“Ruined Castles and Phantom Memories” is a pictorial edition featuring the remnants and remains of several Middle Age castles in southern France and particularly within the Languedoc region. Each image frames the ruined monuments and elevated structures of 12th century France occupied by members of the once vibrant Cathar movement. Desolate and foreboding, these staggering monoliths bear the sole testimony of the Cathar race, effectively exterminated in the 14th century by the Catholic Church during the Albigensian Crusades. The finely crafted masonry and vaulted remaining pillars cast expansive shadows across the soaring landscape. Time brakes to a halt enabling the viewer to understand the allure of simplistic elegance and majesty. The principal fortresses photographed include the castles of Peyrepertuse, Queribus, Chateau de Thermes and the Abbey of Saint Hilary. The stark photographic severity examines the ravages of time, warfare and neglect. Photographer Marques Vickers lived in the Languedoc region between 2005-2009, while capturing these portrayals. Peyrepertuse Guillaume de Peyrepertuse resisted submission to the Catholic Church and was excommunicated in 1224. He built the castle at the end of the 13th century. The fortress later defended the French border against the kingdom of Aragon and then Spain until the 17th century. The castle was the site of numerous armed conflicts until finally decommissioned as a border fort with the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 after having lost its strategic prominence. It was abandoned during the French Revolution and left to decay with the elements. Queribus The castle was another strategic border protector with Spain until 1659. It is often regarded as the last Cathar stronghold. The Cathars avoided bloodshed by the pursuing French army by abandoning it before their appearance. Chateau de Thermes Aloft amidst its high elevation and fortified by deep ravines, the fortress was seized during the first Albigensian Crusade. Most of the combatants and residents were forced out by depleted water and diminished ammunition supplies amidst an extended drought. The French government used it as a royal garrison to defend the borders with Spain. Abandoned and then reclaimed by a band of bandits, the group terrorized locals during the mid-seventeenth century. Their activities were halted abruptly when the walls were blown apart by canon fire issued by royal decree. St. Hilary Abbey A medieval Benedictine monastery features an attractive cloister and important Romanesque artworks inside including the sarcophagus of St. Sernin by the Master of Cabestany.

Author Marques Vickers returns to his hometown of Vallejo, California with his memoir “You Can’t Return Home Except Through Photographs and Memory”. The personal narrative traces his formation within a community that through his eyes has slipped a notch from both the middle-class and affluence. Vickers employs a light but candid tone on a gravely perceived subject, Vallejo’s regressive deterioration. The suburban San Francisco Bay Area town of 120,000 was formerly the California State Capital twice and home to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The base closed in 1996 creating an employment void that prompted stagnation within the downtown core. Vickers was raised locally during the 1960s-70s. He traces the specific causes for decline as the proliferation of long simmering racial tensions, homelessness, aggressive criminality and drug trafficking. Returning in 1987 as an adult following a twelve-year absence, he was struck by the town’s smallness of scale. In spite of the successful recruitment of Marine World Africa USA in 1986, the addition has not elevated Vallejo into a desirable extended stay tourist destination. He observes that seemingly for every positive step forward, the city tends to relapse two steps backwards. Despite the deterioration, most Vallejoans he knows are proud of their grounded heritage. His text is far from bleak and bitter. He cites the town’s distinctiveness, attractions and diversity that positively impacted his personal development. His photo compilation was prompted by a return for the funeral service of a 90-year-old friend Andy who died on New Years Day 2017. Andy, a former longtime resident, avoided local visitations noting the degenerating conditions from his residence in adjacent Benicia. The author’s own series of memories were exhumed at the same time as the body of his friend was being lowered into the ground for burial. Vickers surveys the present tense community with his camera lens portraying a bittersweet reality. Although he cannot overlook the obvious, he hopes the current downtown may ultimately be viewed as an isolated puzzle piece fitting into a larger positive legacy. Balancing his criticism with objectivity, humor and insight, Vickers attempts to accurate portray a subject he mourns and knows intimately.

