Book casts familiar in different light

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Have you ever wondered what other job you might do? Jack Jackowetz did more than wonder.
For 30 years, he worked as a corporate software developer and specialized in client relationship management. He travelled all over North America and had no real time for hobbies.
Jackowetz, born and raised in Brantford, had enjoyed photography as a kid and so he started dabbling in digital photography. He experimented with composition and lighting, using various software tools. He found he could turn a photo into an image similar to a painting.
Increasingly dissatisfied with the demands of his job and time spent away from family, Jackowetz decided to quit and pursue the joy he had discovered in photography.
“I found I’d developed a USP, or unique selling proposition, by using photographs to connect people to their community,” said Jackowetz.
He captured the ordinary in photographs, which were then altered with his “post-impressionism photography” to resemble paintings of buildings, advertising signs and nature. The idea to collect these into a book about a distinct area or community blossomed into an opportunity to meet people.
Jackowetz found Waterford, with its historical buildings and homes, to be an interesting place to photograph. He created a 36 page book, The Places We Live: A Short History: Waterford, Ontario. It featured 8.5-inch square pages that appealed as an art form. His second edition about Waterford was the size of a trade paperback, with photos among blank pages allowing readers to write in it as a journal. He added descriptions about the images he had created, as well as provided a one-page brief history of Waterford.
Now a third edition about Waterford expands on the community’s history. It’s an easy-to-read 72-page spiral-bound book, with captivating pictures that show familiar scenes in a different light.
Residents of Waterford will enjoy seeing Alice and Main street buildings. Historical houses of the Beemer, Bowlby, Clark, Little, McCool, Merritt, Parney and Sovereign families are also featured.
The artwork is different from those of the previous two editions, so it creates a trilogy for those fortunate enough to have collected the previous books.
The third edition is available in Waterford at Nifty Gifty, 21 Alice St., where prints also can be purchased and ordered. The books are also at he Old Town Hall, 76 Main St. S., and at Waterford Historical and Agricultural Museum, 159 Nichol St.
Jackowetz’s photography also led to the Finger Lakes in New York State, with books which featured the buildings and points of interest in the towns of Geneva and Penn Yan.
He accepts commissions for personal, business or commemorative occasions.
Check out www.jJackowetz.com or email jack@jJackowetz.com or phone 519-751-0720.
Carol Steedman is a freelance writer who lives in Waterford. Readers can contact her at goffsteedman@execulink.com.

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