The Ballad of Johnny Pete

A close friend of mine in NYC has been requesting prints of my fine art photography. For some time now, actually. Since her birthday is approaching, I felt it best to post some of my artwork online for easy browsing. I also thought it best to post some digital scans that I pulled from found object slides that I discovered while shooting a photo series in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina wrecked the landscape. Arranged in sequence -though the found object slides did not belong to the same person- the series is called "The Ballad of Johnny Pete." The images are open for you own interpretation. Enjoy some found object vitamins for your optic nerves!

My 'Lucky' Day

So on a different topic, some of my Recognoscere images will be on display in Wallingford today. The Lucky 7 Barber Salon will be showcasing my images. It's a nice step away from focusing on the fashion promoting -which I love shooting- and dealing in the fine art arena of my photography -which I also love shooting. Here are the images that I am putting up on display:

"Celebrating the Arts in Full Bloom" Art Festival

On a different note than the posts from yesterday, I wanted to mention that I've been selected to participate in an art festival here in Tacoma. The festival is called "Celebrating the Arts in Full Bloom." It's being displayed this Saturday at the Tacoma Stake Center, one of the many LDS churches in the area, roughly between the Tacoma Community College and the Highlands Golf Course. If you can, I encourage you to attend. The program runs from 10 am til 8 pm and features fine art, music, performing and literary arts of local LDS artists.

I have two pieces of my fine art photography that I will be showing. One image is a popular favorite from the post-Katrina series that I did in Mississippi, another is from my travels abroad in France during the summer I lived in Europe. Both images demonstrate the different mediums of photography that I am adept at -film and digital. They are fine examples of my creative work. The festival coordinator has praised my photography as "adding another dimension" to the exhibit and with everything else that is in the program, I'm happy for the accolades. So be sure to make plans and attend! It's an all-day event!

Recognoscere

Well, it's been an interesting two weeks since I moved diagonally across the United States. There has been much to keep me occupied since I arrived in Washington and sadly my goal of blogging fell beneath other attention-grabbing concerns. Fortunately, I have been able to get back on track!

Today I received notice that my photography would be included in a local art show. This is a display-only exhibition, none of the artwork will be for sale. But the positive side to this is that I'll be able to gain some exposure and name recognition after people view my artwork.

The images that I will be contributing for exhibition are from my re-photographic journey to Mississippi the summer after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf area. I've shown my images before in a joint exhibition titled "Recognoscere," which means "to view again." The focus of that show was to bring a new outlook into that tragedy and find hope and beauty among what remained.

As stirring as my images may be, I think it's more satisfying to get involved in the process to restore Mississippi to the grandeur that existed before the hurricane. While there, I heard stories about historic buildings being razed so that out-of-state developers could build condos in their place. It may seem like a spook story to motivate action, but it already has happened down there. So find a way to get involved, there is nothing better than to help someone who needs it. And trust me, after seeing the amount of devastation along the Gulf coast of Mississippi in person... they can use some help too.