Fogg’s Horn

Iceland, midwinter, midday light

Editor’s Letter

FindingtheLight in Darkness. . .

On a trip to Iceland, in 2018, I gained a new appreciation for daylight, which barely makes an appearance during the dead of winter there. Nonetheless, the low angle of the light, which filters through thin clouds, produces dramatic effects, especially in its relationship to darkness. Our guide took us across two icy streams to a cave with walls coated in clear ice. The contrast of the flat light filtering in through the open roof of the cave glistened off the ice-covered walls, partnering with the grayed darkness to create a sense that we were inside God’s cathedral, lit with His heavenly light.

Light’s relationship to darkness has been a subject of wonder since the beginnings of human interaction with our environment. In this issue, Kasia Staniaszek makes it the subject of a personal journey to find the light in darkness. Since light and darkness are ever-present everywhere, she needed travel no further than her immediate surroundings to witness its effects, the messages conveyed and the elements of interactions that themselves are ever-present, but invariably overlooked.

Once, deep in an underground cave in the Appalachians, our guides turned off all the lanterns and we couldn’t make out any part of our hands in front of our faces. It was terrifying. We need to know there is some component of light in the darkness we experience on a daily basis and that is what Kasia set out to uncover. What is revealed is a discovery of the extraordinary in the ordinary.

-- Tony Tedeschi

Tanner Park, Copiague, New York Photo by Denise Hanson

Contributors

“Finding the Light in Darkness, a photographic quest by Kasia Staniaszek begins on Page 7, taking her wherever her camera and sharp eye for detail leads.

Jan Guarino’s lovely watercolor, “Dark Night, Brights,” graces Page 13,

Bill Scheller’s lifelong love of train travel is on display in “Dispatch from a Locomotive Cab” and “I Used to be a Gandy Dancer” – beginning on Page 14.

“Photographing Birds of Many Feathers,” stunning photo spreads by Buddy Mays –“Fare and Wide” – and Janet Safris – “Close to Home” – begin on Page 22.

John H. Ostdick writes of his obsession with photographing the multiple personalities of mannequins in, “Postcard: Musing on a Time Travel Hobby,” beginning on Page 35.

David E. Hubler admits, “Upon Reflection, I Loved Lucy, Too,” explaining how he circumvented his boyhood bedtime hour to watch the TV show everyone in the schoolyard was talking about the next morning. Page 39.

Jay Jacobs applies his poetic gift to take us to “Thoughts of a New Day. (Page 42)

How it all happened is revealed in Frank I. Sillay’s short story “Fire.” Page 44.

The protagonist’s favorite bar is the locus of activity in Kendric W. Taylor’s “Nights in Key Largo.” Page 46.

A short-term romantic interlude drives the drama for a shipboard dance host in Tony Tedeschi’s, “At Sea.” Page 53

Sharafina binti Teh Sharifuddin applies her artistic touch to “Snowflakes. (Page 64)

Photos by Karen Dinan, Denise Hanson and Chris Lang are sprinkled throughout.