PHOTOGRAPHS
When the staff of Miracle Monocle made the decision to begin featuring visual art in addition to fiction, poetry, and microfiction, we weren't sure what to expect. At first, we wanted to try and solidify the aesthetic that we wanted to publish, but that only resulted in entertaining as many different aesthetic notions as we have staff members. As the issue progressed, I repeatedly told my associate editor “Don't worry about it right now. We'll know it when we see it.” That didn't give the staff a better idea of what we were looking for, but in the end it held true.
Eleanor's photographs were the very first visual art submission Miracle Monocle received, and while we liked them, we had to ask ourselves if we latched on to them because they were the first to arrive. More visual art arrived, however, we kept gravitating back to her images. Eleanor's was a comparatively small submission, but there was something about the photographs that had a real sense of place.
We notified Eleanor that we'd like to publish her photographs and in subsequent emails learned the place was actually in the United Kingdom. “I have lived on the Cheshire/Derbyshire border all my life. I enjoy walking as my Mum doesn't drive. It saves on a lot of carbon emissions.” All that walking seems to provide lots of opportunities for photography.
When asked about the photographs in particular, Eleanor said “I like to photograph Derbyshire, especially New Mills, as a lot of the people possess vintage or very old pieces of social history and technology.” Concerning the remainder of the photos, she added “I like things that are messy and imperfect. Things of interest.”
We think that covers it nicely.