“The Architectural Elevation of Technology” is a photographic survey of 75 prominent Silicon Valley corporate headquarters buildings. The 134-page edition is photographed and authored by California artist Marques Vickers. The geographical territory included with the book is framed to the north by Redwood City and extended to the south until Cupertino. Corporate headquarters are included within the cities of Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Mountain View, Menlo Park, San Jose, Sunnyvale, Milpitas and Fremont. Notable structures include the Oracle, Samsung and the Apple 2 campus, currently under construction. Background is provided on each building’s history and when each present tenant began their occupancy. “The photo project’s motivation was based on my curiosity as to the public face of the information technology sector,” notes Vickers. “Did the more prominent companies mirror the aesthetic polish of their online renown and presence? Would their architecture reflect the affluence and prosperity many of these industry icons have come to represent?” “Silicon Valley technology parks, corporate campuses and headquarters appear indistinguishable from other more traditional office construction. Their appearance is generally consistent with contemporary design trends favoring reflective glass framed by steel and masonry.” Vickers observes in his accompanying commentary several distinctive traits regarding high-tech constructions. Among those include decentralized layouts, lack of streetfront parking and the significant shielding of inside views by landscaped trees and foliage. “The true innovation and resources appear to have been concentrated on interior space management schematics and novelty design.” Vickers adds, “The intention is purposeful. By creating a playful and aesthetic interior environment for employees, many are inclined and stimulated to spend significant additional hours on work-related projects in the facility. Social bondings are encouraged, creating a synergy of professional comradery. Working hours assimilate into lifestyle preferences.”

Michael McCaffrey has lost his teaching idealism, but not pragmatism towards his profession. “Teaching with One Eye Shut” escorts you into the classroom, faculty room sanctuary and campus grounds of St. Elizabeth-St. Ignacious (SESI), a northern California Catholic high School. Your host, McCaffrey is an eight-year business instructor beyond the burnout stage and uncertain as to his future in the profession. His turmoil carries over into his personal life and relationships. McCaffrey shares his clear-eyed observations about classroom instruction, discipline, peers and the bureaucracy accompanying teaching. He dismisses imposed school administration artificial team-building tactics. For him, teachers are individuals expressing their point of view on subject matters as they visualize it. Peer’s advice and Principals are of marginal value. His evaluations are often cutting and dismissive. They are balanced by periodic inspiring and surprising heroics emerging from unlikely sources. McCaffrey seemingly has an unflinching opinion about everyone and especially himself. His students can be a distracted and devouring audience, but he is genuinely appreciated. He introduces the reader into the authentic and sometimes erratic nature of classroom lecture and discussion. His teaching subjects include technology, marketing and law. His students’ responses address more poignant issues including racism, home life and their futures beyond schooling. The deeper exchanges are often conducted between classes or emerge amidst casual conversations and daily interactions. McCaffrey addresses timely issues over the success and shortcomings of contemporary education. He concludes that society comfortably maintains misplaced priorities and ignorance towards education and its practitioners. He takes issue with uninvolved parents who drop their children off like dirty laundry and expect a private institution to cleanse them of their bad habits while educating them. He maintains that Catholic education is distinct and different from public schools. His conclusion is based on expected behavioral accountability and reinforced discipline, rather than superior personal, facilities and educational techniques. A school’s objective remains to stimulate a graduating class of lifelong learners. This lofty goal is tested daily by certain under-achieving, troubled and unmotivated students, neurotic faculty members and hamstrung by trifling misdirected rules. McCaffrey notes that victories surface when his contemporaries enable students to navigate the tenuous labyrinth of adolescence and learning His varied observations encompass teacher liability, absence policies, and career burnout, objective grading, classroom discipline, school fundraising, compensation, athletic programs, peer gossip and pranks, equipment deficiencies, and dress codes. McCaffrey is SESI’s acknowledged faculty satirist who zealously guards his private time absent of extra-curricular supervisions. He is never a perennial candidate for Teacher of the Year honors. His cast of instructional intimates and foils include basketball coach and confident Rich Ringer, siren Suzzi Issacs, milquetoast Dennis Greeley, incompetent Alex Orrigo, misdirected Tim Lovelace, mumbling Principal Brother Moody and a colorful parade of diverse and eclectic personalities. A variety of candid and favorite students are introduced with the irrepressible Ralphie Houwser heading the list. McCaffrey feels trapped by his inability to move forward with his life. A year ending interaction with one of his peers offers him hope. Will a Parisian rendezvous on Bastille Day become his ultimate liberation from professional and personal stagnation? “Teaching with One Eye Shut” addresses the fragile and volatile role of mentors and educators. McCaffrey’s memoir offers a realistic and humorous view of the realities behind high school instructing, spiced by his periodic exaggerations.

