Martin Frech, farewell, Berlin/Germany

Ah summer…4th of July BBQ’s, a dip in the pool, time slowed down. I have to say that living in Los Angeles is sort of year round summer–the lure of the ocean, an afternoon in the sun is not what I think of when June, July, and August roll around. To me, summer is a lake on the east coast, packing a suitcase, and cocktails on a dock. The image below is of my godson, Roy, participating in an annual tradition of the summer purchase and reading of some meaningful literature–literature that I notice everyone in the house at some point, sprawls out on a couch and reads.

Aline Smithson, Inquiring Minds, Longpond, MA

Happy Summer! Thank you for your submissions. It’s terrific to have submissions from all over the world, celebrating this time of year. Please submit to future Lenscratch calls…Visual Pranks and Puns is due August 15th, School Days is due September 1st, and Masks, Costumes, and Halloween is due October 24th. Think about making some work to fit these themes and who knows where it will take you! And now, here’s to a great summer with cameras in hand…..

THE SUMMER LENSCRATCH EXHIBITION

James Friedman, © 2011 Summer Solstice, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Valery Rizzo, Pool Party, Crown Heights, Brooklyn

Steven C. De La Cruz, A Great Bite, My bedroom, Los Angeles, CA

Lauren Henkin, Summer, Nova Scotia, Canada

Dave Jordano, Woman Sleeping in a Parking Lot, Detroit, MI 2010

Ruben Natal-San Miguel, Pride Lemonade Stand Without Prejudice, 2011, NYC

Magali Duzant, Alice; One Way or Another, Pittsburgh, PA

Carolyn Hampton, Little red fish, Montecito, California, August 2009

Alex Nelson, Mom and Moe in the pool, Orvieto, Italy July 2010

Sarah Hadley, Fire, Indian Lake, Indian Lake, Ohio

Warren Harold, Snorkel, Houston, TX

Claire Mallett, Sunbather, Venice Beach, CA

Maura Brennan, The Deep End, Los Angeles, CA

Linda Plaisted, Luna Park,

Richard Allen Ashmore, Childhood, 2010, Telluride, Colorado

Susan Wides, Sheeps’s Meadow, July 2, 2007, Central Park, Sheep’s Meadow, NYC

Nikki Gardner, Cousins, Papoose Lake, Heath, Massachusetts

Constance Hobbs, Summers Fence, The Swordfish Club, West Hampton Beach, NY

Matilde Soligno, Late Summer, Strait of Messina, Italy

Bea Fresno, Dutch Summer, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Rudy Ramos, Mid-Air, Cork, Ireland

Yoichi Nagata, Boe and Tupa, Tuvalu

Zeb Andrews, Salmon Street Springs, 8 seconds, Salmon Street Springs fountain in downtown Portland, Oregon

Ali Donnelly, Luna Moth, Durham, NC

Colin Aherne, A New Summer, Mallow, Co. Cork

Jason Reblando, Parade, Greendale, Wisconsin, from the series New Deal Utopias

Laura Burlton, Seaweed, Galveston, TX

Balazs Sprenc, I wanna go back, Szigetbecse (Hungary)

Sylvia de Swaan, Espejismo/Mirage, Moose River, The Adirondacks, New York State Summer 2001

Patricia A. Bender, Ella (19), Lake Michigan

Vito Pasquale, 13 feet 3 inches, New York

Katya Evdokimova, Reflection, Hyde Park, London, UK

Christin Boggs, Crocs in the Greenhouse, Mud Creek Farm, Victor, NY

Jim Marx, Cousins, California

Gerry Smith, Coloour my World, Dublin, Ireland

Consuelo Mendez, Reinaldo’s summer, Lake of Maracaibo, Venezuela

Aaron Hobson, Chartreuse Nights, Adirondacks, USA

Joanna Black, Scotland on the beach, Edinburgh, Scotland

Susan A. Barnett, BYE, from the series “Not In Your Face”2011, Coney Island, NY

The Large Format Group, Bigfoot, Alsea, OR

Sabrina Lau, Dream Ship, Warnemünde, Germany

Bernd Reinhardt, Fourth of July, Oceanside, CA, 2010

Jeff Friesen, Waterborne, Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada

Jack Nelson (photo taken by my father Jack Nelson), Waterman’s Lake, Rhode Island, 1958, Rhode Island

Marilyn Sanders, Surfers Greet Baby Seal, Hermosa, Beach, CA

David Westrop, Taking the time, Vancouver, Canada

Keith Prue, Coney Island, New York – 2011

John Neel, Floating Man, Florida

Suzanne Revy, Waves, 2010, Plum Island, MA

Natasha D’Schommer, Park Pool, Minneapolis, MN

Kelly Burgess, Gordon Street, Brighton, MA

Monica Denevan, Pendulum, Burma 2007

Ken Rosenthal, 4 July, 2010 , Colville, WA

Steven Keirstead, Cool Summer Day, East Blue Hill Maine, MMVIII

Russell duPont, Nantasket Beach #1, Hull, MA

shāna, Levitating, Huntington, NY

Paul Romaniuk, That Summer at the Lake, Victoria, BC

Jamie Johnson, Betty, Topanga Canyon, CA

Jim Brammer, Paradise Found, Acapulco, Mexico

Jessica Tremp, the idea was to terrify but not touch, Goldfields Victoria Australia

Gina Kelly, Denali’s Favorite Toy, Minneapolis, MN

Anne Berry, Crab, Cumberland Island, GA, 2011

Liz Devine, Pool float, El Paso, TX at a hotel pool

Jon Kersey, Alice, Scott’s Valley, CA

Tabitha Soren, Action Off the Field, Modesto, California

Martin Cox, Ambiguity in front of the manor house (after Manet) June 2011, The Great Hall, Northern England

Katie Shapiro, Boy on rock, Tahoe, Lake Tahoe

Jason Hynes, Americano, York, U.K.

