Opening Volley

Hey, let’s go look at Grandpa Travis’s old photos!

Sorry hypothetical spawn of spawn, but there will be no gritty black and white snaps of me in an exotic locale, posed in front of an airplane like my grandfather before me.

Who knows what the future holds for our digital media memories, but if they do maintain their place in history, I imagine the next generation won’t look wistfully at my old photos the way I have my forbearers.’

They will think that for a large portion of the mid- to-late 2000s, it would appear as if I was a paid model for Miller Lite.

Yeah, I guess I will still have all these Opening Volley photos.

And thanks to the wealth of photographic talent we have here in central Ohio, my grandkids might actually think I was cool.

By the way, isn’t it a touch ironic that now, when finally just about everyone in the world has a powerful camera in their pocket, we’re giving even more props to the true art of photography?

Even us in the media can sometimes take for granted the talent we have in our Rolodexes. When it comes time for story assignments, we have no shortage of documentarians that we can attach to a writer’s vision, capable collaborators.

But what of the photographer’s vision? How often do they get to share featured space along with the other visual artists, musicians, and culinary creatives we profile every month?

Not often enough.

That’s why this month we present The Image Issue, a collection of the collections of interesting photographers that call Columbus home.

And they’re not just craftsmen of composition and conception. They have a true mission— not only have they’ found a way to not just bob adrift in a sea of shooters, but have found ways to reinvent their own niches—striking cultural and political poignancy along the way.

They aren’t just shaping the way we see Columbus, they’re shaping the way Columbus sees the world.

We’re excited to focus our own lens on those who carry the city’s creative reputation beyond our borders.

After all, that’s what makes up our image as a whole.

We even gave our reporters a little break for this edition, too. We cleared room for these powerful portraits—of refugees, of musicians, of sneakers, of far-off desert ranges and rodeos—to stand on their own, save for the background and inspiration of their creators. A picture’s worth a thousand words, right?

Well these speak for themselves.

Cheers,

Travis Hoewischer, Editor-in-Chief

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