Laura Pacter/Special to ETC

Joel Gewirtz of Marco Island shows off some of his works in his new coffee table book, to be published in 2009. His first photo book features Marco Island landscapes and scenes.

Laura Pacter/Special to ETC

Joel Gewirtz looks at some of his photos from his book. His next photo book will feature sites and locales of Naples.

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Awe inspiring photographs and art grace the walls of Joel and Judy Gewirtz’s second floor office on Marco Island.

As a C.P.A. for more than 25 years, Gewirtz’s career in accounting is a situational irony compared to his role as a photographer and publisher of his coffee table books. Amassing beautiful scenes and zooming in on luxurious locales with his camera, Gewirtz successfully sold over 2,300 copies of his first photo books back in 2002.

Now, Gewirtz is ready to begin the process all over again, with his upcoming publication of a Naples book that he hopes to finish in 2009.

“I started out with a Brownie Hawkeye camera back in the dark ages,” Gewirtz says with a laugh as he reflects on his first Kodak camera, his love affair with photography, and framing up scenes.

As a teenager growing up in the Bronx of New York City, Gewirtz discovered captivating sights on the streets of New York City on a daily basis.

His hobby has stayed with him for over forty years, the past twenty-six on Marco Island. Visitors to Gewirtz’s office gallery will find photos of bustling scenes of New York City, combined with his photos of tranquil settings of Marco Island and Naples.

“I started taking pictures of things that were pretty for a Chamber of Commerce promotion. The first book came about because the Chamber wanted it, but it didn’t work out. But I was committed to the project.”

His commitment shows as his large scale photo book found its way to bookstores on Marco Island, to Hallmark Shops, and was presented by real estate agents to clients on Marco Island for years following its launch.

Although Gewirtz’s photos have a masterful quality, he does not cite any particular influence to his work. In fact, some of his photos were taken while he was just walking by a serene scene, and he admits some spots are purely accidental as he walked by and captured a moment.

“You plod, you walk this street, and that. It’s a grid. Where haven’t I been?” he thinks out loud of the picturesque spots he captured in Naples for his upcoming coffee table publication.

“I also prefer the shoreline of Marco Island because it covers so much, and there’s the beach, and canals here,” Gewirtz adds of some of the spots he returns to for a perfectly captured scene.

After flipping through pages of Gewirtz’s upcoming preview photo collection of Naples, a bronze sculpture of three children pops from the pages.

“I took this photo behind NCH in Naples,” he says of the three children walking through a peaceful setting for visitors and patients to treasure, while waiting outside on the hospital’s grounds.

The Naples Depot, playgrounds, Naples vibrant spring blooms, and sunsets, are just some of the many photos that Gewirtz grouped together for his next book.

“I only go to my areas once. I’ve walked the pier, the beach area, Gulfshore, Fifth Avenue, Third Street, and the waterfront of Naples,” he explains of his technique. “For the good colors, I’ll go out early in the morning or late afternoon.”

“My inspiration is what I see. My talent is framing. None of these are cropped, so what you see is what you get,” he says as he thumbs through his latest book, where he faces the task of narrowing down the photos from over 200 to a mere 116 to fit the book size.

Plus, he’s looking for the right printer, too.

“I’ll have a hundred or so sponsors for the pages, and there will be distributors involved,” adds Gewirtz of the project that will become a reality in 2009.

Gewirtz also passed his creative spirit on to his son Matthew, the youngest of Judy and Joel’s three children who is now 32 years old.

Matthew is a financial analyst in Tampa, but balances his time with drawing and designing semi-wooden shapes and names, using a hand saw and lots of ingenuity. Matthew’s art sits side-by-side next to his father’s collection of photos on the walls of Gewirtz’s office.

Individualized names are already cut out and ready for sale, or if a client wants a particular name, Gewirtz makes a special order up for his son.

“He drew them, and he cut them out with a hand saw,” says Gewirtz looking proudly at his son’s work. “Then he got into the clock thing,” as he points to another geometric shape on the wall that is a treasured timepiece.

Gewirtz unfolds a letter from his son for Father’s Day of last year, and shares an excerpt from it, “I owe a lot of me to you. You’ve given me that freedom and that confidence to think what I want to think. I can’t tell you what being a free thinker means to me. For that I want to say thank you.”

Gewirtz quietly folds up the letter, and carefully places it back into a plastic sleeve to glance at it during his busy accounting days during tax season, and to reflect on his greatest creative accomplishment of all, his family.

To learn more about Joel Gewirtz’s upcoming photo collection of Naples, e-mail him at walkmarco@aol.com.