selected and the transitions made between images presented in groups can be powerful tools for visual communication. Sequences can provide useful comparisons and contrasts between separate images and their contents. They set a pace and rhythm for looking. Carefully orchestrated, they can create the illusion of moving in time forward or backward, linearly or non-linearly. They can be used in extremely creative ways. The best sequences make both individual images and the journey created by presenting many images in sequence clearer, more meaningful, and more moving.
Continuity is key. Every screenwriter needs to create it. Every storyboard artist needs to interpret it. Every director needs to guide it. Every editor needs to refine it. If you’re a still photographer, you may be called to do all of these things.
Photographers can use continuity to guide and structure initial explorations on site as well as to resolve challenging transitions and find missing gaps while continuing to develop projects.
First, create a storyboard as a checklist to make sure no angle goes uncovered; this will stimulate you to come up with many more creative solutions, so you’ll have more images to choose from. Then, update your storyboard to find out what you’ve got too much or too little and find connections between disparate images.
Photographers also can use continuity to edit, sequence, and present existing work more effectively; use the same skills to fine-tune a story in sophisticated and compelling ways.
Just like composing music, there are specific strategies you can use and many possible ways you can apply them to solve creative challenges. How you apply them may become as much a part of your style as composition and processing.
Here are some classic strategies for sequencing images and creating transitions between them.
Erika Funke (WVIA NPR PBS) lead an inspiring discussion, including curator Heather Sincavage (Sordoni Art Gallery), about my exhibit Landscapes Within Landscapes at Wilkes University on display through May 13.
