New Photographs Up - Comments Please

Whew, what a long journey that was. Several weeks ago I booted up my computer to find just my wallpaper, no icons, no start tab, nothing. Apparently it was a nasty virus. At first I valiantly tried to recover it. The first step was to completely wipe it out and reload the operating system. Unfortunately I was never able to connect to the internet and with seven year old software it quickly became a losing battle. So I took the plunge and got a new computer. I also took the opportunity to get the newest Photoshop. And I got a three year subscription to anti-virus software .

With the computer purchase I became what one of my friends calls an “early adopter”. I don’t like being an early adopter. Not only did I need to reload everything but I had to figure out the new Photoshop and Windows 7. I must report though, that Windows 7 is a dream and going to the new Photoshop was basically painless except for some remaining issues with it working on my large monitor. Thankfully I keep good backups. In the end I only lost the emails that were in my inbox, one software program that was easily replaced (costing money of course), and one authorization key for a software where the company is out of business. The last one may be a lost cause.

The weeks it took to wait for the computer and then set it up added to the fact that I had just done six shows in a row left me with over 3000 photographs to go through. I’m not done yet but I have some new ones up on the website and on my Facebook page. I’m back to busily redesigning the booth for spring.

I NEED your comments. In the past I have hung photographs that I thought were great only to have them fall as flat as a drunk after a frat party. And there have been the ones that I hung just because I needed something for a spot that have turned out to be award winners and best sellers. I only have a 10’ x 10’ spot and that isn’t a lot of room. PLEASE, tell me what you like, what you don’t like, what you’d like to see more of.

The newest photographs can be seen at http://www.serenityscenes.com/New.html. You can leave comments on my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=134560219083
or email me at AlisonT@SerenityScenes.com. Please note that for some reason I have been unable to upload any vertical panoramas to Facebook so you won’t be able to see any of those on my group page.

Thank you to all of you who have already given me comments.

Trash

Clif and I were out doing some riding on the fire roads in Ocala National Forest when we realized it was hunting season. How did we realize it was hunting season? By the pickup trucks barreling and bouncing down the roads. By the increased amount of trash in the forest. By new bullet holes in the signs. Sigh… I’m not against hunting as long as people use what they kill and follow the rules. But actions like these are one of the main reasons we head towards a Jeep trail on the map and find a gate across it with a closed sign. Hunters are certainly not the only offenders. No matter what time of year I go out there is never a lack of trash to pick up. I urge everyone who enjoys the out-of-doors to bring trash bags and pick up trash that you see as well as taking out your own and please check out www.treadlightly.org for information on how to keep the out-of-doors nice for everyone.

Odds and Ends

I've been called from the waitlist to do the Maitland Rotary Arts Festival. This will be at Lake Lily in Maitland, Florida THIS WEEKEND (Oct 2). This show is a little bit different because it has night hours. It opens on Friday at 6PM - 10PM and is from 10AM - 10PM on Saturday. Normal hours of 10AM - 5PM on Sunday. You can find more information at http://www.maitlandrotaryartfestival.com/ I'll be in booth 53. Please pass the word since I am not on the artists list and the show isn't listed on my postcards. You can always see my most up to date schedule on http://www.serenityscenes.com/UpcomingEvents.html I've got a completely new booth design for the new season and a lot of new photographs to share with you.

I've started a group on Facebook called Alison Thomas - Serenity Scenes Photography. It's open to everyone. If you are on Facebook please join.

R.I.P. Mary Travers, Sept 16, 2009

You can’t be gone Mary. You don’t feel gone. You are too much a part of my best memories and the best parts of me. There is too much of you in me and countless numbers of others for you to be gone. You were more than music. You lived the words of your songs and in doing so, taught me how to live.

I will remember sitting around many campfires; large campfires with ten people playing guitar and 30 more singing along and small campfires, late at night, with just a few people singing and talking, talking of things that we didn’t talk about during the day. We sang Peter, Paul, and Mary songs and everyone knew the words and the chords.

I will remember my first concert and my last concert and all the concerts in between. I will remember dragging my husband to a concert because no one else would drive the four hours to Ft. Myers with me. I saw my husband, who up until that minute thought that folk music was silly, moved to tears by one of your songs.

I think that I will let my acrylic nails grow out and drop off and that I will pick up the guitar again. I need to teach some songs to my grandchildren.

Necessary Losses

Long ago I read a book by Judith Viorst called “Necessary Losses”. I don’t remember much of the book except for the knowledge that some things we must give up in order to grow. While the book doesn’t talk about things like this, I think it comes under the topic.

For most of my life I have been a dichotomy. I’ve been the lover of nature, peace and quiet and the lover of American muscle cars. Camaros, Firebirds, Mustangs, and GTOs, I’ve owned and loved them all. A few years back I thought I had found an appropriate compromise and traded my Mustang for a 350Z. Then my husband was no longer able to ride me on the back of his motorcycle so he suggested I get my own. And I loved driving my car and riding my motorcycle. Then I started doing art shows and moving closer and closer to the nature and serenity part of me. While the motorcycle is great for being able to pull over anywhere to take a photograph it was impossible to carry the tripod and more than one camera. And it didn’t do gravel or dirt well. The car didn’t do gravel or dirt well either. The last time I pulled up to a group of nature photographers to go out and take photographs I felt a little out of place. A bumper sticker kind of moment – real nature photographers have 4WD. Or at least vehicles with more than 6” of clearance. It was time. So last week we traded in the motorcycle and the car for a Jeep. It’s not going to be my Jeep. I’ve had the pleasure or driving the “nicer” vehicle for awhile now. It’s Clif’s turn. I inherit Clif’s previous vehicle, the gray box. It’s humbling. I always liked to have a vehicle that stands out. This one looks like every other SUV on the road. But I no longer have to check road conditions before I go on a photo shoot. I can fit framed photographs in it for delivery. And I feel at one with myself.

