Art shows, markets, selling art

I feel fortunate to have years and years of selling experience through my purse business because it's helping me broaden my thinking when it comes to photography.

When I started as a photographer, there wasn't an easy way to make reproductions. You just printed your work and that was it. Time consuming and expensive. Now, with fancy computers, scanners, printers, the internet... it's wide open. This is good and this is bad. While it expands the possibilities for those of us who need affordable outlets to produce art, it also means that anyone can do it.

My friend was talking to me the other day about how photography is a hard area to be in because now everyone has a sophisticated phone that takes photos that "look just like Holga photos". I choose to believe that there IS a difference. Maybe I'm delusional. I think there's more to the art form than snapping a photo and having a cool, computer generated border. As I type this, I'm fully aware that I've seen many iPhone photos with the Hipster-whatever-app applied and thought they were really cool.

Why bother with a plastic camera that you have to load with film ($), take images you won't see until the film is processed ($), then have to print ($) when you can whip out your phone and shoot a photo of, oh I don't know... a crack in the street, and have it look all arty and cool? For free!

But can the images be printed on archival, fiber based paper with rich tones that make you want to stare at the photos and absorb the depth of the images? (or, who cares... add it to Facebook and be done with it). Who's grumpy?

I think I have an overly romantic idea of photography that will always keep me in the darkroom with film and chemicals.

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I just applied to my first art show. It was the only one I could enter because I have yet to have a booth shot! This application didn't require one. It's a show in Texas, in July. Outside.

Suffer for art.

I'm working on making displays to show my photography and it's pretty fun. What I have for my purse displays doesn't work for art. It's too utilitarian, too heavy, and not what art shows are looking for. What I'm rigging up, for now, is made with galvanized steel flashing and screen doors. When I'm finished, I'll show you! So far, so good.

Here's an image from the vault:

near Bustamante, Mexico

Live life to the Holga-est

I'm learning, quickly, that my new found love for photography is changing my life in ways I hadn't thought about before. Mainly, it's getting me out of my cave.

To find interesting photos, I have to leave my house. It gives me a purpose for ambling around town and I'm loving it!

So far, so good. In the past few weeks I've had the scary thought of "Have I lost it?" when it comes to shooting new work and knowing my way around the darkroom. I now feel confident that I'm not in trouble. While it will take a little while for me to really start to flex my artistic muscles in this area, I don't feel like it's new, it's just rusty.

Printing came back immediately. It was like I had never left this dark little room full of chemical smells and equipment from over 20 years ago. Home.

(the enlarger in the darkroom coop where I hole away in blissful hours of work)

Last Saturday it was rainy and stormy in Austin, so I grabbed my camera and set off for random adventure. First I drove down a road that I wasn't familiar with but I knew to be that strange part of the outskirts of Austin where the roads are busy but it looks like you're in the country. I took a few photos of cows. Yeah, I know.

I got lost, started heading towards a familiar highway and found myself in my neighborhood again. Being extremely hungry at this point, I decided to pass my house and keep driving towards the little neighborhood deli. On my way I saw something odd flying in the air. In my rear view mirror I saw a guy swinging on a rope swing in his front yard. He wasn't just casually swinging, he was parallel to the ground. This was my first moment of "don't think, park." and I did. I pulled around the corner and walked over to the house. No one was in the front yard anymore so I had to knock!! I do not like doing this.

Judging by the window covering which was a huge tapestry of Bob Marley, I decided these guys probably wouldn't mind an unannounced visit. Two young guys opened the door, smiling. I introduced myself and asked if the one guy would be willing to get on the swing again and let me take photos. He said sure! Of course he did.

This is the only photo I got which is interesting (I chose not to risk my life by getting too close, he was only going about 60 miles an hour on that thing):

After that I went and ordered lunch. While waiting I walked around the little complex that's been in the neighborhood for decades. I saw the barber sitting in his chair reading a magazine so I popped in. He let me take photos of him and then mentioned the beauty parlor next door. Had I been? No. Oh....

He kind of escorted me over and we peeked through the window to see if anyone was there. What I saw was this:

A dimly lit beauty parlor that has not been updated in its decor since the 1950s. The women there all looked like they had been going there for their Saturday appointment since the 1950s.

I went in and the barber mentioned to the owner that I was interested in seeing old photos of the place that she had on the wall. Honestly, I didn't even focus on those. I was too blown away by the elderly women sitting under the big hair dryers and the pink and green decor of the fabulous place.

This is where it's tricky. Do I ask if it's okay to take photos and possibly get shot down/offend/scare/anger or do I chicken out and miss it? I asked. One woman swatted at me with her rolled up magazine!!! HA HA HA!!!!!! But I could tell this was sort of her "bit", you know, "I'm the cranky one!" She muttered something about "your way or the highway" which didn't make a lick of sense but I decided maybe I shouldn't point the camera her direction to be safe.

The woman next to her was curious about my flash so we talked. I took one photo. I hate taking one photo. I like taking a ton. But sometimes you gotta roll with it and not push a situation that's going precariously well. The woman next to her was also awesome. She told me about teaching oil painting classes and talked to me about art. Her name is Waldene. Can you believe it?

This is Waldene, the Mona Lisa smile Waldene.

(in scanning this fiber print, I noticed I had the negative too low, showing too much of the edge on the top and nothing on the bottom. How did I miss that when printing? Back to the drawing board!)

So that's what can happen on a Saturday afternoon if I try. Cows on the side of the highway, a guy risking his life to be a daredevil, a nice barber, a time capsule beauty parlor, and Waldene. It forces me to be brave for the love of art.

Today, another Saturday, I took off around town with my Holga again. My main goal was to find Tmax 400 (which is oddly out all over town). I went to the new Lomography store on Congress and they were out. I looked around, though, and found myself starting to drool over the new Diana cameras. I'm really out of it, I didn't know the Diana was back and had been re-issued (that's not the word, but you know what I mean) in 2008. That's on my wish list for sure! The original Diana was the holy grail when I was in college, this being before, ahem, the joys of finding things on the internet. Finding the Holga in 1990 was definitely the next best thing. And here I am now, with my trusty Holga, still pining for the Diana! And to think, I can walk into a store and buy a new one!

After the Lomography store on 9th and Congress, I was so close to the capital there was no good reason to not walk over to it and enjoy the sun and the tourists. Of course I took photos! So cheesy, but I don't care. There's something a little thrilling about doing the same cheesy thing everyone else is doing all around you. No one judges. 

When I process the film, I'll report. You never know, I may have gotten The Best Capital Photo evah!

From purses to photography: time for a new blog

I have a blog, it's supposed to be about my purse business, but it's not. I write about my life, random things that happen, my cat, my Meals on Wheels friends, and other things.  Instead of torturing the people who read my other blog by posting notes about photography, inspirations, current work, etc, I thought I'd just start a new one!

This blog will be about photography.

After an 8+ year hiatus, I'm picking up my Holga again and experiencing the world through the plastic lens. As of now, Feb 18th, I've spent a total of 11 hours in the darkroom and have processed 16 rolls of film (8 of which were 9 years old... I'll get to that later! Mystery film!).

My plan for this blog is to use it as a way to catalog my progress, keep track of events, chew on ideas, and maybe connect with other Holga or photography enthusiasts.

Stay tuned!

Carnival Girl