Art Squared in Arbus Magazine

Today the Nov/Dec issue of Arbus Magazine was released with a six page spread of my photographs from the Imagination Squared exhibit. I'm a little bit blown away. It seems like such a long time ago when we were all consumed with this incredible collaborative art project. When all your creative energies are focused with like-minded people, things just happen. Wow, sorta like running a marathon for the first time, and then you ask, "what's next?" I have some loose ends to tie up on the project and my goal is to write a short book documenting the process and key events. I don't want the genius of what happened to be lost. We are a society hungry for the next big thing, and the past big things can easily vanish. The inspiration of Imagination Squared for other cities and artist groups needs preservation and dissemination. I hope to be a part of that too.

I would like to thank Cinda Sherman the publisher and CEO of Arbus Magazine. She approached me soon after the exhibit with the idea of a photo essay of my best images and just left it at that.  Cinda is a visionary who "gets it" for the city and the arts community. From her tireless efforts comes a remarkable, high quality publication that supports and promotes the arts in our city. Arbus is distributed for free and paid through advertisers, a tough business model to negotiate. Bravo to Cinda and all the advertisers in Arbus.

You can experience the photographs in the Arbus spread at an exhibition in the Southlight Gallery on Forsyth and Laura. I'll be ready with everything on November 3 the night of Art Walk. Drop by to see these and some other memorable moments, and then head on down to MOCA to view the exhibit which comes down on November 14. Hope to see you soon!

The hi-res version of the article can be viewed at the Arbus website here.

I'm the photographer at my daughter's wedding

My daughter got married last weekend and I was the photographer. I wasn't “A” photographer, I was THE photographer. When I got into this business it never crossed my mind that one day my daughter would get married and that she would need a photographer and that would be me. No doubt, it was a great honor and I was glad to do it, but it does put a bit of pressure on you at a time when you are emotionally vulnerable. The service was very small and delightful, and the priest happened to be the groom's mother. As my daughter put it to me, "It's a working wedding dad, everyone has a job to do!" I guess this is the new trend in modern weddings, it works for me and was easy on the pocketbook.

The shoot was challenging because of the lighting conditions. The ceremony was held at the family's lake house at around one in the afternoon, the back yard was partially shaded by a big maple tree with bright orange leaves. We shot with off camera flash in a small softbox for most of the day, which worked quite well except for that "edgy, contrasty" look that I wanted to minimize for the final shots. I decided to go without flash for most of the ceremony only to avoid the annoyance factor of the flash. The bright background of the lake made for underexposed faces which had to be rescued with the Fill slider in Lightroom (thank goodness for that). Next time a small amount of fill flash would be perfect, I'll remember for my son's wedding in a few years. Indoors I was plagued with plenty of natural light and lots of incandescent. So the choice was orange or blue background light and a funny mix in between. Oh the joys of white balance!

At the end of the day I renewed my vows of never doing another wedding...that is until someone special asks :)

Our new family

Diana and Dave and the beautiful tree

The new couple

The ceremony with Donald and Sophie on the sidelines

Group shot

A special moment

The artist as hero

"I think I witnessed some young lives being changed" I told Mr. Ramos, visual arts instructor at Arlington Heights Elementary School. We had just finished a session with Alexandre Renoir (great grandson of Pierre-Auguste Renoir) and 30 students in the Cathedral Arts Project, a non-profit organization bringing art resources to under-priveleged children in schools. I love to see children being inspired, especially through the arts. It's rare to witness the transformation from casual interest to participation and then to emotional commitment. One can always see the effect clearly with children who expose their feelings and opinions openly. The Cathedral Arts Project has many ongoing programs with local schools throughout the area. Through the efforts of Jen Jones and the RRoberts Gallery, Alexandre was in Jacksonville for a week doing special openings and giving lectures about his work and the work of other Impressionists artists. What opportunity it was for such a renown artist to visit and paint with the children. He was a rock star!