This edition is an intimate photo examination of the infamous Butte, Montana sex trade once nationally recognized during the late 19th and early 20th century. Over 135 current photographs document the remnants of the famed copper mining town’s prostitution core. The work details historical anecdotes, narratives on colorful personages and perspective on an era when prostitution was locally institutionalized. The remaining Dumas Brothel is a profiled parlor house noteworthy for its operational longevity between 1890-1982. The Dumas is the longest tenured American house of prostitution. The property weathered numerous reform movements and attempts towards forced closure by governmental authorities. Owner tax evasion ultimately shuttered the property. Across the road is the Blue Range Building, the last street-facing example of the lowest extremity of prostitution once employed within the district. The seven sets of ground floor doors and adjacent windows housed segregated cubicles called cribs. Diminutive cribs accommodated only a single bed and an occasional washbasin. Lower esteemed prostitutes serviced clients from these utilitarian spaces. Butte’s prostitution industry reinforced a rigid hierarchy of distinguishing elite mistresses for the affluent and influential, from lowly street solicitors. The lifestyle of sex professionals was plagued by drug addiction, financial debt, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, abortion, violence and abuse by their patrons and jealousy-motivated clients. Suicide was common even amongst the highest regarded women within such a cannibalistic environment, During the turn of the twentieth century, Butte was one of the largest Rocky Mountain population centers. Its licentious reputation mirrored contemporary Las Vegas. Unlike many western frontier settlements, cowboy culture made minimal intrusion. Butte’s red-light district is a haunting environment with a complex past.

Shadowlands is a photographic concept edition accentuating contours, silhouettes and dominant color compositions of 150 photographic images. Many of the images are recognizable icons and landmarks. They are transformed into graphic arts appearance by employing photo imaging software. The accompanying shadows create a foreboding and often sinister impression. The result is a glimpse into the unconscious white space that frames and lightens photography. Photographer Marques Vickers has assembled a diverse portfolio of internationally compiled images. Their reverse lighting reinvents the impression, often upsetting our conventional interpretation of their substance and matter. The effect mirrors the surrealists’ notion of superficially unseen structures that open the portal for interpretative meanings. Imagery is enabled to transcend precise and simplistic definition.

A compilation of chronological written correspondence can provide valuable insights into the growth and development of an individual. “When Letters Still Mattered” is a 137-page autobiographical portrait by California artist Marques Vickers. Each profile candidly summarizes the effect of thirty writings and individuals that distinctly influenced his life. His early writings reveal glimpses of his immediate family relations including several humorous and touching accounts of his Alabama raised aunts, beloved grandfather and his most remembered letter from his mother recounting the separate and unexpected deaths of three acquaintances. Drawing from his formative years correspondence, Vickers recounts the exploits of an ethically straying local minister, his close relationship with his freedom-obsessed dog and his reaction to a greeting card delivered on the morning of Christmas Day by the postman. Subsequent chapters address his earliest failed encounters with intimacy and romance, a fortunate near-miss and his ongoing resolve to achieve equilibrium with a partner. He traces the labyrinth that defined his first marriage, initially fueled by a tenderly composed poem. Vickers shares lessons and disappointments culled from an often dehumanizing workplace and a noble gesture of fidelity that transcended his own humiliation of being very publicly fired from a high-profile job. The author details a twenty-year friendship with a mentor, Marshall, once a renowned public personality. Marshall had formerly managed the swank Los Angeles Coconut Grove nightclub, Las Vegas Flamingo Hotel and dated actress Marilyn Monroe during her prime. Marshall’s own fallen acclaim due to his 1950s Las Vegas association was accompanied by an admirable loyalty that he maintained until his death with formerly renowned actors, prizefighters and celebrities that had endured their own reversals of fortune. For the author, Marshall’s insight and experiences provided an enlightening glimpse of the tenuousness of fame. Weaving through various accounts, Vickers encounters a variety of diverse personalities, acquaintances and friends, ranging from a perverse travel agent he encountered in Rio de Janeiro to a counseling therapist seeking to sort out her own passionate and wordy nature. His final chapter concerns a book inscription sent to him by painter Andrew Wyatt’s famed muse Helga Testorf as a notable gift of friendship. Her ordeal and the accompanying controversy and public condemnation she endured were overshadowed by the dignity she maintained throughout in his eyes. The passages from each correspondence are concise with the focus oriented primarily on Vickers’ interpretations and storytelling. The cumulative effect of his analysis is that of an artist looking inwardly and coming to terms with who he is, how he arrived there and why he actively creates. This mirror of one’s past and the resulting conclusions become a reference guideline. The author discovered these illustrative samplings shaped his present behavioral patterns and decision-making priorities. The texts provide tangible and enduring time capsules of thought and expression by individuals who mattered most for diverse reasons to the author.