international group of photographers, writers, artists, filmmakers, videographers and designers

Please welcome Skip Hunt as the newest member of aamora!  Skip has contributed here before as a guest. One of the images he has on aamora.com is the one to the left, titled “The Birds” . This photograph will be hanging in the Smithsonian from July this Summer until Feb 2011!  Congratulations, Skip! Click here to find out more.

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Skip recently pointed out to us that  “there’s been an uptick in upscale bars using the plasmas & lcd screens to display curated local artists. One such venue contacted me for a slide show for this purpose and I put this together for them:

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Skip also sent us the video below. He tells us he made it “just for fun… shot with a little flip-style Kodak video cam at 60fps to make a smooth slo-mo of this girl hula-hooping… mixed it with some ambient drum circle audio from the same event/party.”:

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We’re always pleased when Skip returns to aamora. This time it’s as our newest member!  His photography is remarkable for its beautifully vivid color, incisive composition and varied locales, including Mexico, Guatemala and South Africa. You will be well rewarded by checking out more of Skip’s work at skiphunt:visualartist .

Rhio9 is a member of aamora. You can see more of his wonderful work on his photo blog. **A note from aamora: Rhio9 has two books of his photography published – check them out at the Blurb Bookstore. He is generously offering a significant discount, and a signed copy, to members and friends of aamora – just ask him! ** AND… some fast-breaking news: we’ve just learned that Rhio got married 2 days ago! Congratulations Rhio and Niki!

After the Ecstasy by Jim Robertson

Jim Robertson is ecstatic about his image “After the Ecstasy”  being given an honorable mention in Lensbaby’s “Get Published” online competition. The contest chose 13 out of nearly 2000 images entered to be featured in a soon to be published book about the light-bending lens. Although not getting published, Jim’s many-legged image is featured here on page 5 of the Honorable Mention gallery. Congrats!

Jim Robertson is a founding member and co-administrator of aamora. He is following the photographic path in Lexington, KY, USA.  You can find his previous post on aamora here and more of his work at his photo site.

Michael Van der Tol, member and co-administrator of aamora, asked our members to contribute their favorite shot of 2009. He created this slide show for you to enjoy. Thanks, Michael, and Happy New Year everyone!

Photographs by Aaron Schwartz with iPhone camera. Come back to see our year-end feature – aamora members’ “Favorites of 2009″ coming soon!

Aamora has been going for only 2 months now, and we want to thank all the guest contributors, commenters and friends we’ve gained from all over the world.

We are extending an invitation to you to join us in our “playland” here at aamora. If you are a photographer, a writer or an artist of any kind, professional or amateur or otherwise, who would like to join an online community where you can show your work to the world, collaborate with other members, experiment, amaze, joke around, challenge, amuse or just generally have fun, this may be the place for you.

Membership is drawn largely from friends of aamora who have visited us and participated either by contributing a post as a guest or making comments on the posts. Comments don’t have to be laudatory; they can question, discuss, argue, challenge, provoke or add to the experience. (Nothing outright rude, please – we do moderate the site.) There is currently no cost for membership, and no obligations beyond participation.

If you enjoy checking out aamora every couple of days (a new post goes up every 2 days), and find it fun to participate by way of commenting or submitting work as a guest, then here’s what to do next:

Send your idea(s) along with any photographs or other images to Aaron Schwartz at:  aschwartz0123@gmail.com. (images should be 550 pixels on the long side)

Want to have fun? Well, c’mon in!

[These photographs were made by Aaron Schwartz, founder of aamora. Although we prefer to show images on aamora that you can't see anywhere else, these photos have been posted on jpgmag.com for some time. Sorry about that; I was notably short on "inviting" photos. But then, what fun is it if you can't break your own rules once in a while?]

The town in Tuscany where we spend our summers has a festival every year in September.

Amongst the colourful stalls, fireworks and prize draws, there’s room for cultural and artistic initiatives.  For the past nine years I have been putting up a photo exhibit. The festival lasts for only three days and each year I have to find a space for my photos. One year I was lucky enough to have an empty shop a bank had just moved out of.

People come into town from the area and beyond, a good mixture of locals, holiday home owners and foreign tourists. I’ve found the local people really appreciative of my work and they say they now look forward to my show each year.

This year I got to share a three room space with the local theatre group. They were exhibiting costumes from their production of Molière’s “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme” (made by the ladies of the town) and I had twelve black and white photos of the town to hang.

They gave me one of the rooms to show in and furnished it with antique furniture, an antique camera and photographic material. Then they brought in 2 huge baskets of pomegranates! I was spoilt!

No big city lights or famous art critics here, but a friendly environment where, for a short time, art is appreciated and the artist satisfied!

Catharine is a founding member of aamora. She grew up in England but has been living in Italy since her marriage in 1969. She spends her winters near Milan and her summers in Tuscany. Check out her previous contribution to aamora – the very first one! -  by clicking here . You can also enjoy more of her wonderful work on jpgmag.com .

Aamora wishes all our American friends a HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

Photograph by Aaron Schwartz

We are happy to announce today’s launch of  www.aamora.com – a new playland  for photographers, writers, artists, filmmakers, videographers and designers around the world …..  Check out the first post – aamora member Catharine Amato’s “The  Contessa’s Secret”. …. Then come back often to visit and comment and maybe even participate! There will be something new on aamora.com at least every couple of days.  So bookmark us, and we’ll see you soon and often!

photo by Aaron Schwartz