So often we forget how impressionable children are, and that they need to be inspired each day just as we seek inspiration from others. You don't have to be in sports or movies to connect to children. Artists can fill that role too.

Stories told about growing up

Lots of questions

Painting with the children

Future artists having fun

Encouragement

Some advice at the end

Imagination Squared! Poster, Prints, and Photos

Sorry, the links in this post no longer work. Please contact the studio for information about prints and posters.

MOCA group shot

Information about the group photo download and for purchasing the exhibition poster and prints is provided on a sheet in your artist goodie bag that you received at the opening. In case you lost it or did not pick up your goodies yet, here is a downloadable copy: IS Poster and Print Info The group photo can be downloaded here. I also included some other shots that may be of interest. You can download off the site and the file should have sufficient resolution to produce a 5x7 print. If you need anything bigger let me know.

12x36 Imagination Squared poster

The 12x36 poster pictured above contains 900 squares. I'm really sorry if your square was not included but we got everyone who turned theirs in on time :). If you really, really want a poster with your square, I'll do a custom one for you...just email me and I'll see what I can do.

Imagination Squared Poster 1

Imagination Squared Poster 3

Imagination Squared Poster 2

Imagination Squared Poster 4

Each of the 4 - 24x24 prints contains 225 squares. These are printed on Enhanced Matte paper on my Epson 9900 and show the detail of each square. If you want to know which of the four posters contains your square, look on the back of your nametag for the number, or email me with your name and I will let you know. These are fine art prints and are produced to archival standards, so they will last years. We've also arranged to have posters and prints matted and framed by R. Roberts Gallery in Avondale for an extraordinary price. Details can be found on the downloadable info sheet mentioned above.

What if you gave a party and 4000 people showed up?

Last night Imagination Squared! was unveiled to a crowd of almost 4000 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Jacksonville. A culmination of 6 months work, and the participation of 910 artists (and would-be artists) from all around Jacksonville. It is perhaps the most significant cultural event to date in Jacksonville and demonstrates the creativity of two artists, the support of a core group of volunteers, and the response of a city hungry for the joy that art can provide. I am quite speechless about the turnout, and the overwhelming accolades from everyone who attended. I'm proud to say that I found myself in the middle of things towards the end of the project, when things started getting interesting. I guess the engineer in me just wanted a challenge. Congratulations to Dolf, Christina, and all the artists in Jacksonville for a job well done. And thanks to all who support the arts in Jacksonville. More details and stories to follow...

MOCA LAB Gallery Opening

On Thursday, August 5th I am having an opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (affectionately known here as MOCA). Well, sorta. I'm not actually in the museum, but in their museum store called the LAB Gallery. This is an area reserved for "emerging" local artists who need to get exposure to the public. Hey, that's me! It's a great idea. There is an application process and your work is displayed on easels in the store for a month. For more information on the program visit the MOCA website.

Exposure is an important aspect of building an artist's presence. It's part of marketing yourself and also part of engaging the public in your art. I enjoy meeting people and talking to them about photography. Nowadays, everyone is a photographer, so my work can perhaps be useful to those wanting to increase their skills or find different viewpoints.

For the exhibit I decided to gather a selection of images where the subject is water. I've been looking for the opportunity to put this together and now I have it. Throughout my travels to various national parks and gardens, I find myself often observing a body of water from a lookout point or the shore. Where water meets the land always creates an interesting situation. Two opposites meeting. Sometimes a clash, sometimes a harmonious union. I plan on maintaining this body of work and adding to it. Establishing thematic categories for your work is important. More than just keywords (plants, trees, water, etc.), a theme addresses an underlying concept behind an image and serves as a reminder to look deeper at a subject.

Displayed with each image is a small story about the making of the photograph. Sometimes the story is more interesting than the image, together they enforce each other. If you can't make the opening, please drop by to see the exhibit which runs until September 1.

