As you are enjoying this issue of Perigee, you will no doubt notice the photography in our cover and archives page—photography which has lent its aesthetics to the entire issue and to the redeveloped areas of Perigee. There's just something about good art that spreads. A favorite movie of mine from the early 90's, Pump up the Volume, had Christian Slater asserting, "the truth is a virus." Art is like that too. Especially good art.

I first came across Jack-E online. I got to know her and her work—primarily photography, although she has a knack for other forms of visual art as well. She is talented, yes. I could see that immediately. Her work has a clear sense of composition and it is obvious to anyone who has spent any amount of time behind the lens that she has an eye for the craft of light writing ... the craft of photography. What is almost as impressive as her natural talent is the speed at which she has harnessed it: Jack-E enters her senior year in high school this fall; she is 18.

How rare a treat it is to find photography that compels publication. How much rarer indeed from someone at such a young age. One can only assume great things are in store for her. With luck, we'll be there during the journey.

I and the other editors are proud to feature her artwork in our 17th issue. We hope you will enjoy it too.

 
- Robert Judge Woerheide, Managing Editor

"I've always been different, it's just how I am. But it's my latest fascination with death, decay, and abandon that led me to Yeoman's Repair. Yeoman's was a repair warehouse for large industrial machines. The lot is now abandon and there's a lot of large machinery and brick.

I spotted Yeoman's on my way home from running some money to my sister at her job in Elkhart, IN. As soon as I got home I grabbed a roll of film and my camera. I pulled into the lot and parked in back. I was amazed at the amount of machinery left behind. I immediately spotted old, broken scaffolding and climbed on top to get a better look. Everything was slowly decaying; everything was covered in rust, dust, spider webs, paint was missing or peeling—it was the lot where machines went to die. I felt obligated to capture the beauty of the machinerie's death.

I was all over the place, by the time I filled up my roll I was covered in dirt, dust, and paint chips.

I don't have any real formal photography training, I've only got one year of high school photography under my belt. I've always considered myself to be an artist, but mainly a photographer. Art is my passion and I feel like I have a unique eye for things.

I got my very first 35mm SLR camera last year. It's a Nikon FM10, an extreme beginner's SLR that is 12 years old, that I affectionately call Tori, after the singer Tori Amos. In addition to my Nikon I occasionally use my MAXWELL DA-2000 flash, which I used at Yeoman's because of the abundance of awkward shadows.

Generally as a photographer I like to do unusual things. I love to photograph in odd angles, cutting off parts of objects, experimenting with depth of field. And when I'm printing my pictures in the dark room I like to put as much contrast in the picture as I can."

- Jack-E Thornton, Featured Artist