The Other Half of #SundayBluesEdit

The Other Half of #SundayBluesEdit:  An Interview w/ Monica Izquieta by Rebecca C

I must first admit that I am biased towards @Izzylune.  I know her in the “real world” beyond the invisible Instagram walls, but it was her photos that first drew me in and made me want to know her, the woman, the person.  This is a powerful pull not to be underestimated.  With the glut of visual imagery we see all day, every day, to make someone want to know you with your images is  pretty powerful stuff.

Most of you know Monica as Izzy or just the incredible @izzylune. Her charm, wit and enthusiasm comes through in her every post and comment. If you haven had a chance to interact with her, you’re missing a level of intelligence and insight rarely found in the world of IG.  Initially, I “met” Izzy through the images she started tagged in my #sundaybluesedit tag. Her raw emotion was impossible to ignore.  Something in her beautiful huge blue eyes made me fall in love with her in a way that connected souls do. That sounds cheesy but, in her, I recognized myself. A younger me.

Izzy is alive with a spirit that draws people to her, so when I felt like the @sundaybluesedit needed a co-pilot I knew exactly who to ask.  After just a few days I felt as if I had known her all my life.  She has an undeniable passion for art, photography and all the emotions that come with the blues.  She’s also and amazing photographer in her own right who weaves fairy tale magic out of the most ordinary of daily scenes.  I’ve always wanted to know how she makes her magic…so I decided to ask.

Who are you and what you do in your real life?
In my real life I’m  a mother to the two lovely children often showcased in my gallery, an avid gardener, a glorified proof reader for local accountants and at one time, a fine arts major who loved getting her hands dirty.

Tell me about your love affair with mobile photography
My love affair with mobile photography happened really quite by accident.  I had been shooting with big girl cameras for roughly 7 years,  before that I tinkered with old school manual cameras, and by tinker I mean broke.  During that time, I shot mainly my children and landscapes, scratch that, I still only shoot that!

I’m admittedly a first generation iPhone user but I didn’t discover that my phone could create such amazing photography until probably my 3rd iPhone.  My ex-husband is extremely tech savvy. He was the one told me about instagram. We were on a car ride to Mystic, Connecticut, from that moment on I was hooked.  I started exploring IG into the wee hours of the night.  For years I felt bogged down by motherhood, unable to paint and really just uninspired. I believe at one point, I was so desperate for creativity I took up wreath making.  Instagram and iphoneography,  opened up a new world for me.  I’m glad I don’t make wreaths anymore.

What inspires you?
I’m inspired by a lot of things, nature being a huge one, humans, obviously, another.  I’m one of those people who stares too much and for too long.  In the event I witness a crime, I’m gonna give the cops everything shy of the person’s blood type.  I’m truly fascinated by people; their mannerisms, speed patterns, gaits and style.  I could people watch all day and have been known to do so. On more than one occasion I have sat inside of Grand Central station so long, even the bums were changing shifts.  Other inspiration comes from well-known artists, mainly painters, and then those I follow religiously on IG (who, in my mind, revolutionizing the way people view Photography as a whole).  I think the reason mobile art appeals to me so much,  is the challenge of creating superior images without the polish of professional cameras which seemingly, do a lot of the work for you- digitally speaking anyway.

Your images are overflowing with emotion. Palpable. Where does the need for sharing this honesty in such a pure way come from?
Oh, my talking about my images is a bit surreal for me.  I’m always my own worst critic.  In terms of the pictures though and whatever emotion is conveyed, I have to really say I’m a very animated, expressive, sometimes intense person in real life.  I tell stories and people just come closer.  I have my hands waving wildly and I’ve been known to do impersonations. I am very colorful.  So when I’m happy its clear as day and when I’m sad there’s no hiding it.  My mother says everything I’m ever feeling is easily read on my face and especially my eyes.  I’m not one for deception I think.  I’m honest to a fault really.  I put it all out there.  The emotion I desire with my pictures is rawness.  I have a few people I follow on IG that do  raw and deeply personal emotion so provocatively and gracefully.  I thirst for that.  I think in terms of portraits it’s so much greater to see and feel simultaneously.   When I was in high school I participated in a coveted poetry competition and poetry became my entire life for years on end.   It was during this time that I explored emotion even deeper.  I had always been obsessed with art, so much so that it disturbed my academics, but in the end the poetry was what actually prepped me for photography.

