Asked about Spike Waves itself, Debe told me that although David is non-verbal, he still communicates via various mannerisms. “That particular day, David refused his medicine by turning away from Lori." (It seems that's quite a conundrum for Lori, because David requires the medication.) Debe also stated, "Six months after making the photo of David, I saw the fern. It reminded me of brain activity. But wasn't until I edited this image, accenting the shape of his headless body, that I saw the matching of organic shapes of the fern, his scoliotic curve and protruding ribs."

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Asked about this image, she told me, "My project involves creating miniature portraits with instant film. I analyze the personality of each individual before photographing them. I use a pack of Fujifilm Instax Mini to photograph different elements of the person that I think best represents their personality. I may also photograph a particular style to capture them as well. After I take the photographs, I spend time piecing each photograph together into a single piece of work. Using the Instax Mini allowed the project to gain more depth. It adds physical elements that people can touch. I varied the distance for each frame to create a layered effect."

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Today, I'm focusing on process. Greg Banks does one of my most favorite things a photographer can do: combine digital work with alternative and hand processes. But he goes it one better than that. He's combining iPhone photography with iPhone app painting and drawing on the images, then printing them using traditional media in a most untraditional way.

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What attracted me to Wentland's portfolio and this specific image is simple: speaking as a Hawai'i resident, this image sings Hawai'i. The palm leaf and the unique quality of the light imbue the image with a sense of place, this place. His son resembles how my son looked when he was young, and like so many other children here in the islands who are hapa, or mixed race. If you know this place well, you immediately recognize this as a picture of every keikikane (boy) as well as of our Hawaiian islands. In effect, it's an environmental portrait sans environment.

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I have lost three of my five siblings via unexpected and traumatic deaths: one by drowning and two by suicide.

As a result I use my photography to help make sense of the relationships we had, what we knew about each other, and what we didn’t.

~ Lea Murphy

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While some of her images lean towards the style and themes of Francesca Woodman, there is a quality to Acford's work that reminds me of Kumi Oguro's. Their subject matter and outward styles are markedly different, but both similarly use the trope of ambiguity. I'm specifically referring to how both utilize indeterminate space, the hidden faces, and a heightened sense of tension or danger.

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Seaton says she aspires to show joy, but I think she did one better. She evoked joy from within me, unearthing memories that rarely bubble to the surface. She brought out my inner child and had me reliving those long summer days full of endless potential.

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Our editor Diana Nicholette Jeon writes about Sarah Bultitude’s photograph, Burnish.

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Quiet/Loud is an insightful, thoughtful, and carefully strategized work. Its ambiguity allows us to guess at the specifics of Jessica's life. Yet the specificity of her artistic choices leaves those who have tried to be a wife, a mother at the same time they hold a demanding career wildly nodding in acknowledgment (and secretly thankful that we are not alone in the overwhelm of these life choices.)

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Our editor Diana Nicholette Jeon writes about JP Terlizzi’s experimental work, The Intersection, and how she felt when seeing it.

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Our editor Diana Nicholette Jeon writes about Lori Vrba’s photographic assemblage, Exposed, and how she felt when seeing it.

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One of my favorite things about art is that its imagery can, at first glance, appear curious, intriguing, and/or beautiful to entice you closer. It whispers to you with a nuanced voice, but when you go deeper and look longer, you find a serious work about a contemporary issue that needs more discussion and exposure. Work that enters through the mind but lodges deeply in the heart and the gut. This pair of images by Dale Rio does that well.

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