With the improvement in phone camera technology and the popularity of social media, the photograph has become a form of daily journaling with people sharing moments. And the minutiae that’s captured in an instant of time begins to describe their persona. It is a form of saying “Here I am”.

Photography in a different vein attempts to capture relationships while trying to build a visual story that provokes an emotion or a question from the viewer. “What am I looking at?” “What is the story here?” “What is the photograph speaking about?”

When I look at what I like about photography. It is the allure of posing questions and attempting to invoke a moment or two of contemplation through the story telling potential of the photo. As a result, my goal is not to say “Here I am” but rather to say “Here you are. What do you see?”

Mario Cerroni
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So what do artists do on their "days off"? Part of the fun of the 7 Works Collective group is the sharing of skills. On this day a small number of us (no big groups still) spent the day at the Fletcher Gardens in Ottawa taking photos in the company or our resident lens based artist. And learning about plants from our scientist textiles artist. Plus two of our painters who looked at the forest and gardens with a slightly different eye.

It was hard not to make comparisons to what we have found on Toronto Island during past Artist Residencies. Visitors to the gardens and beach combers on the island get creative on a whim and leave their constructions for the rest of us to find. Treasures!