I’ve observed an almost surreal like magical fairy tale like quality in your images. Can you talk about where that comes from and why that imagery appeals to you?
This perception makes me smile impishly. The fairytale quality you speak of is not intentional. Actually, Im elated to hear my images all have something in common I feel like I’m often falling all over the map.

However,  when I take a picture, thankfully, I  know immediately what corner possesses something unique.

I know I’m a beauty seeker.  Maybe that’s where the dreamlike quality comes from? I don’t have an appetite for grim, grungy, gory or dark. Actually, I’m easily disturbed.  I guess this is why I don’t watch the news or tv at all. I do know I get excited by the most minute details in everything  from an inflection in a persons voice, to the way they place their hands, to shadows, lines etc. I obsess about these things in my daily life. It’s like music for me when I discover a song that I like…I play it a thousand times in a row.   When I love…I love deeply whatever that thing is and I want everyone to see it.

Photography is the only thing that allows me to feel comfortable exposing the tender aspect of myself.  It’s with the pictures I want to be boundless.
Photos:
Landscape: like all my photos this was shot with hipstamatic…with a relatively uncommon combination of Mabel and Alfred infrared.  I wanted that deep red currant color
Against matted blue skies.

Lily in the orange chair.  I shot this with tinto and float I admittedly have an affinity for floats delicious tones although it’s speckled vignette makes me crazy so I’m always retouching it out or hiding it the best I know how.  I’m not one for over-editing.  Her pensive glare and Alice in wonderland charm drew me into his moment.

The hands:  this moment happened so extremely quickly I shoot with watts a lot so it defaulted to that…i love how crisp and dramatic it is.  Tender moments between my children are slim sadly they bicker a lot but in this second of passing raspberries the world melted away when I saw her arm naturally fold behind her and those tiny hands extend.

Black and white selfie.  Oh the light in my family room is amazing…I have at least 50 plants in there,  it is my refuge from the world.  I sit in this big 1960s golden-yellow chair constantly and watch the clouds roll by.  This afternoon I adjusted the sheers on the doors and saw something I wanted to capture so I set up my gorilla pod set it to tinto and black keys super grain and measured myself into the frame just so then asked my daughter to press the button three times.  So actually….this is a collab.  I wanted to overcome my discomfort of profile portraits I never liked my very Italian looking profile but alas it’s very much me and if you can’t love your face by 30 then you never will.

I want to thank Monica for her time, her boundless sense of humor and endless support.  You can join Izzy and me at @sundaybluesedit all the time but especially on Sundays and  you can view Monica’s incredible work on IG at @Izzylune and on Tumblr: Izzylune

#sundaybluesedit Sunday Selection @heyweegirl

Rebecca:  17 weeks ago Ciara posted an image called “restless bed” to the #sundaybluesedit tag.  She got my attention.  It was not just moody and blue but had a beautiful sense of place and the editing was gorgeous.  I’ve watched her posts closely ever since.  She is a loyal #sundaybluesedit poster.  Last week Ciara posted this image.  It’s an incredible breathtaker.  I hope you will take some time and visit her on Instagram at @heyweegirl.  Enjoy her story and her images.  Happy sunday!!

Ciara: I never took a decent shot in my life…I never really tried. Then I discovered editing and iphones and IG. My life changed.I now had a way of shifting all that shit the I carry on my shoulders in my head in my gut etc from the inside to the outside. A way of making the unsaid said, the comfortable uncomfortable and the terrible just a little bit more bearable.

I don’t want to sound cliché or icky but when I take a shot I have to feel it. I have to connect image and words. It may start out as a wee spark but the editing process can create an entirely different outcome, as was the case with this shot.