Of This Earth

Here is my new body of work hanging at Southlight Gallery. This is just one group of images from our trip to Yellowstone in late May, (sorry, still working on the post). In going through all my Yellowstone pictures, I found several groups of images that were candidates for a submission. My past two exhibits have been on trees, and I had plenty of tree images to choose from, but I wanted to try something different. I enjoy showing images of things that are unique and thought provoking, so what could be more interesting that a look at details around a hot spring? (we don't have many of these here in FL).   After selecting the final images, I found that all of them came from two areas, Grand Prismatic Spring in the Midway Geyser Basin, and the Canary Spring/Minerva Terrace in Mammoth Hot Springs. Both areas were quite magical and extraordinary.

 

    

Here is my artist statement and images for the showing:

There is no place on earth like Yellowstone National park. And here you can find the largest number of geysers, hot springs, fumaroles, and mud volcanoes anywhere. These openings in the ground create other-worldly landscapes and details from a mixture of water, steam, minerals, chemicals, and the attraction of a myriad assortment of bacteria and small organisms. The patterns and textures are living, dynamic structures, changing constantly over time.

For many the beauty of Yellowstone is usually found in its wildlife, flowers, lakes, and landscapes. For me there is greater interest in what is different and unique. My fascination with these thermal features draws me into a primitive world of ages ago, when the earth was cooling, and the basic elements of the earth began to support life. Isn’t it interesting that these areas support only primitive life forms (bacteria, algae, fungi) and are hostile to others? Portraying landscapes and details emphasizing the fundamental flow patterns reveal the beauty in the structure of natural things. We seek order in our observations…nature provides it if we know where to look.

    

   

   

You'll have to drop by the gallery to see the bigger versions. The best comment from the opening was someone who asked if I was in an airplane when I took these...love it! The work should be up for at least 2 months.

Disaster in the Gulf

"How we treat our land, how we build upon it, how we act toward our air and water will in the long run tell what kind of people we really are."  - Laurance S. Rockefeller, 1965 How are you dealing with what is happening in the Gulf? Frustrated, completely disgusted, heartbroken? What will it take for things to change, how bad do things need to get? The news is continuously dismal and downright depressing. Reports of failure, inefficiency and insurmountable losses to people's lives and our environment are reported daily. It's actually hard to get through the day without a sinking feeling about the direction of our country. I think it is important for each of us to get through our veils of complacency and to do something. Not just complain or sulk, but to take action. Join groups on Facebook, write letters and emails, raise money, spread the information. I'm thinking of taking a road trip out to Pensacola so I can see for myself what crude oil looks like on a sandy beach. Sometimes reality doesn't set in until you can see, touch, and smell a situation (sorry the taste part will not be an option). For the majority of Americans, this calamity is off the radar screen and life goes on. It's hard enough to keep food on the table for some. Each individual seems to have their personal tipping point for action. I can accept that. If you are reading this, I ask that you examine your own feelings about what is happening in the Gulf and how significant it is as a indicator of what we value as a country.

On July 10, a local gallery in Jacksonville, 323 Modernism,  is holding a silent auction to benefit the Audubon Society. It is a small but important action for people to step forward to say we care. The details can be found here. I made 5 - 11x17 prints last night that I am donating to the cause. Hopefully people will turn out, buy some great art and help a worthy cause. One image that I printed for the first time is shown here. It is a sunset at Point Reyes National Seashore in West Marin, CA. It reminds me of the overpowering beauty of nature and the need for responsible stewardship of our land. To imagine these pristine shorelines covered in crude oil...well that reality is upon us in the Gulf.

Group shots using composites

Question: How do you get 40 dancers to pose and not blink for a group shot? Answer: You don't.

