October brings cooler temperatures, crisp skies and the return of Rome’s annual Chiaha Harvest Fair, which will be held Oct. 22 and 23, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Ridge Ferry Park.

This year, Shorter University’s Department of English, Modern Languages, and Liberal Arts will be among the vendors, selling photography by Assistant Professor of French and English Dr. Fabrice Poussin.

The proceeds of the sale will be used to help fund the publication of The Chimes literary magazine and student awards, as well as other projects of the department.

About 220 of the photographs are from a new series created this summer called ‘Frozen Summer.’ Those photos are part of the approximately 2,000 prints that will be available, featuring photographs of the Shorter campus and the City of Rome, as well as others taken in France, England, and the Eastern and Southwestern United States. Double-matted prints will be available in 8×10 and 11×14 sizes, in addition to loose 8x10s, 11x14s, and 16x20s.

“We are grateful to Dr. Poussin for his continued support in donating so much of his time and his beautiful work for the benefit of our department,” said Dr. Angie O’Neal, who holds the Joan Alden Speidel Chair in English and serves as associate professor of English and chair of the Department of English, Modern Languages, and Liberal Arts. “Without this kind of fundraising, we’d have a much harder time funding special projects for our students, such as bringing writers with a national reputation to our campus as well as providing student awards. Long-term, we’d love to provide substantial study abroad scholarships. We are excited to serve our students with events like this and to see God’s faithfulness in action!”

Dr. Poussin is well respected as both a photographer and a writer. During the 2015-16 academic year, he and the English department organized two fundraising events using his photography, which also spurred him on to begin publishing his photography. Dr. Poussin has had photos published in 96 magazines and 45 poems in 28 magazines. In addition to appearing in The Chimes, Dr. Poussin’s work was accepted by Kestrel, The San Pedro River Review, The Front Porch Review, Foliate Oak Magazine, Ancient Paths Magazine, Eskimo Pie Literary Review, The Stray Branch Literary Magazine, Gnarled Oak Magazine, Five on the Fifth, and more. In addition, some of his poems appear in an anthology named Secrets and Dreams, published by Kind of a Hurricane Press.

Having developed an interest in both photography and writing at the age of 14 when he purchased his first 35mm camera, Dr. Poussin now owns an arsenal of cameras from Cannon to Leica, Rolleiflex to Sinar and works outdoors and in the studio to produce as broad an array of images as possible.

“Mostly I look for the details, the unusual: rust on a nail, chipped paint on a window sill, a leaf in a water fall, ready-made still lives, sunsets, dunes, sunrises,” he said.

Having traveled in nearly 20 countries on four continents, on top of train cars, in a hot air balloon, and in an ultra-light airplane, Dr. Poussin said he has captured some images not every photographer can make. “My goal is simple, to bring something new to the eye of the viewer, something he cannot see, does not have time to see, or missed on his own. Perhaps, the viewer will learn to slow down and look for those details.”

A native of France, Dr. Poussin moved to the United States to pursue his studies at Rutgers University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in history, a Master of Arts in French literature, and a Doctor of Philosophy in French literature, specifically writing on 19^th century Baudelaire’s “The Flowers of Evil.”