A Visit

Springfield Art Guild has their annual show @ Greenspring Gardens in NoVa this month. Guess where I was. I have 3 pieces there. I thought it was cool that a photographer received BIS for a change (not me, though). I guess I could feel bad/sad/mad but accolades are not really that important to me. If my wife likes it and I like it, that is just fine by me. What does frost my goat is when a piece wins that is simply crap (not in this case, btw). Just what IS the criteria for art judging ? Is it like baseball or football where blindness is a prerequisite and cranial-rectal inversion an asset ? Or more like basketball, where it is who you are and not what you do ? Read a story on the interwebs that a gentleman called a gallery hosting an international art show and asked the employee(s) to collect the trash left behind from the unboxing of the other entrants and put it in a pile with tape around the border. That would be his entry !!! You bet your last dollar he won first prize and several thousand $$$ for it. So I don't really get angry or sad at not winning. I am far more concerned with getting better at photography in my own mind and having fun with it.

It is becoming apparent that I still have an intense love for photographing plant life. It provides so much opportunity to explore color, lighting, and composition. I threw in a black & white for texture and form to see if anyone noticed. The bottom one is one of my favorites from the day.

I am thinking about a "photography excursion" in October where me and a couple of other photogs find a place one Sat or Sun to go shooting together and have some coffee or lunch or something to talk shop or whatever. Kinda like "real" artists ; ) No pressure, just out and about in a positive and supportive artistic environment for a few hours. Let me know here or via email if you are interested. I would like to do this maybe once a month, maybe not. Who knows ? Let's do one and find out, shall we ?

R

Gee, Photos.....Really ? What a surprise...

So, after a while you just have to say,"Quit it !" and go do something fun. Enough with the mind games and have to's and jackassery and all this crap we all deal with on a daily basis. Whatever that fun thing is that you like to do, go do it. I turn off my phone and grab a camera and go for a walk with my wife. Whether I take pictures or not is irrelevant. What IS relevant is that I am sequestered from the shenanigans (thanks Norma !) and can just be. I even have a place I can walk to right across the street. These photos are representative of my escape.

Anyway, I have become addicted, ADDICTED, I SAY !! to Art Wolfe's "Travels to the Edge." artwolfe.com.......I have supped the kool-aid and am a believer. Worth it for the enthusiasm and the attention to what is important and the subtle lessons on photography. He just seems to have so much freakin fun doing what he does and I want that too. So, I go for A WALK, take pictures and leave no trace behind.

The spots on the photos are bugs and sticks and stuff that floats in the lake I walk around. Living in Virginia, these things are a fact of life on our man-made lakes. I like them for the subtle colors and composition. If you would like, YOU can photoshop the hell out of them. Not this kid. I know what it looks like and it is cool by me. I have the mosquito bites to prove it.

Anyway, go do something FUN...... For YOU....... You need to before you can't.

Love
Purpose
Peace