On Saturday evening Dorian had her dance recital. After weeks of practice, her tap group at the Mina Nelson Turning Point of Dance performed and gave a marvelous show. I was asked to take some photos of the dancers and knowing that the night of the performance would be too hectic, we opted for shooting during the dress rehearsal. The goal was to get group shots after each performance and then to composite them into one big poster of the entire dance company. This was inspired by an article in the May 2010 Professional Photographer magazine titled The Big Picture, where photographer Drake Busath provided instructions to composite large groups from smaller images. Why not try it out? BTW, Professional Photographer is one of the few magazines that I actually subscribe to, always has useful articles which you can get on their website for free.

We set up on the stage in a side area where we had a black background and wood floor. I taped off a small box on the floor for people to stand, and set up the camera on a tripod. I used two umbrellas on either side. As each group finished, we corralled them off to the side and took their photos. There wasn't a lot of precision in the posing, but I tried to make sure everyone stood in the marked area and never changed the zoom on the camera. It was quite a challenge getting everyone positioned as things needed to move along and people were not focused on getting their pictures taken. I also noticed that someone was playing with the overhead lights totally screwing up the ambient light situation. The fact that the lights were colored didn't help. I paid dearly for this when trying to merge backgrounds of different color and intensity.

 

I ended up compositing 13 different images for the final. Took me about 6 hours of meticulous blending. Is it perfect? No. But it was fun and the result pretty amazing. I added some text and made it into a 12x36 poster, printed at Costco. Just about everyone ordered one. Lessons for next time: 1) Control the ambient lighting, this was the most difficult part to deal with when blending the layers, 2) Use a seamless if possible, especially if you are going to include everyone's feet. I'm looking forward to trying this again on another project soon!

Emily's Communion

It's always a pleasure to photograph your friends and their families. Knowing someone always makes it easier to put everyone at ease (including myself), and I enjoy meeting other family members and seeing the dynamics of the members. Getting a group together for a family photo is always an event. While most people are indifferent or uncomfortable in these situations, there is always someone who instinctively knows what to do in front of the camera. I don't know if it's just intuition or an internal confidence in themselves, but connecting with these people is always a pleasure. Emily's Holy Communion day was a special event and I could sense the excitement and pride she had in achieving this milestone. It was fun to be part of her special day. She obviously, conencted witht he camera.

     

Imagination Squared

I just spent the afternoon at the studio of Dolf James, artist, designer, craftsman, and tinkerer extraordinaire, and one of the masterminds of the Imagination Squared project along with Christina Foard. Dolf was busy working on his "squares" for distribution to fellow artists. Find out more about this fascinating "creative response experiment" on their Facebook Page and website. There are over 600 5x5inch wood boxes/squares in the hands of artists throughout the area who are in the process of embellishing it with their own marks. More are being made and distributed, with no planned limit. "I'll keep making them as long as artists are asking for them!" These will be collected and integrated into a single installation - a grid of creativity. If you would like to participate, contact Dolf or Christina through their Fan Page or email at squares@imaginationsquared.com. This is a perfect example of one of the many roles artists must play in the community. To engage, excite, create, and have fun with others. I think the outcome will be more significant that anyone could have imagined. It is probably one of the first projects that is unifying all creatives in our area, bringing together many people for the sole purpose of creation. That's pretty cool!

 The process of making squares...

    

    

    

Fairytale Fashion by Diana Eng

  Our daughter Diana has been busy at the Eyebeam Art and Technology Center working on a grant for a project called Fairytale Fashion. It is a program for young girls to explore, design, and make fashions with technology embellishments, combining craft and science into a fun experience. Diana's culmination of the grant was a fashion show in New York Wednesday night where she unveiled 9 new looks, complete with glowing wires, sound sensitive LEDs, inflatable dresses, and deployable structured hoodies. Over 300 were in attendance as the event started up at the Eyebeam Atelier in Chelsea on West 21st Street. The runway was crafted by overhead lights and the music was provided by a eclectic mellow mix by a circuit bending quartet of DJs. I was one of many photographers there capturing a very special moment for Diana at her first runway show in New York.

