TRAVELING MAGAZINE Arizona Edition

The latest edition of the world's thinnest magazine -- my personal cover-only TRAVELING Magazine -- hits the newsstands (well, hits the blog) today. It is the souvenir of my spring training trip, of course, and includes a few elements already seen in the blog.

What I find most interesting about the Magazine Cover concept is how much it helps my understanding of my photo collection, believe it or not. Trying to work as an editor in capturing the multi-part essences of the event, things come into clearer focus. While I loved Big League Field of Dreams, for instance, the local softball/baseball fields were not the driving force behind the trip and no photo made the cover. I scheduled the trip with the Fergie & Friends game in mind, so the ticket-like ad for the game made the lower-right corner.

But the ad that mentions the celebrity game actually came from the HoHoKam Park scoreboard during a Cub game the day before. That game, depicted across the bottom as the base layer, becomes more important as I think back. I am excited today, Opening Day, for the Chicago Cubs 2009, and a lot of that comes from seeing the team in the warm sunshine of Arizona.

My feature layer, the uniform of Mr. FINALLY! with the number 09, was the center of an earlier post and was snapped during the celebrity game. But again, that game appears on the cover only in the two cuts that refer back to the current year of the ballclub. The date on the magazine is March 2009 and it looks to the current season, not long-ago good times. And all this crystallized in the text blurb "Hope Springs Eternal."

More to the point, I went back looking for one more detail, one more graphic element that would complete the work. And I realize that on my first day, a quick "grab shot" that made me smile for a second before I forgot it, is one of my favorite photos of the trip. So often that little detail shot catches something that works in an event, and the Arizona license plate IT'S ALL GOOD really works for me. Acting as the magazine editor each time has helped me focus my memories in a way that makes the exercise completely worthwhile. And I wound up with an image I really like. Hope you enjoy the magazine!

The next post will show the result of my other look-back, clarify-the-memories project. Coming soon.