My daughter and I had set off on a long walk heading towards the lighthouse that you can see to the right of the shot . She had brought her sled to do some dune sledding but they were too small so she used it for collecting shells and beach debris. Her head is down scouring the beach in search of treasure. On editing the photo I began to feel a huge sense of loneliness/loss. I began connecting with the changes that had already begun as she approached her teenage years, this coupled with my own feelings around my own experiences at that age were quite a potent mix. I felt a sense of her vulnerability as she stood shoulders hunched forward… yet the splash of red suggested strength standing boldly against the loneliness of the beech.Those big footsteps she is following and the trail of her sled intertwining really got me.All along I am watching from the sidelines as she moves a little further into the world without me…Hence the words added…”if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches.” William Goldman.

I work full-time in an often stressful and emotionally draining job. I work as a Hospital Social Worker in a Stroke Rehab Unit and with Older People who need rehab after a fall, surgery accident etc. This is where I got the name Heyweegirl… its how the patients call me! As they are in their 90’s and often 100’s its fair enough to call me that, anyone else would sue me under trade descriptions!!
I have a past that comes back to bite me now and again…i deal with this in a creative way without hurting anyone, especially myself. I find support when others get me and get what I do on IG and especially via the Sundaybluesedit.I first found the Sunday blues via @pagep an Irish iger who I greatly admire. For this I thank you Paul.I have such respect for Rebecca and Izzy and the world they have created via this tag. It supports challenges and creates like no other and I am truly honoured to feel part of it every week. Thank You xx

#SundayBluesEdit Sunday Selection @redjersey

“Vigil”

Rebecca: Every once and a while we get a glimpse of a very private meaningful and what I can only describe as a real moment in a photo.  A moment where I feel as if I am with the photographer, not just in space but in emotion.  Recently Rachel did that for me.  Not once but a number of times as she documented the hospital stay of her mother.  The documentation isn’t overt.  Its quiet and subtle but heartbreakingly real.  These images effected me to my core.  Rachel has posted to my tag for sometime and her images are always nice and I encourage you to join her as she sits vigil with her family and experience this sliver of her life.  You will be changed.

Rachel: I took this photo in a series of shots i took during an extremely difficult time. My mother was dying in the hospital and my family and i were there by her side for two weeks. This shot is of my 89 year old father at my mother’s bedside. He would often wipe her forehead and hold her hand. This has been very hard on him. My parent’s were married for 60 years.

It’s not easy writing about all this since it is very recent. I will say taking the photos seemed to help me in some way. Either it was the distraction or just being in control of something, i’m not sure. But i am glad i have these. And if i have helped or touched anyone with them, all the better.

Rachel has a website and you can see this incredible series of images on Instagram.

#SundayBluesEdit on Instagram

[instapress tag=”SundayBluesEdit” piccount=”10″ size=”90″ effect=”fancybox” paging=”1″]

#sundaybluesedit Sunday Selection @katwesterman

Rebecca: Once again my #sundaybluesedit tag has exposed me to a photographer I may never have had the opportunity to see.  I do not know how these amazing artists find my tag, I’m just happy that they do.  This week is is my joy and pleasure to pass on this incredible cinematic photographer to you….

Katherine: Born literally in the middle of my family moving one might say I have been on a road trip since birth. An eighth generation Californian with extremely deep European roots I was heavily influenced growing up by wild stories of adventures on camelback, fighting bulls in the ring, inventions and some tragedy.. My lifelong love affair with photography began at 10 when I used my allowance to buy a Kodak Instamatic 110… After graduating from UCLA I worked for CBS Television before becoming a full time photographer.. my work as a photographer takes me all around the world and I often veer off the beaten path or hop over a fence to capture moments. Influenced by the light mastery of Vermeer and the storytelling narrative of Crewdson and constantly inspired by all that I observe around me and read.. My work is generally large cinematic landscapes with a purposely somewhat vague narrative that explores the boundaries, both literally and figuratively that are all around us and between us.. a distance is created between the work and viewer allowing the viewer to bring their own experiences to the work. I originally came to IG in December as I was on a boat somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic and I decided to see what Instagram was all about.. Little did I expect to find the amazing community of support and inspiration that I found here.. This photo was inspired by the words of Rumi… Observe the wonders as they occur around you.. Don’t claim them.. Feel the artistry moving through and be silent… I wanted to capture the movement of the ocean, the colors, the feeling of the artistry of what was around the subject moving through her… I brought the photo into Snapseed and applied some brightness and contrast, and added a vintage effect to harmonize with the suit… I then applied a slight blurring effect to the edge to bring focus into the subject…I often add layers to create more depth..so I added a slightly grey layer on top at an opacity of 5 percent and then ran the photo through Instasize as I’m tending towards the 16×9 lately.

