The image reminds us how journeys can have a quiet beauty and mystery to them. This intriguing image stuck out to me from the rest. The lighting, and the expressions of the faces floating, invite you to look more closely. I selected this work because each time I revisit the image, I feel completely transported, and immersed.

Cathy Cone’s work plays on the juxtaposition of hand-painted, abstract, and heavily pigmented forms, onto found vintage tintypes. Past and present collide in these unique objects and they become symbolic of a poetic journey. They ask us to consider both the historical and social role of photography, and the shifting meaning of the traces that we leave behind.

I chose the single of Christopher McDaniel because I found the light, shadow and moment intriguing. Often for those who are dedicated in taking their cameras to the streets, it is always a chance that you will find a moment that needs to be captured. This image to me besides the dramatic play on light, quietly evokes questions to know more about the image. We at first see the white balloon accentuated from the darkness of the shadowed building. We then follow and see a woman sipping a drink and next to her a man with a purple hat. It is only after a couple of glances that we are able to see that it’s a graduation gown. The beauty of a photo for me is based on the unfolding of the layers captured in that image, the existence in the frame of the seen and the unseen.

For me the photograph evokes more than a landscape but a reflection of emotion and uncertainty that’s happening right now. The image, taken from close to water level captures the rough waters, mist and droplets making me feel as if I’m on top of the water and searching, hoping to reach the shore. The one powerful waterfall through the middle of the frame cuts the tension and offers an outlet in the image, offering a hopefulness we all need right now. It’s a thoughtful image with metaphors throughout.

These are close, intimate photographs of courageous ordinary people who are making perilous journeys that will undoubtedly change their lives forever. Each of these pictures captures something personal and overflowing with human emotions – desperation, fear, determination, boredom, sorrow, confusion, exhaustion, caring for one another. These are universal human stories told with clear-eyed empathy.

I admire someone who can pair things down to their elementary components and find a lucid way of expressing herself amid so much confusion and strife. While sidelined from her job at a travel agency, Matsushita took daily walks and used her digital camera to make wide open images of the sky. She then covered the sky with hundreds of star-like spots in honor/memory of the people whose lives were lost to Covid. “This is my daily ’travel’ these days,” she writes. I find the work empathetic, profound, and poetic.