Fly Away handmade book #16 flew away to a collector in the Netherlands in 2024. Here is a peek at this unique 1/1 handcrafted book.
Books 17-25 are still available to purchase. Once book #25 is sold, I will no longer be making these.
You can purchase a book here
https://www.melissalazuka.art/product/fly-away-handmade-artist-book
Meghan 🌻🌼🌻
her gorgeous curly hair, freckles, and beautiful inner confidence and ease in front of the camera shone through our entire shoot.
I loved her pale yellow dress and the summery sweet colors she chose to wear. This is Meghan in the summer before her senior year.
You can purchase a high school Senior session here
https://www.melissalazuka.art/product/the-classic-high-school-senior-photo-session
This was a very special session. My friend and fellow photographer contacted me this summer and asked if I would be available for a short notice photo session. She was facing a personal health crisis. Photos during this time would mean so much to her.
Of course I said yes. I knew how much photos meant to her through the years. She is the gifted sports photographer who had blessed countless families with photos of their athletes at our children’s school through the years. She had done it all for free and touched so many people with her gifts.
She later shared with me that she was battling lymphoma cancer; a diagnosis that had been given mid summer, with barely any warning. A battle she did not choose but has been fighting with so much faith & strength. She inspires me. She shares her journey in a beautifully written journal you can read here - personal details of her family, the brutal side effects of chemo, and her faith through it all. Please lift her and her family up in prayer.
You can see in these photos how much her family means to her and how much she means to them. ❤️
Here is the Queen family on a beautiful summer evening at their home.
I had such a lovely shoot with Elena. We took photos at Fowler’s Mill golf course and there were so many scenic spots. The bridge was a favorite. The light was beautiful on this July summer’s night and Elena’s gorgeousness really was shining too. She was so sweet and completely comfortable in front of the camera. There were so many photos from the shoot that I loved! Take a look.
I met Emmy on a beautiful September evening at Gilmour high school. The campus is classically beautiful and so is Emmy, so it was a perfect pairing 💛
Just a few leaves were changing, everything was crisp green, and Emmy looked gorgeous in a white summer dress ( Free People- I asked :) !)
I recently dropped off 2 fine prints and a signature lay flat 12 x 12 album in midnight blue with silver foil (client’s choice) to a senior from last summer. Here are some pictures🖤!
For all those who have collected and enjoyed Fly Away, I wanted to share that book 14 of the series was included in a very beautiful and unique Photobook exhibit called “Photobooks. Art Page by Page,” The exhibition is described on their website: “The definition of the photobook is as broad as that of photography, and ranges from handmade unique objects to smaller and larger print runs, from self-publishing and zines to rare, elaborately designed and bound editions. The exhibition shows a selection of German and international photobooks from the last decades, with a focus on exceptional design and storytelling. Curated by Calin Kruse and Silvia Gaetti.”
the exhibit ran from 11/25/21 through 4/3/22. A beautiful catalogue from the exhibit is available including all the Photobooks exhibited and is in itself a work of art.
I was delighted to be on the cover of a local neighborhood magazine this month. It was a lovely welcome back to the west side of Cleveland.
I was asked to share about my photography journey, family, and volunteer work for the article. Thank you Beachcliff Beacon- Jason, Christine, and Rachel!
The colors of summer I noticed today…. delicate white blossoms hanging from deep green leaves… soft shadows falling on floating pink petals… pale sky blues and yellow greens colliding with rainbow light…
I recently finished book 9 in my fly away series of 25 unique handmade artist books. This book went to a dear friend in California.
Each book contains this poem from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll that I type onto antique paper with my 1930’s Underwood Standard Portable Typewriter;
"In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die;
Ever drifting down the stream,
Lingering in the golden gleam -
Life, what is it, but a Dream?"
- Lewis Carroll
ARTIST STATEMENT, fly away
There is a very short period of time that everyone is a child, and only so many summers we can experience as a child, before they "die", and we must become adults. In this series, I focus on the fleetingness of time, and the dream like world my daughter takes me to, as she escapes into her imagination in the outside world of our home, the Ohio landscape. Through multiple exposures and a technique called freelensing in which I hold my broken film lenses, detached from the camera, I have tried to create the world which she imagines and inhabits. One in which time is irrelevant and where fairies do exist, and she is Queen of the Butterflies. It is an escape to wonderland, a dream world she flies away to, and always comes back.
You can read Douglas Stockdale’s lovely review of it here
I am working on book 10 if you are interested in purchasing one!
I sell all of my artist books here!
xo