 

 

A lot goes into putting on a show like this, and we were in New York a day early to help out and do some behind the scenes photography. The final touches were made to the garments in a lab, with as much soldering and chip programming going on as cutting, sewing, and steaming. An interesting mix of craft and technology.

   

There was hair and makeup to coordinate, final fitting of the models, and of course program debugging on the fly. Another dimension to the usual chaos of a fashion show. For a video of the show go to the Fairytale Fashsion website and the Craftzine blog. Here is an article about the show in the June 2010 issue of The Atlantic.

Beto Perez, Zumba creator, knows how to party!

Friday was an unforgettable evening in Jacksonville at the Zumba Master Class with Beto Perez. I really didn't know what to expect, except that my good friends Johanna and Gonçalo Santinho invited us to take photos at the event. Gonçalo warned me that this guy is a rock star. The hall filled with over 350 Zumba instructors from across the region, all eager to see, learn, and experience Beto's program. The place was filled with energy and enthusiasm for 2 hours as Beto lead the dancers through a series of moves, gyrations, and fun. It's always totally exciting for me to photograph excellence in motion. Trying to capture the essence of the dance and the friendship and devotion of the instructors was a big challenge.

     

Dorian held an off camera softbox on a folded up lightstand, and I had a flash on camera. I'm sure Beto was getting tired of us having a light in his face all night! Before the event we tried to circulate around to get shots of participants. It was so obvious that this group was not only fit but ready to do some serious partying! After the workshop we took pictures of those who wanted to pose with Beto. I could tell that Beto loves his fans and what he does. The depth of his smile is genuine.

My favorite shot of the evening was after the workshop when Beto was posing with his fans. He went to the corner to change out of his shirt which was soaked from his performance. A small crowd started screaming. He put on a hoodie and began to zip it up, turned to me with a big smile, pointing to his body. I got off two shots. He laughed and I showed him on the back of the camera, "got it" I told him. I made posters of this and another image from his performance.

  

For those of you who attended and looking for your photo please contact Johanna, Christine, or Ananda at Zumba in Jax for the link.

My Fogle Artist Lecture on "The Art of Seeing"

Yesterday I presented my first "official" public lecture as an artist as part of the Fogle Artist Lecture Series at the Jacksonville River Club. I was nervous about this event and questioned whether I had anything significant to say. I wanted to give attendees some insight into what photographers look for, and to provide some inspiration for aspiring photographers to look at things differently. I started off by showing some examples of my work along with a narrative about different subjects and feelings. Then I handed out a "Great Image Checklist" inspired by George Barr's post on Luminous Landscape. We used this list to review several of my images from downtown Jacksonville. Great Image Checklist 1.   Eye catching 2.   Strong composition 3.   Relatively few picture elements 4.   No elements beyond what is required 5.   Uses light and or surface reflections effectively 6.   Contains a limited color palette which contrasts or complements 7.   Has a message 8.   Leaves you wondering, while at the same time satisfying you that the image is complete 9.   Shows the unusual, the unnoticed or interesting juxtapositions 10. Tells a story or triggers memories 11. Gives you reasons to come back to the image 12. Captures a unique moment in time 13. Has something extra magical about them

I received many compliments on the lecture from friends and fellow photographers. I think I was able to provide a good introduction to myself and provide food for thought to people wanting to improve their photography. It was fun, despite the butterflies and nervousness of public speaking. I love to talk to people about my work and hopefully help others hone their interests in photography. So many people have helped me.

I also realized the importance of getting out and meeting people, especially for artists. People want to know what you have to say, and the more they know you the better chance that they may want your art to be part of their lives. I'm thankful to Fogle Fine Art for letting me kick off the series and look forward to many more presentations in the future!