This photo was about breaking inner boundaries and hope…

You can see Katherine on Instagram or on her gorgeous website.

#sundaybluesedit Sunday Selection @lillamys

Rebecca: This week I proudly give you Carina.  Her work is always close to my heart.  Her style and emotions are similar to mine and I love all of her beautiful creations.  Although English is not her first language, her words a touching and beautiful.  Happy Sunday….

Carina: Nostalgia is my main inspiration. I think I have always been fascinated by old things, especially old photographs that have a connection to my childhood and beyond that.

Hipstamatic was really love at first sight.  In the beginning of
2011 I bought my iPhone just to get hold of the app. I had seen some
photos taken with it and my love for photography from earlier days was
instantly back. I had no idea then what it would mean to me, how
much I would learn from others, that I would make contact and friends
with so many wonderful people, be a part of a worldwide community like
this and that it would actually change my life.

I had no idea either at that time that my mother, so healthy and so in
love after 14 years as a widow, would soon die of cancer. At some
point, during her last six months, when I was staying with her at her
house, I found Instagram,  a place to reach out, or hide
out, like a parallel room next to my world  with my closest
family.

I posted my first sundaybluesedit more than a year ago and found a
place with so much art filled with emotions, and so much love between
the artists. That has inspired me and taught me how to put my
grief into something creative. I also realize now that I have had the
Sunday blues, more or less,  during my whole adult life.

The sundaybluesedit tag has inspired me to try editing. Not to make a
photo look better but to try to convey an emotion. Usually it is the
editing in itself that interests me and not the result. Except for a few,  I don´t
like many of my edits anymore, but all of them are
still important to me because of the process.

This specific edit started with a Hipstamatic double exposure with an
old photo of me and my mother, together with a religious icon. This
edit is the result of the strong emotions caused by Mother’s Day
approaching. The style is very much inspired by Rebecca and this is
one of my edited photos that I will continue to love.

Please visit Carina’s wonderful feed on Instagram at @lillamys

#sundaybluesedit Sunday Selection @garyedwardblum

Rebecca:  Its been a while since my last sunday selection.  I think not intentionally but my life has been slightly chaotic.  I haven’t had the chance to really spend the time with images in my tag that I like.  Last week Izzy and I ran a ‘blooms’ theme.  It was there that I stumbled upon the work of Gary Blum.  Wow is all I can say.  He had 3 images posted.  Each one spectacular.  Love doesn’t come easily to me but there is no question that Gary’s blooms had me.  The stunning quality of his posts sent me straight to his feed.  All of it wonderful.  I have a renewed excitement for seeking out new work thanks to Gary.

Take a moment and check out Gary on IG at @garyedwardblum and keep your eyes open for the unexpected everywhere!

Gary: I started IG back in November. As a fine artist, my intention was to post images of my studio, works in progress, etc. But as I began to discover apps and the amazing community of creative people, my focus became very, well, unfocused. With my love of photography and a background in graphic design, coupled with the discovery of apps, it led me to become obsessed with editing images. Because my paintings have an established style and focus, I found it very freeing to be able to post varying styles and approaches(as you’ll note in my feed) on IG.
My process is rather simple. In general, I don’t start with any premeditated ideas or plans, except to make a pleasing image. Of course I have inherent compositional and technical thoughts running through my head when I take pictures. This image was one of many “flower” pics I take obsessively. I did feel that I wanted detail(it was so delicate) and contrast, which is why I composed the shot close up with a dark background. I took maybe five different angles. After that, I brought one into Snapseed/PhotoForge and just started playing around. I accidentally hit “tilt-shift” in Snapseed and loved how the focus accentuated the detail, so I did it like 5 times. I shot a new texture I wanted to try, etc. I like to let process and accidents happen…they’re way more creative than me. 🙂 I’m never married to anything. It’s the same way I work with my paintings. Start with a sketch, then be open to chance. Sometimes I’ll purposely screw something up so I have to “fix” it. In this way, I’m building history into the work without it looking forced.

