I had a few people ask if I would do another calendar for 2021. I’m going to give that a go this year again, I’ll be doing these as a print on demand this go round. I’ll price them and mark them down on “sale” and leave the shipping price intact. I’ve been left holding the bag on a couple before and it ends up costing me money, this just seems like the way to go. I really appreciate the interest and am happy to make one available.
I've Finally Listed Some Prints for Sale.
I’ve dabbled here and there with posting prints here and there on other sites for sale, but I’d really just rather be completely responsible for everything myself. Well, excluding if a gallery wants to represent me, but I have not made any attempt to pursue that as of yet and none of reach out to me.
There are some things that are hard for me and putting my work out there to be judged in a show or exhibition is right there at the top. Selling prints is neck and neck with that. Several reasons exist, but let me just leave it at it was hard. Most of the images I have listed are either WAY up high on my list of favorite photographs, or were part of exhibitions I have been included in, or in some rare cases both.
Please give them a look and if anything really speaks to you consider ordering it.
Thanks,
Back in a Couple of Exhibitions Soon
I have had a pretty good track record of getting in a show or two a year over the last few years. This year started out slow but I have struck gold finally again. I’ll be getting prints ready for two shows later in the summer. The first is the Knoxville Photo National Juried Exhibition. It is an annual show at the The Emporium Arts Center. I’ve been in a few shows there and always enjoy going back. I have been trying to stretch past bugs and landscapes and one of my street photography images was selected in the Human Experience category.
I’m also keeping up my streak of inclusion in the Huntsville Photographic Society’s annual exhibition in the Huntsville Museum of Art. This show opens on August 25th. The museum continued with picking a theme for the exhibition and this year it is chiaroscuro. I did my best to select a wide range of shots to fit the topic and one of my odder macro subjects was selected.
Book Exchange Idea
I've made a couple of really good internet friendships via Instagram and Facebook. I've also got some people who I share a mutual admiration of work (art) with on several platforms. This post is geared mainly at those people, but hell if anyone else wants to join in I am all for that!
Back in the days before the internet people would share things called Zines. The short description of a Zine is a self-published work with a small circulation of "subscribers". It was usually put together by a single person or a few friends and then xeroxed or mimeographed and mailed to the subscribers. These are still produced and some of them are amazing works of art themselves. Check out some of the photography zines Ted Forbes shares on his YouTube channel The Art of Photography.
Now we get to my idea. First, I'm a fan of printing my photos. Something like getting them in your hand, hanging them on the wall or even better having someone else want to hang it on their wall. I've tried a couple of online printing services and have had a couple of excellent printers that I use at home. I daydream about creating some handmade books for myself of my prints, but that is something for a different post. For the purpose of this experiment I'd like to do a limited test of a book exchange. maybe up to 6 people or so who are willing to join in. You'll see why initially I want to limit participation and if there is a lot of enthusiasm for expansion I can be convinced...
One of the companies I've used to print is Artifact Uprising. They periodically offer promos for free small format prints and I've taken advantage of those as well as ordered some that I paid for. They also have a small format book (soft or hardcover) called Volumes. The books are 6.5 x 6.5" and have 50 images printed front and back plus the covers. I'll toss in the usual disclaimer here. I am not getting paid to push their product and they aren't giving me anything free. That is up to the people who decide to join in on this project with me. What I'd like to do is a book exchange with a few folks.
I've already printed my first volume and am close to curating the images for volume 2. I'm willing to print another copy of volume 1 and swap it with anyone (of the initial limited folks) who will print a volume of their work and ship it to me. I was inspired to go with this format by a couple of series of books published by Aperture and Phaidon. Both are smaller format and yet the quality of the work is not really diminished. Both are photo heavy and text light. I'll post examples of everything below.
Aperture has a series called Aperture Masters of Photography. I picked up copies of volume 1 and 6 recently. They are 8x8" and 95 or so pages printed on just one side. Just the images without text and then followed by an index with details for the images at the end of the book. The series is called Phaiden 55 and goes a little further afield than the Aperture series. Phaidon's series is a smaller format. 6x6" Pages are not numbered and I can't be bothered to count, but feels like around 100 pages or so also. These books all have a small introduction and each facing page includes text related to the image to the right.
Artifact Uprising Volumes fit with this format and are priced at $24.95 including shipping. I'm very happy with the quality and would love to get this ball rolling. I've got one person who is on board and if that is as far as it goes I'll call it a success. A brief explanation of how volumes work. You install the Artifact Uprising app on your phone, create an account and use an album on your phone to place the photos you want to include in the book. Once you reach 50 photos you are ready to go. They have two versions of the book available. The cheaper, softcover version is what I propose we go with. When you hit 50 the app lets you order the photos so you can organize (or not) the final output. You pull the trigger in the app, they charge you, print and ship. I'll be getting the books shipped to me and then shipping them to whoever wants to swap with whatever else I feel like tossing in the package.
There it is, message me on Instagram or Facebook if you are interested.
Return to Short Springs
A couple of years ago I basically stuck a pin in a map and headed up to Short Springs Natural Area in Tennessee from Huntsville. That lead to me taking what so far has been my best photo of a waterfall to date.
I was already near there so took a friend to the trails to check things out since the weather was really great this past weekend. I was not the only one with this idea as there were quite a few folks wandering the trails and the waterfall areas. I opted for plants and animals instead.
Fungus Time
This time of year if the weather cooperates then my yard bursts with various blooms of fungus. It has been a pretty exceptional crop this year.
Fort Morgan
I spent last week working at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Our group stayed in Gulfport which is further east, so a quick trip to New Orleans was not possible. I started searching for possible places to visit on the drive back to Huntsville Friday and settled on Fort Morgan. I'm sure I've seen shots from here before so wanted to try my hand at some interiors and I new I could find some rust as well. The weather was not great, so exterior shots were not that interesting, but I also did not have a full day to explore the place either.
Based on my shots I did get, it warrants a return trip.
Stone Door
I'm still sorting out how I want to collect my thoughts on Iceland. That doesn't mean I am not getting out with the camera here in the states when I can. We are having a very strange fall season this year. I went for a hike in Tennessee hoping to see some fall color and did get a little taste of it, however the exceptionally dry and warm weather has the leaves pretty hard to predict and catch.
It was a great day for hike, a little warm, but really a good day. Stone Door is a trail in the Savage Gulf Natural Area near Beersheba Springs, TN. The parking lot was full and there were lots of scouts and some adults working on their rope skills. As I walked back out after hanging out for a bit a wedding party was making their way in for a ceremony. I felt kind of bad for the bride hiking a mile in to get married in her dress in mid 80's weather.
One bonus to the weather being warmer though. The spiders are holding on a bit longer this year.
Backyard Winding Down
I've never been much of a gardener or landscaper. My backyard is rough at best, however a couple of years ago I had 3 of the oak trees taken down. I cut them up myself and turned the logs into some beds for vegetables and flowers. These have worked quite well and while the yard is still shaded, some things have grown well.
Fall is finally starting to make it presence known, so the insect visitors are getting less frequent. Yesterday was a slightly cooler day over night and it seemed to spark a last flurry of activity from the bees and wasps.
Time For a Fresh Start
I've recently updated my hosting and moved the site. After many many years building a site with Wordpress, I decided to try something just a little lower maintenance and give SquareSpace a try. I loved Wordpress and loved tinkering with it, but I just don't have the time anymore and was wanting a fresh look.
I doubt I'll be any more prolific with blog posts, however I will try to at least get a post a week up. No planned focus, but photography is my main interest so expect things to lean that way.