A wedding lesson in the Real World School of Photography

On Saturday Dorian and I shot our first solo wedding. Yes you heard that correctly, and no, I'm not heading down this path. It was for some good friends, Steve and Lisa, and believe me Steve twisted my arm pretty hard for me to accept this project. I think "fear of weddings" ranks up there with public speaking, cold calling, and interviews with the IRS, at least for photographers. I must say that after I got over my general incompetence and equipment failures, time passed rather quickly and I had a good time. The service was wonderful and I never saw a happier bride and groom. To know that I contributed to the memories of a lovely day made it all worthwhile. So, how was the experience? Overall the feelings of being rushed were overwhelming. Weddings go according to a schedule and things just happen whether you're ready or not. And people don't wait for the photographer to fiddle and fuss with things, they want you to just do your thing while they do theirs. We arrived late (not going to get into that) about 1.5 hours before the service. The wedding was being held at a reception hall, which was more like a dark cave, with heavy drapes closing out 70% of the natural light and a "stage" about 4 ft high that the ceremony was to take place. We had scoped out the site a few weeks ago so we knew what we were dealing with. I set up 2 bounce umbrellas with speedlights at both ends of the stage and I had my on-camera speedlight. This I knew was going to be my biggest challenge, getting enough light to the stage and shooting up at a 30 degree angle.

I wanted to get some initial shots of the bride getting dressed so I was able to set up quickly, test the lights, and get over to the dressing room. There always seems to be an element of chance when using my Pocket Wizards and the speedlights. Things just happen...or don't. But my strategy was to take enough images in RAW so that I could come up with30-50 decent shots. That's all I needed. The other thing to realize is that a camera setup for indoor flash is very different from natural light shooting. With 2 bodies it's a bit mind-boggling for me to reset everything correctly when you go between the two.

For indoors I was able to toggle between a single on-camera flash and the umbrellas using the 2 Pocket Wizard channels.  Another thing to remember, and you know where my memory is going these days. It looked like everything was set up ok in the main hall, so we took some shots in the dressing area. People were arriving, so I knew this was it. The clock had started. As we finished the dressing shots the bridal party was ready to walk. I entered first to position myself for the walk in shots...ok mount the PW and speedlight, switch to C2 on the PW, turn on speedlight, switch ISO, switch to Manual, set f5.6, set 1/60, oh and don't forget the white balance, test fire PW, and here they come! First shot was dark, no firing of my on camera flash, second shot dark, so what the f* was going on? As they approached the stage I switched over to C1 to activate the umbrellas, fired the test shot, second shot...yes I had light! So I was happy until about the 4th shot things started to go dark again. It seemed like my on-camera flash was highly intermittent. All I could do was to keep shooting and hope that things fired.

   

During a slow spot in the ceremony I switched over to my body with my 70-200. I moved the PW and speedlight over and started shooting again, with about 50% of the images getting any light. The end of the ceremony was coming and I knew there were 4 money shots I had to get, the ring exchange, the kissing of the bride, the introduction of Mr. and Mrs., and the descent into the crowd. I was sweating now. The place was so dark that any attempt to do this w/o a flash was out of the question. Time to say some prayers. I switched back over to my wider lens and hoped for the best. I lucked out until the end, when the bride and groom descended down the steps, followed by the best man and the bridesmaids. Nice silhouette shots. I was upset. There is NO excuse for equipment failure or user error during an event. You must be prepared and your stuff has got to work. Shame, shame!

I wanted to do the formals inside where I knew I had control of the lighting. We reset the umbrellas near the stair and the speedlight on #1 decided not to fire. Was it the flash, the PW on the flash, the transmitter, wrong channel, interference, one or more of the above, who knows? In frustration we headed outside. It was windy, cold, and bright sun. Ok, so I had to reset the camera for outdoor, get out the diffusers and reflectors. We did a few poses with the family and then people started getting cold, so we headed back inside. I think I could have been much better prepared to shoot outdoors if this was part of the plan.

