About
About Us
. . It is through the mundane that we encounter the exceptional,
beginning with the world around us, and leading inevitably back
to the home-spot within . . .
Educated and still performing as a musician and oboist, Franck Avril turned his passion for Nature and for color into his photography. The result is EverydayJourney.net, stemming from the belief that beauty surrounds us in all forms, always close at hand. His work encompasses 35mm slide film as well as digital photography, with a range of subject matter from birds to butterflies, to large landscapes, and with a penchant for floral photography (including floral macro-photography). He believes that while the best camera in the world is a person’s eyes and soul, that it is the responsibility of the photographer to capture as much of the essence of the subject, and to stir in the viewer an animated response to the beauty of life and its many forms.
A member of the American Dahlia Society, Franck began photographing dahlias in earnest in very early August 2004. Three weeks later, he garnished first and second place (photography division) at the ADS California Show, and received three more awards at the ADS National Show held in Seattle a few weeks later (in both the Single Bloom and the Macro divisions). Since then, he has had his various flower photography displayed at the 2005 and the 2008 American Daffodil Society conventions, the 2005 American Iris Society Convention; Schreiner’s Iris Gardens in Salem (OR); and at the Oregon Flower Growers Association (Portland, OR). Complementing his floral exhibits have been 3 awards in the Hawk Conservancy Trust’s photography contest (Andover, Hampshire UK), in both the Visually Pleasing and in the Technical categories.
In 2005, Franck received the DSC’s Best in Show and Best Single Variety photo awards, as well as the Best Flora & Fauna. In March 2006, he received 10 awards in the ADS 2005 National Photo Contest, including 5 First Prizes and Best Photo. The ensuing year, he received another 7 awards in the ADS Photo Contest, including Best Photograph of the Year. In 2009, Franck was appointed Photography Chair for the ADS 2011 National Show. Concurrently, he was selected by juried competition to present a 3-month solo exhibit Dahlias! in 2011 at the Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture at Golden Gate Park.
Still maintaining his love for music (see below) , Franck served seven years as Program and Operations Director for Chamber Music Northwest, in Portland, OR, as well as Artistic Administrator for La Jolla Music Society. He now resides in the Rio Verde Foothills adjacent to the Tonto National Forest while working in the greater Phoenix-Scottsdale area.
About our products:
Actual photographic prints – unmounted else mounted on custom-made acid-free boards – are available through this website, EverydayJourney.net, in a variety of sizes ranging from 5 x 7’s to 13 x 19’s. When mounted, 13 x 19’s have a finished size of 18 x 24; 8 x 10’s and 6 x 9’s typically are set on 11 x 14 boards. Kindly contact us for any special photograph dimensions and / or individual projects which you may have in-mind should these not fit your needs.We offer A2 and A7-sized individual photocards as well, plus several different boxed sets. Each set contains 8 individual photo-cards and envelopes per box; each A2 card folds to 4¼” x 5½” (see our Products section). Contents of our boxed sets can be customized. We offer discount to re-sellers, retailers, and members of Dahlia, Daffodil and Iris societies.
Our website contains our entire selection including our photographs of Schreiner’s Irises, Dan’s Dahlias, the Oregon Zoo butterfly exhibit; and other Nature photographs; plus selections from our other work in Photography. When ordering, please note that each medium – photographic print, Giclé print, four-color print, inkjet print, matte or glossy finish, as well as the choice of matting and any protective glass / plexiglass – will result in slight luminosity and even in slight color shifts that are natural to each medium.
Thank you for your interest and purchase; we hope that you will visit us often,
Franck (Avril)
Of further interest about the photographer (musical background):
Oboist Franck Avril has given over 50 solo recitals across the United States, with additional appearances in Europe. A winner of Concert Artists Guild and Bronze Medalist at the 1977 Geneva International Competition, he was the first oboist to ever be selected by Young Concert Artists, and subsequently became the first oboist ever chosen by Affiliate Artists. In solo recital, he has appeared at New-York’s Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, Merkin Hall, Town Hall, and at the Guggenheim Museum. Additional recitals include those at Boston’s Gardner Museum, the Norton Gallery of Art in West Palm Beach (FL), Urbana-Champaign's Krannert Center; as well as a solo recital at the IDRS 25th-Anniversary Conference in Tallahassee (FL). Concerto appearances have taken him to major halls in New-York City, as well as to those of Atlanta, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Seattle, Flagstaff, Green Bay, Newport (RI), Westmoreland (PA), and the Brevard (NC) Music Center.
