Poetic Photos | Amy Jasek

During April’s National Poetry Month ekphrastic project, I put out a call for our Instagram family to submit film photographs as potential writing fodder, with the invitation for poets to put some words to the images. So far, we have had no takers when it comes to people writing to any of the photographs that were tagged with #fscpoems, but the offer will stand indefinitely, so if you are just seeing this now and the muse hits you upside the head with inspiration, please let us know! A comment here, an email to Amy Jasek, or a message on our Instagram or Facebook is a great way to contact us with what you’ve made towards this!

I wanted to give a shoutout to the photographers who were willing to offer up their photographs to be written about; I know that can be nerve-wracking! Below, I present you with a selection from the hashtag #fscpoems that sing in visual verse even without any words attached.

Please check out the photographers’ feeds for more of their work! Thank you to everyone who submitted!

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Film photographer poetry enthusiast Amy Jasek lives in Texas. Check out her website for more of her work.

Amy Jasek

Photography is a family tradition. I was raised in the darkroom, and on the fine art work of photographers like Edward Weston, Diane Arbus, and Ansel Adams. My father took me photographing with him regularly and taught me how to look at light. He gave me my first camera (an Olympus RC); I made my first black and white print (standing on a stool!) at the age of 7. There are some gaps in the timeline of my photographic journey, enforced upon it by life in general, but film and cameras are one of the few things that have remained constant every step of the way. For me, photography is all about moments and truth. I like to work in black and white so that I can highlight those two things. The truth, form, and simplicity of the moment is presented; I feel that removing the color from the scene brings these things out. I believe street photography is a little window into the heart and soul of a place, a time, and the people in it. These days I tend more toward street portraits and interaction with my subjects, but my drive for capturing the candid moment remains the same.