 

Back inside people were getting ready for dinner. Ah, a break for the first time. My brain was fried. And it doesn't help when your assistant (who happens to be your wife) keeps asking you why your stuff doesn't work..."well dear if I knew I would just fix it." In some stoke of genius I decided to change the batteries out of the speedlights. I had the smarts to grab a box of AAs on the way out. Residing in the speedlights were rechargeable Radio Shack AAs, you know those green batteries that take 4 hours to charge. Some of them were probably 3-4 years old. Hummm, things started to work again after the battery change.  Now why didn't I think of that before? I really worked these flash units. I mean hundreds of times in 1-2 hours. So with fresh batteries we proceeded to do the table shots with the bride and groom. Dorian held the small softbox with a speedlight, I had another speedlight on camera. 8 tables, flawless. Then we did the bride and groom doing a toast...perfect. Then time for the first dance, and the family dance. So far so good. Then the garter, the bouquet, and cake cutting. No more failures. My guess it was the batteries....arrgh! I was cheap, I didn't want to get some decent batteries or a high capacity power pack. I spend all this money on equipment and workshops and I was brought down by $10 worth of batteries. Now I know better. It will never happen again. Hard lessons in the Real World School of Photography!

    

 

I took 619 images and discarded 255. I tagged 108 as images I will provide to the bride and groom as selections. Thank goodness for RAW and the Lighroom Brightness and Fill sliders. These enabled me to literally rescue 50% of my keepers. It was a lot of work, and one day I will be able to minimize the use of these corrections but for now, I'm so happy they exist.

My best goes out to Steve and Lisa. Thanks for having faith in me to document your special day.

Savannah and Tybee Island

This weekend we took a small roadtrip to Savannah to see my daughter Diana present at the Telfair Museum Jepson Center.  She was part of the Pulse Art and Technology Festival, and she provided a workshop followed by a lecture on Fashion and Technology. The Jepson Center for the Arts is an incredible building by architect Moshe Safdie. It was a perfect venue for the event which hosted special exhibits, presentations, and events throughout the week.   

I love Savannah and the Southern charm it exhibits. The architecture of the historic district is genuine. The brick paved streets and landscaped squares provide an elegant setting for the many historic buildings. The city is best "digested" by foot, and this was not the trip to do anything extensive. I did drive out to the Bonaventure Cemetery hoping to find some interesting sights. It was around 10:30 in the morning and the light was just not right. I've been to large cemeteries in Montréal and NYC, and Bonaventure was a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps a foggy or overcast day would have improved conditions. I did manage to visit the gallery and studio of Bryan Stovall on Whittaker Street near the river. This is one of the few photography galleries in Savannah and has some nice work by many local artists.

 After some good family time of shopping and eating, I had one Saturday to exercise the camera. When we woke up it was raining. Given the choice of drizzle or a cloudless sky, I'll take the drizzle.  We drove downtown to put our name on the waiting list for Paula Deen's restaurant Lady and Sons for dinner. Then we headed out to the area around Chatham Square for Dorian to do some shopping. Between raindrops it was easy to find some nice architectural details.

From here we headed out on Hiway 80 to Ft. Pulaski NM and then out to Tybee Island. The rain was letting up so we thought the worst was over. Ft. Pulask is an impressive fortification. There are some nice hiking trails taking you to the surrounding marshes. After walking through the fort and watching the musket firing demo we headed out to Tybee. We followed Hiway 80 to the end then made a left to the last cul-de-sac with access to the beach. The rain started coming down hard and it was time to put the camera away. We then made our way to the Tybee Lighthouse, which charged $7 to enter. We passed on that. Across from the lighthouse are some old fortifications which also charged admission to enter. It seemed that everywhere on Tybee there was a machine for charging you to park. I guess that's how these guys stay in business. Overall the island is way too commercialized for me, lots of cheap (but expensive) hotels, condos, and houses crammed along the dunes. It was a good thing that the weather was crummy and no one was on the beach. We returned to the place where we started so that I could try to get some images of the jettys and the shore at low tide. After about 20 minutes the rain started up again and it was time to go. Right now I'm working on some minimalist landscapes so here is the result...

