The rebound of winter weather is a reminder the change of seasons can be a slow turn. A longing for warmer temperatures is soothed by reading poet JoEllen Kwiatek’s Eleven Days Before Spring. Recipient of a Pushcart Prize and winner of the 2014 Iowa Poetry Prize for Study for Necessity, JoEllen graciously shed her quiet reserve to sit for this cover photo in 2000.

A found sock with a holiday feel.

Pliny the Elder, a Roman author and naturalist, believed the full moon moistened the brain with nocturnal dew increasing the risk of madness. Although overall statistics reveal no significant saturation of human calamity during a full moon, it does seem to nourish the creative self.

This digital capture was taken while scouting locations along the Lake Michigan shore in preparation for the last Super Moon of the year. As luck would have it, a freighter passed by during this rehearsal.

HDR digital capture of Eco the Raccoon strolling on the Wishing Bridge strung with holiday lights.

Volunteering to document the Maywood Environmental Park‘s Wishing For Winter event gave me the opportunity to practice night photography.

This reclusive, gentle giant emerged from seclusion to become the latest subject for my Reconstructed Portraiture project. Two separate 16×120 B&W portraits of retired wrestler, Paco Libre, were custom printed in my darkroom then hand cut and woven together to form one portrait. Since the process alters the face, the man behind the mask is still a mystery to those who view the finished piece, which has already sold.

Guest in my studio is Susan Prater, a retired nurse, former belly dancer, and subject of a B&W Reconstructed Portrait weave piece currently exhibiting in the Thelma-Sadoff Center for the Arts in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Here Susan demonstrates her dancing skills.