“Encyclopedia of Rainbows” is a dazzling book for anyone who can’t pick a favorite color
On a marble background, a rainbow assortment of carefully cut cheeses come together in a circle. The texture of each drool-worthy slice is captured gorgeously — the shine of a bright red slice next to a yellow piece with a bumpier surface. It’s hard not to instantly crave a snack when looking at the perfectly arranged photograph, each cheese slice more alluring than the next.
This is the magic that takes place in Encyclopedia of Rainbows, a visually stunning book that pays homage to the rainbow – in all its forms. As she explains in the book, Julia Seabrook Ream always felt like she couldn’t pick ONE favorite color. Her rainbow-filled photos are an appreciation of all colors and all shades.
Flipping through the pages of the book is like seeing the world anew, with rainbow-colored glasses. Even the most common objects suddenly seem that much more interesting and gorgeous thanks to the thoughtful way Ream arranges each scene.
It all started with one project. Ream decided to gather her Prismacolor Pencils and arrange them into a rainbow. She did the same with other objects and started sharing them on social media, where they took off.
Soon, she started looking all around her for inspiration.
"When I exhausted the possibilities from my own domain, I turned to my parents, two avid collectors, and raided my father's collections of toy trains, license plates, and miniature VW buses," Ream writes in an email to HelloGiggles. "My mom's sewing room yielded colorful skeins of yarn, buttons, thread spools, and she even made the quilt squares you see in the book. A friend of the family brought over an old collection of beer cans in a plastic garbage bag. Another friend suggested colorful soda bottles."
But finding more objects to use meant picking up a few skills along the way, too.
“I made a very strange trip to the bank to request paper money from a dozen or so different countries. I learned how to taxidermy butterflies. I found all the best places to order colorful macarons. I tracked down a local farmer that just happened to grow every hue of pumpkin and squash imaginable. I planted new and colorful flowers in my garden.”
Encyclopedia of Rainbows is a reminder to stay curious: To think about the natural colors we might find in nature, the objects we might be overlooking. And to consider what we can create when we bring all of these together.
Encyclopedia of Rainbows is available here.