 

[nggallery id=14]

Dinner at Paula Deen's that night was memorable...fried chicken, catfish, pot roast, limas, black eye peas, creamed corn, collards, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, and the BEST blue cheese dressing you can imagine (looks like cottage cheese!). And I had to drive home to Jacksonville after that.

Art for healing at the Shands Cancer Center

In September several of my images were selected by Fogle Fine Art for placement in the new Shands Cancer Center in Gainesville. Today Dorian and I visited the facility to see the installed work. We were met and escorted by Tina Mullen of the Shands Arts in Medicine program, a very progressive and innovative resource that works directly with patients using art as an integral component to healing. The building opened on Nov 1 and is a gorgeous state of the art facility with some incredible art placed throughout the public spaces and in the individual patient rooms. Over 400 pieces were selected, which included photography from employees and local artists. It was obvious that a lot of care and consideration went into the choice and placement of each piece.

    

This project increased my awareness of extensive research linking the physical environment in hospitals and places of healing to the well being of patients. It has been shown conclusively that healing is positively influenced by what you see, and that images of nature are effective in creating nurturing environments. I am proud to contribute to such an outstanding institution and knowing that my images could bring comfort and peace to those who need to be healed.

Help-portrait, giving not taking pictures

Yesterday Dorian and I took part in a global project called Help-Portrait. We made our small contribution to the work of over 3000 other photographers providing portraits to those in need. It was a humbling and joyful experience. This story was covered on CBS Nightly News and CNN.

Special thanks to Mark Landschoot, Executive Director, Family Promise of Jacksonville for all he has done to make Jacksonville a better place for all to live: http://www.familypromisejax.org/

For more about the project Help Portrait, please visit http://help-portrait.com

Thank you Christine, Bruce, Rachel, Michael, Daronya, Samera, Brandon, Darius, Booker, James, Mike, Amanda, Michael, Michael’s Grandma, Mike, Rebecca, Mathew, Lea, Hannah, Stacey, Saul, Sasha, Trinity, Makenna, for sharing your smiles with us yesterday. It was a great pleasure meeting all of you and we wish you peace and happiness throughout the holiday and beyond. Your courage and spirit is inspiring to all.

Face Mount Acrylic

I just examined the most amazing mount of one of my prints at Raven Image on Beach Blvd. This is a 24"x72" image mounted to an aluminum backing and then face mounted to 1/2" acrylic, then polished. The result is amazing. Cher Sailer and Tracy Jacobs at Raven are the best at what they do. They transformed this image into something really special. I'll soon let everyone know where they can view this piece.

Southlight Gallery

I'm a member of a small group of visual artists who have taken up residence downtown in a deserted Gold's Gym. We call ourselves the Southlight Gallery, and we enjoyed a "soft" opening at Jacksonville's Art Walk last night. The space is incredible with 20 ft ceilings and plenty of space (over 4000 sf). The interior needs some TLC as the previous tenant seemed to have gone out of their way to leave a mess, ripping out the doorframes, wrecking the tile floor, and tearing out all the baseboards. We hope to have things ready for a grand opening for the November Art Walk on November 4. With the glut of unused retail space downtown, there is a movement to allow artists to take up temporary residence for the cost of electricity and insurance. This is a real boom to all of us who would love to have prime downtown locations, but until now had no way to afford it. Oh the advantages of the recession!

I'm hoping to use the gallery as a place to install work and to receive comments from the general public. I think we all need that kind of feedback, as it is someone out there in the public that hopefully will end up purchasing art for their office or home. I'm looking forward to working with the other artists on making the gallery a success.

   

We should be here for a few months (at least) so come by and see us at the next Art Walk on November 4th. We are located at 100 N. Laura St in the Jacksonville Bank building.