After a year of being indoors, I felt isolated. One day the sky beckoned me to step outside. The way the light hit the clouds overwhelmed me with comfort. I hadn’t felt that in a long time. In the hope that I could share this comfort with my friends I asked them to text me a picture of their sky.
The pictures poured in, if you look deeper you realize each picture contained an extremely personal story of my friends (the photographers). At first glance these cyanotypes represent beauty. More important they represent trust between my friends and I. My friends didn’t question my text, instead they sent this non-verbal form of communication – the picture.
I printed the photos using the cyanotype process because the only thing that looks normal in cyanotype is the sky and the clouds. Similarly, during isolation, the only thing that looks normal is the sky outside our windows. In the end, The Blue Sky Collection brought comfort to my friends and I. I hope it does the same for you. We all live under the same sky.
On 2021/03/20 I sent out a text to all my friends in California. “Could you please send me a few pictures of the clouds today?” And this is what they sent.
This collection of photos is a picture of us all,
To my friends (the photographers) thank you!
- John Stamos
- Alex Adams
- Chris Strople
- Max Armanto
- Curt Bisquera
- Steve Caballero
- Barbara Ludovise Odanaka
- Bruce Hershey
- Laura Thornhill
- Kate Hada
- Lizzie Armanto
- Bill Billing
- Barret Deck
- Dan Dauz
- Joey Grijalva
- Larry Hack
- Jay Smith
- Sharon Sloan Wilson
- Shawn Gordon
- Adriana Damian
- Kelly Bellmar
- Don Fisher
- Amelia Brodka
- Daniel Mark
- Grace Suphamark
- Raul James Gonzales
- Chuck Hults
- Mikayla Sheppard
The Blue Sky Collection is a cyanotype project.