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Arts & Entertainment

Stockman's 'Kodak' Moments

April's exhibit at the Stratford Library features photographs by resident and library employee, Ann Stockman.

Ann Stockman sees beauty wherever she goes, in nature, in animals, in people, and in buildings, and when she does she feels compelled to capture it.  

“[I] like photography because you can hold on to good memories,” says Stockman, who has her favorite photographs on exhibit at the Stratford Library this month. “Photography gives me a lot of satisfaction.”

Stockman, an amateur photographer, has been using her Kodak digital camera - a gift from daughter, Sara, for the last five years to take pictures in and around Stratford.   Some of her favorite places are Lordship Beach, Bond’s Dock Marina, Housatonic River near Birdseye launching ramp, and the garden view at Big Y entrance. 

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 ”The thing that gets me the most is anything to do with water and clouds.”  Water because it is the basis of life.  And flowers which represent the cycle of life. “It reminds me how beautiful life is,” Stockman explains. 

Her collection headlined, “Where in the Stratford am I?” challenges residents’ recognition of town landmarks such as the observatory at Boothe Memorial Park, the last of the oyster stores built in Stratford in 1830, old Avco Lycoming building, South End Community Center, and Roosevelt Forest.

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She also finds it “very touching,” to take pictures of people who don’t know they are being photographed.   Among the pictures on exhibit are one of a father and young son on the walkway at the waterfront.

“If it evokes an emotion in me, I take a picture.”

Besides being a member of the Bridgeport Photography Club 20 years ago, Stockman is largely self-taught.   She reads books on how to make pictures interesting.  She loves her digital camera because of the ability to text on pictures.  Also because she had no formal training in developing pictures.

In her ‘Ways’ collection, an idea that was sparked when seeing the word ‘way’ in a sign all over town, or her reaction to an action, she has rail ‘way’and walk ‘way,’ among them.

Stockman also finds humor in mundane everyday acts.  Proof of it is the picture showing a reaction to the reading on the weighing scale,  "No Way!" 

Besides photography, Stockman finds time to volunteer at CRIS Radio, where she gets a “feel” for what goes on behind the scenes with reading to the blind on radio.   She also volunteers with C.A.R.E., a citizen’s coalition sponsored by the office of Mayor John Harkins to address racial equity, and mentors a sixth grade student at Lordship School.

Hers volunteer work is her attempt to give back to the community.   “I was helped a lot in my life.”

“The more we get involved with each other, the more understanding, and the better the community will be,” says this cheery 28-year Stratford resident, who while not working at the library - her workplace for the past 14 years -  finds time to indulge her many interests.

The exhibit runs through the end of the month.

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