ABOUT THE PROJECT

Modernity seems to be blanketed with color, animation and simulation. My project intends to document real places and real people in the nakedness of black and white. It strips the subject down to its most basic elements and lays it bare. Poetry cuts to the soul and provokes a response.

The requested funds will be used for publishing and equipment costs needed to make this book right. The majority of the photos are taken in and around the Lawrence, KS area, highlighting this oasis of the Midwest. It will be a coffee table style book featuring people, places, animals, anything that displays our world today in all its brilliance and tragedy.

This book will be self-published through an available online product, Amazon's Createspace, that will allow me the freedom to design and structure the photos and poetry to flow. Without an additional $3000 in funds to purchase the necessary equipment and editing software, the raw material will never be book quality.

The project was conceived while photographing my daughter, featured on the cover page. I was shocked at how much more emotion and life was held in the black and white photos than any color wash could provide. I was compelled to follow where this sprung from.

Over the past year and a half, I have pursued this call, photographing life, trying to catch humanity in motion. Although, my passion for the written word was too great not to include, the pictures called for frames. So the idea of poetry was introduced to balance out the startling contrast of light and dark.

Poems will be inter-spliced on, around and between the photos providing criticism and juxtaposition.

Thus this swirling composition of art, both written and visual, was created.

Through your generous giving, this project can be a reality. Please fund a coup for beauty.

ABOUT LAWRENCE:

Located in the northeastern part of Kansas, Lawrence was a critical bastion of liberty during the Civil War. Settled by the New England Emigrant Aid Company, it was deliberately founded to fight pro-slavery factions based in Kansas City, MO.

Home to the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence is rich in culture and history. It is a traditionally liberal city in an otherwise Republican state, providing a contrasting dynamic to the area.

EXAMPLE OF POETRY:

A Forgotten Place

Old worn stone, spackled with dirt, use has taken its toll.

A light breeze flows through shaken leaves as sun and shadows mark boundaries.

Dusty winter wheat and broken stalks of corn sit idle in the day’s light,

as the humbled hum of a distant engine seeps through thousands of blades of grass.

The straight road follows a crooked bend around a dozen flat hills

off into the hazy distance, beyond the cycloning dust clouds.

Please share this link to help promote the project:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/895124773/new-age-negatives

Email me at emfoard@gmail.com with any questions or comments.