The camera is the pen used to write stories through pictures, and Creative Soul, Jahnoi R. Smith, writes inspiring messages with the lights and shadows beyond the lens. Jahnoi’s photographs surpass the limits abound in colors and speak louder than words.
Born in Jamaica and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Jahnoi is a professional photographer, writer, and artist. His inclination for photography was a mere curiosity in his early days, roaming the streets of Brooklyn, snapping pictures of the crowd. However, he didn’t get serious with photography until years later, making Portraits his specialty.
In 2001, Jahn was diagnosed with kidney failure and moved to Boynton Beach, Florida, to get on the waiting list for a donor. After he got the call to receive his second chance, due to the delicate procedure, and extensive and excruciating recovery care, Jahnoi made Florida his permanent residence. He currently works for the City of West Palm Beach Parks Administration.
After his successful recovery, Jahnoi would go wherever the lens took him. He graduated with a Bachelor’s in Studio Art from Florida Atlantic University and started working on creative projects. “I like to take the idea of everyday people, showing the world how people live no matter where they are,” explains Jahn, who takes inspiration from photographers from the 20th century such as Gordon Parks, Peter Lindberg, and Daido Moriyama, narrating stories with pictures.
Jahnoi collaborates with models and artists looking for self-expression, going to venues that suit the story, and evolving through the photo shoot process. He creates characters that portray meaningful concepts, such as “Cammy” and “Agent #6” made with model Sunny Strange.
He has worked with organizations like No More Starving Artists, and the City of West Palm Beach, and you may find him at local art events capturing the magic of the moment. One snap at a time, Jahn reminds us that nothing can take away our unique perspective in life. We just need to use it for something greater and better.
A picture can be interpreted in a million ways, yet the person holding the camera knows the meaning behind the flash and the story they want to tell. Jahnoi’s photography storytelling is a must-read.
“Be more creative. Just do it. Pick up a pen and write. Have a story to tell? Write it down. Pick up your phone and take pictures. Just be more creative.” – Jahnoi Smith
Words are a source of power that can edify, destroy, motivate, enchant, and deceive, all depending on how they are used. Creative Soul, Louis Faber (‘Lou’) wields words with his scintillating wit, filling the pages of life with words that are constructive and charismatic, without forcing their power, making Lou a symbol of respect and admiration.
Lou Faber is a writer, poet, author, and bird photographer from Rochester, New York, currently residing in Florida, with his muse and fellow poet Elaine Heveron, and their furry friend, Teri.
His passion for writing awoke early in his teenage years and in college, though he scrambled for a career but not in writing, earning an MBA from Florida International University, and an MFA in Creative Writing. He also earned a J.D. from SUNY at Buffalo Law School, becoming a practicing patent litigation and licensing attorney for Xerox Corporation. Lou eventually gave himself a chance to write, expressing his political opinions and even getting published in several publications such as Rattle, The Worcester Review, Borderlands, Exquisite Corpse, South Carolina Review, Pearl; Vigil, Living Poets and European Judaism in the U.K.; and Greens Magazine, Tower Poetry, and Amethyst Review in Canada.
After meeting his wife Elaine, Lou started writing with a different approach, inclining towards love and affection. He and Elaine attended writing workshops at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, Block Island Poetry workshops in Rhode Island, and participated in writing workshops in Taos, New Mexico, and Ireland. They also have been part of the Taos workshop writing group, Imaginative Storm, with writing teachers and poets they studied with in the past, Allegra Huston and James Nave.
“I write because I have to. I publish because I can,” expresses Lou, holding an admirable collection of over 100 books that have published his works worldwide including, the United Kingdom, Scotland, Wales, India, and Japan, to mention a few.
With over 600 readers and subscribers, Lou has been sharing daily poems for the past eight years in his blog, An Old Writer and His Words. Each piece holds words that express anecdotes and reflective memories of the past, present, and future.
In 2008, Plain View Press, published a collection of his poetry, The Right to Depart. Divided into chapters, each page is embellished with poems that will take you on a journey across the world, palpating the sentiments that hang with each line, perfectly fitting the flow of his world of poetry.
Words dance in a flawless and impactful way, crafted with distinction by Louis Faber “Lou”. He allows words to be powerful on their own, making his poetry stand through time, holding valuable wisdom between the lines of An Old Writer and his words.
“You are here and now. Be here.” – Louis Faber “Lou”
ACHIEVEMENTS
His work has received a nomination for a Pushcart Prize and was honored with the Green’s Magazine Award (in Canada). It has appeared in the anthologies Torture and Triumph and Kafka Kaleidoscope. A complete list of publications (as far as he can remember them) appears on the page surprisingly titled Prior Publications.