Kimi Kolba, Bask, Oregon

Michael Werner, Summer Sale, Forster NSW, from the series Greater Lakes, Forster, Australia

Jeremy Chandler, Spring Divers, Branford, FL

Laurie McCormick, Summer on the Cape Cape Cod, MA imagined

Kevin Messina, Fishing, Belgrade, Maine

Silke Hase, Männer! , Island in the River near Hamburg Germany

Rina Shapira, Tandem, Summer 2010, Venice Beach, CA

Jane Gottlieb, Malibu Hills, wide-lux shot in Malibu Hills 30 years ago,
recently scanned & photoshop enhanced

Mike E. Spitz, Fishing Time, Ohio

Kristianne Koch, Bathers From the Pier, San Clemente Pier looking toward Cottons Point

Louise Daddona, Goggles, Boca Raton, Florida

Emma Powell, Where I Leaned to Ice Skate, Middlebury, VT

Jim Robertson, Fountain Heads, Columbus, Ohio

Greg Zauswoz, Summer Keeps Fading, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

David Ranc, Bergamholidays, Bergamo, Italy

Isa Leshko, Dangling Legs from Thrills & Chills, Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, OH

Jessica Tampas, JPLobsang, Lakeside, MI

Amber J. Anderson, Hampshire Road Community Garden, 2010, Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Panos Lambrou, Beach Soccer, Cadiz, Spain

Chuck Mintz, Kid/Legs, Ocean City, MD

Alek Lindus, svala beach, Samos, Greece

Kati Mennett, Sparkler, Sandwich, MA

Roland Jackson, Billy, Burlington (Secret Spot)

Francisco Arcaute, Fair, San Bernardino, CA

Cynthia Wood, Night Swimming, Palm Springs, CA

David Miller, Glass Olive + Fish, Redondo Beach, CA

Larry Torno, Pink Hydrangea, St. Louis, Missouri

Erin Tyner, Wake, Atlanta,GA

Christy Karpinski, Untitled (iris), Minneapolis, MN

Mark Eaton, The Race, Namyul Beach in South Korea

Janet L. Pritchard, August, Rhode Island

Winky Lewis, Harry at the drive-in, Saco, ME

Bill Chapman, Fan, Fenway Park, Boston, MA

Walter Beckham, Pool, Gulf Shores, AL

Michael Younker, Duel, Savannah, GA

Tamar Levine, Little Boxes, Los Angeles, CA

Robert Bright, Raining down on me, Latigo Shore Drive, Malibu, CA

Andi Schreiber, Fast Forward, Scarsdale, NY

Bjarte Edvardsen, The Rhubarb Pie Day, Ålgård, Norway

Robbie Kaye, Boy in the Sand, Los Angeles, CA

Donna Rosser, Peachtree Road Race Girl, Atlanta, GA — Peachtree Road Race July 4, 2010

Fran Forman, The Lost Sailor, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, and my imagination

Christopher Mellevold, Gracie, Willamsport, PA

Sharon Johnson-Tennant, Seagull, Block Island, Rhode Island

Suzanne Harrison, Karolina, Ludza, Latvia

Kent Krugh, Child and Ocean, Folly Beach, South Carolina

Marjorie Salvaterra, Uncle Dan’s Beach House, Malibu, CA

Mitch Karunaratne, From the Escape series, London

Meagan Cignoli, Ana and the Volcano, Iceland

Danielle Kelly, The Chase, Outer Banks of North Carolina

Mark Lozier, Uncertain Times, 42St New York City

Magali Duzant, Alice; One Way or Another, Pittsburgh, PA

Pekka Nikrus, The Legs Of Summer, Helsinki, Finland

Julien Marie, Longing…, Plage des Chevrets, Saint-Coulomb, France

Valery Rizzo, Pin-up girls, Coney Island, Brooklyn

Marla Bane, Bane Family, Atlantic Beach Club
Learning to swim at the Atlantic Beach Club outside NYC (maybe Queens or Brooklyn) circa 1956 with my wonderful family. It was the kind of place you can imagine from the 1950’s and that movie whose name I forget that takes place in one of these archetypal beach clubs outside on NYC on the Atlantic during this time. We had a cabana for the summer. The women played mah jongg. The men played gin. The woman tried to out dress each other. The men wore hats. Everyone ate a lot of food and I remember gales of laughter. Whatever happened to bathing caps? Me in front. L-R: my maternal grandfather Jack Levine, my aunt Sara Solove Podair, my mother Lois Bane Ross, my father Sylvan Bane, my uncle Ruben Solove and my maternal grandmother Beatrice Levine. This is what I did for a few summers before I started going to overnight night in the Pocono’s. It was heaven. The world most certainly has changed.