Nev Nels is a photographer from suburban Chicago. He's drawn to pieces of spaces that are elemental to overall feel of place. His photographs act as brief but contemplative gazes, often packaging ironic or critical messaging into frames of beauty, humor or the everyday. Canons are his weapons of choice. 

This month, I interview photographer Tytia Habing:

Tytia Habing {Effingham, Illinois} I received two separate university degrees, neither of which are photography related.  Such is life. You never know where it will take you. It's where I picked up a camera for the first time with the intention of making something artful, so it wasn't all for naught. The majority of my adult life I spent living in the Cayman Islands and three years ago moved home to Illinois with my husband and son.

An award-winning fine art photographer, Angie’s work has been internationally exhibited and published in publications such as: National Geographic, SHOTS Magazine, Rfoto Folio, Stark Magazine and F-stop Magazine. She has received awards from the International Photography Awards (IPA) and Prix de la Photographie Paris” (Px3) Awards, among others, and worked with global brands, such as Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc., as well as local and national art consultants and private collectors.

Videographer Max Joseph tackles a great subject in his video essay; "DICKS; Do you need to be one to be a successful leader?" 

Metaphors and allegories you say? There are those in the photo world who firmly plant two feet and say the best photographs are the ones that are technically perfect and sharp. I contend that they are not. Some may feel this way, and that is just fine. I'm drawn to the photos with less focus and less than optimal aperture settings. The shots that give me the greatest joy to create and view are the ones that tell a story. That story may be an emotion, and with luck it's a metaphor or even an allegory. 

Here you have, before you, the first issue of what I hope will be an educational and rewarding exploration of how we see photographs. Not as the viewer but as the creator, and not from me as a teacher (Because I’m not) but as a seeker.