Book Description

This girl is hungry for the weight of a camera in her hands, but that desire feels wicked. Is it because her father is a war photographer and photography has always been his domain? Or is it because she's yet to become a woman who chases what she wants? And who's to say photography can't be her domain, too? At least she knows this: Salvation lies in pixels. Heaven is a photograph. This collection of narrative poems and photographs tells the story of an art student and her journey of doubt, longing, and questioning. Join her as she finds her power behind the lens. "With Heaven is a Photograph, Christine Sloan Stoddard presents you with a poetic meditation on the fear and desire of making images (and claiming one's power). Intellectually and spiritually rich, her words and images imprint on your mind and heart with beauty, honesty and recognition." -Art Jones, artist and filmmaker "Heaven is a Photograph is a living hagiography of a girl who cannot decide whether or not pursuing photography is a sin. Conflicted by gender expectations and the uncertainty of a career in the arts, the one thing that the protagonist knows is that photography is a deeply spiritual practice, enveloping her life. It is truly an autobiography of many women in the arts." -Gretchen Gales, executive editor of Quail Bell Magazine, as seen in Ms. Magazine, The Mighty, and Roar Feminist Magazine "Heaven is a Photograph is a unique exploration of poetry and photography you'll only experience through Christine Sloan Stoddard's magic. The power of her words will shake the core of your being. She doesn't just take pictures-she gives them." -Ghia Vitale, senior editor of Quail Bell Magazine, as seen in Everyday Feminism, xoJane, and BUST "Heaven is a Photograph puts the reader behind, in front of, and inside the camera through Christine Sloan Stoddard's evocative poetry and photography. Through the lens of her viewpoint character, the collection demonstrates the personal and universal appeal of photography in a vivid and impactful manner. Stoddard describes the art of photography as it relates to memory, creation, and legacy in a way that makes the act of clicking the shutter button both an artistic and a spiritual act." -Alex Carrigan, senior critic at Quail Bell Magazine "The narrator of Christine Stoddard's Heaven is a Photograph is hungry. For art. For success. For salvation. For the weight of a camera in her hands. She laments that photography is slow to love her back, which is perhaps what makes this collection so intoxicating. The unchecked, sometimes fearful and unabashedly female desire of a woman who cannot contain her passion-who would let it consume her-explodes in words and images." -Mari Pack, author of Description of a New World (dancing girl press)