This project is an exploration of the meagre details that emerged from those brief conversations and Michael’s curiosity about Cold War espionage and its impact upon his family at the time. His father led two lives that rarely intersected. His family members were often the unwitting participants in indecipherable events that left them with many more questions than answers. Mysterious strangers would show up at their apartment late at night only to depart before dawn without saying a word to anyone other than his father. Peculiar encounters, curious radio transmissions, and unexplained coincidences became the norms of his childhood.

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Elizabeth Clark Libert discusses her book Boy Crazy with photo consultant and workshop instructor Melanie McWhorter. This book features images of Elizabeth’s two sons in an idyllic lush landscape, playing as ‘boys will play’ along with narrative written by the photographer on a personal experience with a man in college. The book also includes an accompanying discussion with Elizabeth and her two boys providing a voice for them and their relationship to the images and their mother as the photographer. It is a cathartic experience of a woman regarding her boys while healing from a tramatic experience in her early years. The narratives are printed on a different paper visually seperating the visual and text experiences. This book is a thoughtful publication that explores some deep issues using richly printed images. In this interview Elizabeth is candid about the work, her experience as a mother, and memories in her own life.

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I was excited to see David Heberlien at this year's Society for Photographic Education in Denver this past March. He was also excited. He had advance copies of his new book Park Place: Out West. His signing was at the booth of  his publisher George F. Thompson Books. In this interview, David talks about his new publication and the adventures in making a photobook with work that he spent decades creating. In Park Place, Heberlein takes an often subtly humorous look at the US National Parks and their dual mandate to care for the parks in perpetuity while keeping them accessible for the public. The lush printing and simplicity of design make for a truly enjoyable experience turning the pages. Please enjoy the interview, learn from David's experience, and pick up a copy of the book.

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Breathe in Water is a photobook released in 2023 by photographer Sue Michlovitz. Caleb Cain Marcus, who works under this business name, Luminosity Lab, designed the book. Melanie McWhorter worked with as a student Sue in a Santa Fe Workshops class and met with her briefly at the New England Portfolio Reviews, where she also had the serendipitous encounter with Caleb. Sue formed what she called Team Breathe with the three photo professionals working to produce a publication of Sue’s multi-year project focusing on water in its varied forms and its meaning for Sue as a visual and metaphorical subject in her life. The book was printed by Robstolk in Amsterdam in a small edition of 300 copies and features 45 photographs.

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Traci Asher was first diagnosed with stage III breast cancer on July 31, 2014, at the age of 39. Three years after that, She was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic breast cancer, which appeared in the vertebrae of my neck. Two years later, after complaining of headaches and dizziness, she went to the ER and was diagnosed with my third tumor. This book is about her journey.

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Breathe in Water is a photobook released in 2023 by photographer Sue Michlovitz. Caleb Cain Marcus, who works under this business name, Luminosity Lab, designed the book. Melanie McWhorter worked with as a student Sue in a Santa Fe Workshops class and met with her briefly at the New England Portfolio Reviews, where she also had the serendipitous encounter with Caleb. Sue formed what she called Team Breathe with the three photo professionals working to produce a publication of Sue’s multi-year project focusing on water in its varied forms and its meaning for Sue as a visual and metaphorical subject in her life. The book was printed by Robstolk in Amsterdam in a small edition of 300 copies and features 45 photographs.

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Welcome to this interview today and I hope that it finds all of you well with a desire to do something more with life and with your art. As a photo professional, I am always striving to find a purpose with my life, my art, my guidance. I am delighted in the art for art’s sake approach to the medium. In a recent video by the writer Benjamin Hardy, he mentions the idea that we all struggle for meaning and to find our life’s task. There is where I find myself with some art projects, how can this expand beyond the eye of the individual to exact change in the life and surroundings of the viewer.

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I first met Jan Butchofsky when she attended one of my workshops in 2022 to work on a book project for her work CEREMONY. Dan and Jan cover her bio, discuss the process of photographing and creating an image as a collaboration, building trust in a photographic relationship, and working on a long-term photography project.

Please enjoy this wonderful interview on the Visual Storytelling series with Blurb Books with these engaging personalities.

View Jan's work on her site
Watch the interview on the Blurb Books Youtube channel

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