#sundaybluesedit Sunday Selection @89greenmantle

Galveston, Texas

Rebecca:  This is the thing I learned today: sometimes not a lot of words need to go with an image.  Tori, my fellow Texan, just said it best. She loves the mystery of this place, Galveston, and she takes pictures and that isn’t going to change.  We are drawn to what compels us, mystery, beauty, light, darkness.  For all of us we shoot it…for most of us, that’s not likely to change.  Simply and beautifully.

Tori: This place (Galveston, Texas) never seems to lose its mystery for me. There’s a sad history to every building, street, and piece of land. It’s been my favorite place to take photos since I’ve been taking photos, and that’s not likely to change soon.

See Tori’s work on Instagram:  @89greenmantle

#sundaybluesedit Sunday Selection @slangenbai

Etretat Cliffs

Rebecca: This week I invite you to explore the feed of another blueser.  Bart @slangenbai, is artist who finds sunday’s to be blue.  I’m amazed by this phenomenon.  What is it about Sundays that makes so many of us melancholy and why are so many creatives blue on Sunday?  I’ve written about this for Juxt before, but I continue to see it in action each week in my tag.  I get pleasure from finding so many of us coming together each week.

Even if you don’t have the blues on Sunday, I strongly recommends Bart’s feed. You can find him on IG @slangenbai.

Bart: My name is Bart Slangen and I live in Belgium, in a historical city called Ghent. Don’t really like labels but  I am a painter (maybe you can see that in my layered photography?). I grew up in a quite artistic family, my dad is a painter and he was head of an art school. My mother was a dance teacher.

I used to do a lot of analog photography  but since the digital revolution my lovely camera’s are eating dust, I regret that and it’s gonna change … Photography is very important to my artistic work. Before the ‘iPhone-era’ I always carried a little compact in my pocket and.  My view is always in “cadrage” J.

For my job (art rental) I am on the road a lot, that of course explains my road-paintings-photography.

I started ‘gramming’ about a year ago (I think). Ever since IG is becoming an obsession.

When I first saw the “sundaybluesedit” tag, I tought: “yeah, that says it all” … I am a happy married man with 2 great kids but (since I was a child) I have a thing for everything that’s melancholic, dark and moody. In music and art. Those things control my life. A photo is only a good one when it fits the ‘this could be the cover for an album’-definition. Therefore you can see a lot of ‘soundtrack-locations’ in my pix.

This particular photo was taken on a trip along the French coastline of Normandy. A place called Etretat. I used to go there with my parents when I was just a little boy back in the seventies. Now we go there with our kids. The chalk cliffs are really impressive. These days it’s getting more and more a tourist place but still, it’s very beautiful. Claude Monet made a lot of paintings on that spot. Google it sometime …

The IG-community opened new things for me, I am not such a big talker and expresser of feelings.      I used to communicate my moods by my paintings, my photography was always a tool like a brush or paint, that has changed a lot lately. And I thank people like Izzy, Rebecca and all my new IG-friends (you know who you are) for making this universal, ‘borderless’ platform so wonderful.

I Hope you enjoy my stuff and I love getting feedback ! It is good to be here !!

#sundaybluesedit Sunday Selection @___backwords

Rebecca: This week Izzy and I chose this elegant image by Marcus @___backwords.  Although I don’t know Marcus, his images make me stop and look for a long time.  I try to decipher what I’m seeing.  The photos are layered and require me to really slow down to find all the magic that lays with in its edges. Inspired by music, Marcus shows us his beautiful world through photography.  Like me he hates Sundays because of the sadness that comes with it.  He is a true Sunday Blueser.

