Local Photographer Brings Past, Present Together In New Book

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JAMESTOWN – Success of a new photography book was celebrated Thursday night in Jamestown, with those who penned the publication donating proceeds to two local charities.

Newly published illustrator, Cathy Panebianco, joined supporters of her book, “Holding Time” at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts.

“A lot of the books that were sold are definitely local people, and people I know, which is so heartwarming to me that people cared enough. I think also giving back to the community also helped,” said Panebianco.

The photographer says her inspiration came from a long-time family tradition.

“My dad took slides in the 1950s and 60s, and he used to drag these slides around to every holiday we had as a family,” Panebianco continued. “Pull them out and everyone would get around in their jammies and popcorn and listen to stories about the family.”

Using her iphone, Panebianco snapped pictures of her father’s slides lined up in a modern-day scene, allowing the past and present to come together.

” I look at it more like fragments of time and memories. It’s definitely a story and if you see the book itself the author Irene,” Panebianco furthered. “She took my images and wove it together into some sort of story, so it’s like somebody looking back on their life.”

The limited edition features only 500 copies, with proceeds benefiting the Chautauqua County Humane Society and Infinity Visual & Performing Arts.

“When you deal with as many animals as we do, or have as much need from the public for things like our pet pantry, different clinics that we do three thousand dollars goes a long way,” explained Senior Programs Director Brian Papalia. “If you look on our website chq humane.org, you look at the dog photos most of them are her photos, and to have somebody of her quality and talent as a photographer doing our photos, you can’t ask for more than that.”