Group shares some of its best work

One striking element of the new book published by the Beacon Photo Club is that only two pictures focus on local topics.

Though the theme leans toward "we capture the world and make experimental exposures" rather than "look what we have here," Brian Gomez snapped a woman sitting on a bench next to the Cold Spring pier and Megan Breukelman captured ghost-like, altered-reality self-portraits at Long Dock Park. She says her shots are motivated by "emotional excavation" and "psychological archaeology."

Jennifer Lauren Smith lives in Beacon, but in one black-and-white photo, the locale of her daughters standing in a field and holding horseshoe crab shells over their faces is generic.

The 79-page compilation, which celebrates the club's second year, launches Saturday (Jan. 31) at the Super Secret Projects gallery on Main Street.

Club founder Emma Diamond invited all shutterbugs, not just club members, to send in up to 10 works for consideration. She winnowed the 70 or so contributors down to 40, and 15 Beacon photographers made the cut.

Diamond waived submission fees, which can range from $5 to $60 per piece in the Hudson Valley and help galleries and other art institutions recover some of their costs.

"Creators should have the opportunity to show work," she says. "I got this harebrained idea and was blown away by the talent, which made my job as editor or curator easy. I kept thinking, 'Damn, that's going to look good.' "

The work's official title is Beacon Photo Club, Volume #1: The Process, a subtitle defined as both "the craft of creating images — gear, rituals, techniques" and "the inner process of using art to cope, reflect and make sense of the world."

Diamond mixes media: The book's literary contributors, all of whom live in Beacon, are Alyssa Follansbee, Alice Graff, Cappy Hotchkiss, Mandy Kelso and Chelsea Rae Mize.

Hotchkiss, whose mother died suddenly, occupies eight pages with visual work and an essay about how the creative process helped her cope with the loss.

After viewing the ethereal images that look like explosions captured at their apex, some people might want to know how a chemigram is made. One of Victoria Manning's works adorns the cover and a three-page interview with the artist provides answers.

Photo by Anna Penny

Photo by Jennifer-Lauren-Smith

Photo by Lauren Puyleart

At the accompanying Super Secret exhibit, the first thing most visitors will notice when navigating from Hyperbole boutique's storefront through a narrow dressing room nook into the gallery is five pieces straight ahead on the wall.

Two images on the far left are manipulated: one depicts a graffiti-covered boat; the other shows a portion of the same vessel upside down. Shapes and colors in a couple of lumen prints by Susan Marie White are subtle. In the volume, she explains her process in a brief artist statement.

The lone representational photo in the quintet is Lauren Puyleart's shot of a dramatic valley with a waterfall in the background. It could have been taken in nearly any mountainous area but definitely not the Highlands.

Along with Club Draw, Little Histories and Write Today Beacon, artists create micro-communities like the photo club due to a "loneliness epidemic," says Diamond. "It's nice for creatives to get out of the studio or workspace and sit down face to face. Our meetup is about inspiring each other."

Super Secret Projects is located at 484 Main St. in Beacon. The book release party and closing exhibit reception are scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday; Beacon Photo Club, Volume #1, will be available for $22.