You can find Marcus on Instagram at @___backwords.  Happy Sunday.

Marcus: Hi, I am Marcus and I am jewelry designer.
I don’t know when I first started loving photography. I guess I always have. I grew up in a very artistic environment, starting with my great-grandfather being a painter and my grandmother (she grew me up) designing clothes for the affluent of her time, artists, politicians and musicians. And there you have my true passion: music. it rules my world. Everything I do involves music, I am always with my I-pod playing. I live in my own make -believe world. Music being the primary inspiration.

And I hate Sundays..they always give me the blues. So when I came across the #sundaybluesedit tag I thought this is it. this is either gonna destroy me, eat me up,. or inspire me. To be frank many images there have hit bone in their way, but most inspired me!

I like moody pictures. My aim is to make ones that evoke feelings to the viewer, preferably in a good way.Something that they can connect to, or draw a memory upon seeing it.

When I started Instagram I immediately started expressing my feelings through my pics. And boy it has been a horrible year for me. I am a very introvert person so I guess its my way of telling my story, how I feel. To cast my demons away. And I hope you dont mind.

Every pic I post is somehow connected with a song. My captions are lyrics of this song and its title is depicted with typography on the image. This one is Caregiver by Memoryhouse. Usually its the first song that comes on my mind upon seeing the pic, while sometimes I try to create an image that has to do with a song i have in mind, usually its the first. Nature being my second biggest inspiration. I would love to try streetphotography at some point but i am not yet comfortable enough shooting in the street.

I could spend my days carrying my i-pod and my i-phone and camera and just shoot. But I guess real life requires my attention to pay the bills. And my friends. And I love the way mobile photography has changed the way I see things. So much inspiration by using this platform, IG. I have also met some wonderful people all over the world with which  I am on constant communication, exchanging ideas, feelings and ordinary stuff. This world is a great place and i am happy to be part of it. And i am elated, honoured and indebted to be featured by Rebecca and Izzy and Juxt. I can’t thank them enough for noticing my blues and include me among such great talent . Or for their brilliant tag, a true and devoted fan. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

#sundaybluesedit Sunday Selection @kauffy

Rebecca: I can’t remember when I first started to notice Wen’s @kauffy images, but I do remember that all of a sudden I saw them everywhere and I was in love.  Wen’s world is magic.  It’s pale, it’s glittery, it’s peaceful.  I never tire of her beautiful blue-eyed children, her sparkling landscapes or the glowing glimpses into her days.  On this chilly Sunday…I invite you into @kauffy’s world.

Wen: When I stumbled upon Sunday Blues Edit I was completely awed and a little intimidated by the incredible images I saw. I was moved by Rebecca’s reasons for creating the hashtag. It was so clever and brave. Even though I felt vulnerable posting those first images, it was exciting and I found myself hooked on the hashtag.

I don’t really know what will inspire me; it’s simply how life presents itself. There are those fleeting moments I see and I just need to capture them. It’s somehow profound attempting to catch and preserve a little bit of the impermanence of it all. When I look back on my gallery in Instagram, I have stitched together this random collection of which I’m strangely proud. There is no particular editing style, only stretches of time where I’m experimenting with something. If I had the time, I know I would spend a lot my day using my iphone camera and editing, but alas, I have a grown-up life full of other responsibilities and interests that require my attention.

What I adore about mobile photography is that it has allowed me to express myself artistically without completely neglecting all that I love tending to. Real life can be a challenge with it’s repetition, and stressors. It’s a place where there is little time to immerse oneself in art. So by discovering this mobile photography community I am able to create and share art as often or as little as I like, and it gives me something to look forward to and learn from. Whether it’s for #sundaybluesedit or just on my own, It has surprisingly given me a creative outlet in a way I would never have imagined having come from using an slr/dslr. Mobile allows me to make images easily without fancy expensive equipment and I am able share what I see and interact with people all over the world in a way that I can’t with my other camera. I never tire of looking at the stream of fantastic images on my feed, and I look forward to those perfectly elusive, well-crafted comments I receive from the people that stop by my gallery.

