A submission from Jordan Bickett

When I started shooting with a 4×5 I would always make amateurish mistakes like pulling the dark slide out before closing the lens, thus ruining the film in the holder. For no reason I kept the film that this happened to and was never developed on my self where I collected a pile of sheets that never got the chance of becoming an image due to my slip ups. But then I noticed the film changed color and tone and was ever so slightly day by day changing and becoming art all on its own. Now I shuffle the sheets and change which in on top and in what position in an effort to create more wonderful patterns and shapes. I’m so glad i have a compulsion to keep everything because sometime it takes on a life of its own.

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A submission from Kim P.

My grandmother has been a major part of my life since day one. I spent pretty much every weekend at her house as a child, sometimes with my younger sister, my cousin, or just by myself. I always had fun at my grandma’s house, dispite the fact that she had no “modern” toys. There were toys that my aunts played with when they were kids, and random things that my father had made in boy scouts. I distinctly remember a toy “Pac Bell” van that doubled as a bank that I was very into. We also enjoyed playing with an old typewriter pretending to work in an office and things like that. The only bike that was available was this old, metal thing with plastic wheels that im pretty sure was painful to ride but we did anyhow. This all being said, I know now where I get the whole pack rat thing from. Grandma never gets rid of anything. My grandma is now 95 and doing great. I have recently decided to gather up some of these items from my past and shoot them in the studio. I visited my grandma about a week ago and collected some of these items and explained to grandma what I was planning on doing, she just thinks im a funny artist, but was also looking foward to seeing the finished product. When presented the idea that she might be a pack rat, grandma just laughs and shakes her head. Cant really argue with a 95 year old!

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