When our talents are as profound as the vastness of the universe, we may shy away from such greatness. Yet, it doesn’t stop existing. It simply waits patiently for us to be ready to reveal its brightness. Creative Soul, Elaine Heveron, has emerged from her shell revealing the most precious pearl, shining her creative light, and weaving the tapestry of the human experience with the vastness of her artistic expression.
Elaine is a poet, photographer, and a friend, from Rochester, NY. She resides in Florida with her soulmate-husband, a writer, poet, and photographer, Louis ‘Lou’ Faber, and with their more human-than-cat companion, Teri.
She started writing stories in 7th grade, using writing as a way to “talk to someone”. Growing up with six siblings, Elaine found journals to be her confidant and to listen to her emotional dilemmas. She enjoyed creating stories and making words rhyme, but it wasn’t something she pursued as a priority in her early days.
“Are they paying you?” We get questioned a lot as artists,” expresses Elaine, understanding the painful road that artists walk upon, especially when being questioned repeatedly. It took Elaine some time to embrace the writer within, but she didn’t hold onto self-doubt for long. She has accomplished her visions and her entire life is a living prose.
In 2000, at 52, Elaine tested the waters of self-publishing and became an author with her chapbook, Standing Room Only in My Heart, in conjunction with Groose River Press. In 2006, Elaine submitted some of her work to Plain View Press, who took an interest in her work, and a manuscript later, in 2007, Email to Cleveland was published. In 2010, Plain View Press published her second full-length book of poems, Not Every Woman Swooned, celebrating with book release parties and readings at Open Mics around Rochester and one in New York City. Elaine has received high accolades from readers expressing how much they enjoy her books and even how her poems made more than a few shed a tear or laugh out loud.
It was years before Elaine published another book. “I tossed any poems I wrote into a folder entitled, Manuscript 2011, but didn’t have publishing at the forefront of my mind again for years,” Elaine shares her process of getting back into publishing.”One day, after reading an article in Tricycle Magazine, about how people in hospice know exactly what they need to do before their life is over, I asked myself if I only had a year to live, what would I want to accomplish? My inner voice replied with a question, “Hello?! Your writing?” She was surprised, still not feeling like “that good” of a writer, yet she found the courage to dive into the folder, editing and organizing her work of over a decade, bringing to life Notes From Paradise.
Plain View Press was once again delighted with Elaine’s new work, and even though they were not accepting any new manuscripts, in September 2023 they published Notes From Paradise.
In Notes From Paradise, Elaine shares her life’s anecdotes, describing details of her most intimate moments, reliving her first date with Lou, going into her spiritual journey, and so much more that will keep you turning page after page, filling your chest with raw feelings of joy, nostalgia, sympathy, and hope.
“This is what I live for, to connect with people,” smiles Elaine, feeling passionate to inspire others through her books to own their creative talents. She focuses on writing about love, life, loss, dreams, connections, magical moments, and friendship.
Alongside Lou, Elaine has traveled to some unique writing workshops at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, Block Island Poetry workshops in Rhode Island, and participated in writing workshops in Taos, New Mexico, and Ireland. “On Saturdays on Zoom, we write from visual prompts, shared group words, and timed 10-minute writing exercises,” Elaine explains how they have been part of the Taos workshop writing group, Imaginative Storm, with writing teachers and poets they studied with in the past, Allegra Huston and James Nave.
As a photographer, Elaine brings back memories of when her dad got her a camera when she was 9. She started taking pictures of anything and everything, which stayed with her throughout her adolescence and adulthood. “There’s so much beauty to capture,” Elaine admires the fauna and flora through the lens, capturing the most intimate moments of nature; a solitary Blue Heron patiently waiting for its prey; the dance of the Ibises as they claim branches on a dry tree; an alligator playing statue… Elaine has the touch to bring out the magical colors within one still moment in time.
We are made of light, and Elaine found a way to allow her vastness to shine through, caressing the world with healing words of love. Elaine is now breathing art with a creative flow that enriches and inspires everyone she encounters, and the world is a better place because of her.
“Pay attention to the moment. Don’t miss it. This moment”. – Elaine Heveron
Elaine is also an occasional crafter, from her unique series, Palm Frond People, created by painting cartoonish faces on fallen palm fronds with metallic paint, to designing eye-catching jewelry pieces from Pongamia pods.
Lou and Elaine met in 2000. Both of them were working at Xerox when a childhood friend of Elaine’s and a co-worker of Lou’s introduced them. “Lou’s and my shared love of Writing poetry was part of the reason I was willing to go out with him.” As their life grew together, and they traveled to some unique writing workshops, she felt ready and connected to herself and her dreams, and it became clear to her what she had to do to fulfill her passions.