I am honored to be featured by Rebecca & Izzy for #sundaybluesedit and Juxt and want to thank them for establishing a platform that validates and brings attention to mobile photographers.

My name is Wen
IG handle is @kauffy

 

#sundaybluesedit Celebrates One Year and 20,000 Posts

Sunday Best

Little did I know that one year ago, when I started the little tag #sundaybluesedit, how much it would change my life. I’ve written about the origins of the sundaybluesedit many times. Most of you know I’m a depressive and the tag was created to help alleviate the Sunday blues that I’ve had for years. It is the perfect confluence of social media, art and emotion.

To say that the Sunday blues tag has changed my life feels like a simplification of something huge. Changed, broadened, enhanced…so many things come to mind. I’ve not just made connections with other artist on Instagram, who either suffer from depression or relate to the work, but I’ve also made real friends across the planet. And of course I met Izzy. Izzy and I both share the blues but beyond that we have helped each other evolve as women. Although she is much younger, she has taught me a lot and I think I have taught her too. She has an eye for beauty and working with her in the tag is always enlightening. But our friendship has moved beyond the life of the tag and into the day-to-day world. She is a true friend.

The blues have brought a life to my Sundays that I never knew I could have. I spend a lot of time looking at the work in the tag. Each week I meet new artist and anticipate what my old favorites will bring. I get to write each week about an artist of Izzy and my choosing and present them to the world of JUXt. This has helped me hone some of my writing skills and get a closer look at some of the amazing artist who participates in the tag. All of which has helped my rewire my Sunday brain. I still get the blues but its quieter, less overwhelming. I now have a peace on Sunday I hadn’t thought possible. So on this one-year anniversary as well as the celebration of 20,000 posts to the tag, I want to thank everyone who has participated in changing my life. – Rebecca C

Also see why Sunday Blues Edit was created here.

The artists in this grid, from this week’s #sbe_best tag, exemplify the incredible talent consistently seen in the #sundaybluesedit tag. I hope you will take a moment out of your day and find these amazing artists on Instagram. From left to right and top to bottom they are:

@_giorgopoliti_ @deena21 @jenannie @poppybay @ari55 @tonyinseattle
@butterflyblue @__sextape @edicaves @lindajarai @lillamys @el_mizfit
@doctorjazz @jancaru2 @cheatlecat @postaljeff @painterdave @lucizoe

[instapress tag=”sbe_best” piccount=”30″ size=”150″ effect=”fancybox” paging=”1″]

#sundaybluesedit Sunday Selection @caroline2645

Rebecca: Every week Izzy and I look through the images of the previous Sunday to choose an artist to highlight here at JUXT.  Some weeks it is an artist that I know or have history with and some weeks it is just an artist who speaks to either Izzy or myself, but every week I have the honor of getting to know this artist just a little bit more.  The original purpose of #sundaybluesedit was to help me, Rebecca, the real person get through sundays which have been notoriously difficult for me with my depression.  Every Sunday I get to look at images in the tag from artist who may or may not know what they are sharing with me.  Either way…I love being able to share them here every week.  Its my pleasure to get to know you all just a little bit every week. This past week, this image of Caroline’s struck both Izzy and myself.  Caroline’s images are worth getting to know a little bit better. You can find her on Instagram @caroline2645

Caroline: Sundaybluesedit is one of my most favorite tags because it combines so much of what inspires me in photography. When I was little, I wanted to be a travel photographer. Things didn’t quite turn out that way, but one of the reasons I was inspired by travel photography was the ability to see others in the world and to capture the beauty and rawness of far-away places. As it turns out, photography has become more of a way for me to express myself and who I am–without sharing that verbally. I’m a bit of an introvert, so this process meets a need for connection. I’m particularly drawn to self-portraits and nature–or a combination of these two–because they help me to understand my place in the world, and my ability to work through various feelings with images. This image for the feature came about after a visit with my much adored cousin.

Feelings, both uplifting and sad, pull me to create a visual expression that I can then send out into the world. My images create a history of my life and experiences and document my presence.