A glimpse of home
City woman compiles photos of region in book intended for soldiers overseas
by Josh McAuliffe
One morning last year, Alyssa Amori was watching a piece on ABC's
Good Morning America about a soldier serving in Iraq watching the birth of his child via the Internet.
Heartwarming as the story was, Mrs. Amori still couldn't help but feel a little dismayed by the fact that the man would have nothing physical to hold on to following such a life-altering moment.
This, she assumed, was a dilemma shared by many homesick troops.
"When I was growing up, the World War II soldiers always talked about the letters they had received from their loved ones and that they always carried those letters in their pockets, close to their hearts," said Mrs. Amori, of South Scranton. "It kept them going; they had something tangible that was from home. "
"With e-mail, you can print it out and have it, but your loved one didn t touch it."
Eventually, Mrs. Amori had an epiphany of sorts to take her recently rediscovered love for photography and use it in a way that would benefit the troops.
A few weeks from now, Mrs. Amori's book of local photographs,
Scranton: The Electric City, will be released by Eynon-based publisher, Tribute Books. Mrs. Amori s ultimate hope for the book, which will retail at $24.95, is to get it into the hands of as many area service men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan as possible. In her opinion, the book would provide the troops with a much-welcome glimpse of home.
First, though, she needs a little help. At the moment, she's looking for individuals or groups willing to either provide addresses or donations to finance the purchase and mailing of the books.
"You may not agree with the war or the politics, but these guys are over there. If we can do something, we should," Mrs. Amori said. "I just want to be able to thank them and show them what s in store for them when they get back. "
Interest startedMrs. Amori first became interested in photography while living in Redondo Beach, Calif., during the early 1980s, having been inspired in large part by the region's abundant natural beauty. "The ocean views and the sunsets and the piers were just magnificent," she said. "The more I took, the more I saw. It was just wonderful."
Returning to Scranton, she eventually showed off the best of her California work in a show at the Lackawanna County Courthouse. Soon afterward, however, she pushed photography aside in order to focus on raising her daughter and her work as a pharmacy technician at Moses Taylor Hospital.
Then, last fall, her husband, David, bought her a $1,000 Canon XTI. Armed with this nifty new piece of hardware, she set about shooting the most picturesque sites of Northeastern Pennsylvania. In all, she's taken close to 3,000 photos since getting the camera.
"Once I got the digital and went out and saw what it could do ... I haven t been home much," said Mrs. Amori, who is taking courses through the New York Institute of Photography.
"My husband's like, 'Have you lost your mind?'" she added with a laugh.
Among the photos set to be included in the book are: architectural marvels like the Courthouse, the Radisson at Lackawanna Station hotel and the William J. Nealon Federal Courthouse; the treehouse and wildlife center at Nay Aug Park; and scenes from the St. Patrick's Day Parade. --Scranton Times-Tribune, July 15, 2007
Scranton Times-Tribune, July 15, 2007 review continued:
The book's cover shot of downtown Scranton's Electric City sign took about two hours and roughly 50 shots to get right, Mrs. Amori said. As she explained, "There's only a very small window when all (the bulbs) are lit at the same time."
She covered the local sports scene, too, acquiring press passes to shoot the opening-night games of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. She then returned to PNC Field on Memorial Day to take close to 500 pictures of Roger Clemens highly publicized appearance with the Triple-A farm club. She even got to see the legendary pitcher's postgame press conference temper tantrum.
"It covers the whole map," Tribute Books owner Nicole Langan said of the book. "It's something that's very current and very up to date. It really illustrates what's been going on the last couple of years."
Idea born Mrs. Amori initially got the idea for the book while watching Oprah Winfrey and her best friend, Gayle King, make a stopover in Danville during their much-ballyhooed cross-country road trip last year. From that, Mrs. Amori decided to send some of her NEPA-themed photos to Ms. Winfrey, then wait to see if she got a response. Before sending the pictures off, she converted them into book form using the Web site photoworks.com.
"I never heard a word from (Oprah)," Mrs. Amori said. "In retrospect, (the book) really wasn t that good. But I wasn t deterred."
After several more revisions, she sent the photos to Tribute Books, which has put out a number of self-published locally themed books during the last couple of years. She worked closely with Ms. Langan to produce a handsome coffee-table book, with the photos printed on glossy paper with a simple black background. Each photo comes with a brief caption.
"I was impressed with Alyssa's very go-to-it spirit," Ms. Langan said. "She's really taking the step to something to help other people. To me, that's what really stuck out."
Plus, Ms. Langan added, "Her work is pretty amazing. I was quite impressed with it."
The end product, Mrs. Amori believes, is something the troops will appreciate until getting the chance to see the real thing again.
"This has to have some memory for them," she said. "It has to bring them back to here. Nobody's going to take these pictures and send them to them."
Meet Alyssa Amori
Residence: South Scranton
Family: She is the wife of David J. Amori Jr. She has a daughter, Kara A. Amori, a stepdaughter, Kristen Gatto, and a stepson, David Amori. She has four grandchildren Louis Krappa, Amelia Amori, Lauren and Megan Gatto. She also has two dogs, Daisy and Brandy, and a turtle, Jenny. She is the daughter of the late Elma Viola Baron and Dr. Frank Halstead, and has two sisters, Patricia Baron and Bobbie Kalbaugh.
Occupation: Certified pharmacy technician at Moses Taylor Hospital.
Hobbies: Seeing our grandchildren, golf, watching sports (she's an avid fan of the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and Tiger Woods) and taking photographs. Her first book of photos,
Scranton: The Electric City, will be released in the coming weeks by Eynon-based Tribute Books.
Know a soldier?
Those interested in helping Alyssa Amori get her book of photographs, Scranton: The Electric City, into the hands of area soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan can contact her at 570-969-6029 or email: damori3@comcast.net --Scranton Times-Tribune, July 15, 2007
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