His numerous residencies throughout the U. S. have been underwritten by the foundations of Exxon, Citibank, Merrill-Lynch, Bristol-Meyers, John Deere, G.E., Alcoa, and the NEA, with sites including the Southeast Alaska School District, Lower Manhattan Settlement projects, Buffalo’s Inner City Schools and Seattle’s Alternative Schools, in addition to major campuses including those of Ohio State, Iowa State, William & Mary, Montana State, San Diego State, Arizona State, and Stanford University.
He has appeared as Artist-panelist on Dialogues with the New York Philharmonic hosted by Edward Downes; thrice on Robert Sherman’s The Listening Room (WQXR-FM, NYC); on WNCN-FM’s Rising Star Showcase (NYC); and in his own hour-long Public Television show on NYC's Westinghouse Group-W TV. A speaker at two of New York City then-Mayor Ed Koch's Arts Fundraisers, he served as both performer and panelist in YCA’s First Career Development for Young Artists Symposium at the University of Maryland - College Park; and was both a presenter and a panelist at Nora Post 's Oboe Blow-Out II in Portland, OR .
Mr. Avril’s chamber music collaborations include those with the Vermeer, Rowe, Colorado and Philadelphia string quartets, the Garth Newel (VA) Chamber Players, the San Francisco Chamber Soloists, New-York's Harmonie Wind Ensemble, and the Sylvan, Aspen, and Soni Ventorum wind quintets; and with his own mixed-chamber group Die Serenade (soprano, oboe, viola, cello, and keyboard). He has appeared at the festivals of Sceaux (France), Mostly Mozart, Summerfest, Cape and Islands, Marzena's Pacific Rim Festival of Contemporary Music, Pepsico's Summerfare, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and Chamber Music Northwest. A frequent collaborator, he has also appeared in joint recitals and chamber music with such performers as violinists Stephanie Chase, Daniel Phillips and Sidney Harth; violists Marcus Thompson and Toby Appel; cellist Ronald Thomas; pianists Christopher O’Riley, Samuel Sanders, David Golub and Margo Garrett; sopranos Anne Monoyos, Lucy Shelton and Beverly Hoch; clarinetist David Shifrin; flutists Linda Chesis and Gary Shocker; and fellow oboists Allan Vogel, Stephen Taylor and Alex Klein.
Orchestrally, Mr. Avril has held the post of Principal Oboe with the Long Island Philharmonic, the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, the Northwest Sinfonietta, and Marin Alsop’s Concordia – of which he was a founding member – and has served two summer seasons with the New York City Opera. He has also played first oboe and English Horn for regional tours of Garrison Keillor and of Victor Borge, as well as for tours of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Loren Maazell, the Greg Smith Singers, A Chorus Line, Camelot, and Cabaret. He can be heard in commercially-released recordings of the Seattle Symphony, NZSO (while co-finalist for the Principal Cor Anglais position), the Bach Aria Group Festival, and the Northwest Chamber Orchestra. His work in the Bay area has included the Golden Gate Opera, Berkeley Pocket Opera, the symphonies of Berkeley, Monterey, Modesto, Stockton and Sacramento, and the Santa Rosa Chorale.
Mr. Avril holds degrees from Yale University, where he studied with the eminent Robert Bloom, and from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Robert Sprenkle. Previously a full-time member of the faculty of three major Universities, he has maintained his own private teaching studio since 1976. His students have gone on to successfully complete their graduate studies at Northwestern University with Ray Still (former Principal Oboe of the Chicago Symphony); at the Eastman School of Music with Richard Killmer; at the University of North Texas; the University of Maryland at College Park; and at the University of Vienna. Several have won national recognition by being top-prize winners in the competitions of the American Symphony Orchestra League, of the American Federation of Music Clubs, the Fischoff Competition, and the American Honors Orchestra.
REVIEWS:
Brilliant ... played with intensity and imagination, giving the piece shape, vitality and considerable interest.
The Washington Post
The power of nature, of love, and of music bound together in an experience that transcended the limits of time and space ... Art has nothing greater to offer us.
The Southampton Press, (L.I.)
Outstanding ... a consummate artist... a charming and relaxed performer.
ACUCAA Events Report.
... a fluent performer with a cultivated tone . In addition to being a skilled technician, he is an imaginative interpreter with a lively ability to shape and personalize a phrase.
The New York Times.