This past weekend we took the Jeep out on the fire roads of Ocala National Forest. And we saw deer and a bear. We found a lovely park on the shores of the St. Johns River. We had fun.

Peter and Paul at Wolf Trap

Over my many years of going to Wolf Trap and sitting on the lawn it has never rained. Yes, there were times, when I had more money or fewer people, when I sat inside in the expensive seats and listened to the pouring rain and clapping thunder and felt sympathy for those on the lawn. But it never rained on me. It was fitting that this time it should rain. It was also fitting that five minutes before the concert began a rainbow appeared over the building with the now lit but vacant stage in its center. Peter and Noel with their wonderful sense of humor opened with “Weave Me the Sunshine” and amazingly the rain began to slow. By the time they were into the third song it stopped completely.

Peter and Noel put on a wonderful performance but it seemed short and more melancholy than uplifting. Of course it was. There was a huge voice missing. And when Noel introduced “Blowing in the Wind” he spoke of Mary as a voice that will be sorely missed. Not “is”, as in today, but “will be”, as in no more. For several years I have convinced my husband to buy plane tickets to fly 750 miles to Virginia for a weekend and in one case drive four hours to Fort Myers because, “this could be the last time”. I realized with those words that this probably really was “the last time.” Maybe not the last time for all three to sing together but the last time for Wolf Trap in August.

It meant a lot to me to have my daughter, her fiancée, and the grandchildren there. The two year old will not remember it and the highlight of the evening for the four year old will most likely be the pedestrian tunnel and the ride on the shuttle from the parking lot when we went back to the car to get umbrellas. But I will remember sitting with my grandson on my lap and smelling his damp hair while listening to “Don’t Laugh at Me” and seeing my granddaughter fall asleep in my daughter’s arms. I reminisced with my daughter, pointing out to her fiancée the seats where we sat when I brought her to her first concert at seven. And the two front row seats that we magically got one year.

Usually I sing along with gusto, feeling pride that I know all the words to even the most obscure songs. This time I spent a lot of time just listening, burning the scene and sound into my memory.

In Fort Myers I got a chance to meet them. My husband convinced me to wait for them to exit and get their autographs. I was able to say only one thing to each of them – “you raised me”. I wish I could have said so much more. How from the first song I ever learned by heart – “Freight Train”, to the songs I played on guitar in Girl Scouts, to the songs I still sing in my car today their music has weaved through my life and changed me for the better.

Still Waiting

Well I had hoped to have some more show information for everyone but it looks like this is going to be the year of flexibility. I am now waitlisted for three shows, Maitland, Winter Park Autumn, and Art in the Gardens in Jupiter. Disappointingly I received a rejection from Disney this year. Most likely I will not get into Maitland. I am 15th on the wait list and there are only 150 artists. I have an advantage of being very close and able to do the show at the drop of a hat so there is a chance for a last minute acceptance if someone cancels at the last minute. Winter Park Autumn is more promising. I spoke to them on the phone and while they didn’t tell me my position on the waitlist they said that I will most likely get in. Art in the Gardens is actually the best possible situation. Art in the Gardens is the same weekend as Deland and all things being equal I’d rather do Deland since it is only five miles from my home. Hopefully I won’t have to make a decision on Art in the Gardens until I hear from Deland. But so far I am looking at a very iffy season and I’m scrambling to find backup shows for the empty weekends. I’m very bummed about it all because I have finished the design of my new display and it is great! I have quite a few new photographs and I’ve found a way to display more of them. I can’t wait to test drive it and see if people like it.

I did get into Winter Springs and if everything else falls through that will be my first show of the season. I’m really glad I got into Winter Springs. It was a great show last year and very enjoyable to do. There is still one outstanding the weekend before, in Jacksonville, but I won’t hear from them until the middle of September.

I’ve also had one piece selected for the annual 100% Pure Florida exhibit at the 5th Avenue Gallery in Melbourne. The show runs for the month of September and the opening is on Sept 4th from 5:30 – 8:30.

Waiting

It seems I write this blog every year about this time. Although things are looking up, usually I am complaining about being rejected. Looks like this is going to be the summer of the wait list. First Maitland, now Art in the Gardens. Actually being waitlisted for Art in the Gardens is probably the best possible outcome for now. I applied to Deland with Art in the Gardens as a backup before I realized that if I was invited to Art in the Gardens I would have to accept or decline before I knew whether or not I was invited to Deland. Not a good plan. Now if I don’t get invited to Deland, I can still hope that I might get called off the wait list for Art in the Gardens. I know God’s in charge of all of this but I do wish I had more than one confirmed show for the fall.

At any rate, I have redesigned the booth, printed most everything, and should complete framing next weekend. Then I will go through the matted pieces and separate them into first and second string and go through my supplies to make sure I have enough of everything. I have to be ready for Maitland, just in case they call me.

I’ve got my fingers crossed and prayers said for Winter Park Autumn and Winter Springs that will be deciding soon.

I have learned not to pray to get into a show, but to pray to put my best foot forward. Praying to get into a show and not getting in just leaves me pissed off at God. I do the best footwork I can and it will all work out the way it is supposed to.

Summer at the Beach

A few weeks ago Clif and I went to Vierra Wetlands for the first time. Unfortunately the road through the wetlands was closed because of the heavy rains so we didn’t stay long. Instead we headed over to the beach to try and get some photos there. These are some of the photos from that day. Normally my process is to download all the photos into one file and then go through them and move the ones I like to a second file for a second look a few days later. Then if I still like them they get cataloged and numbered for selling. I liked these so much I skipped the intermediate step. I think at least one of these will be on my booth wall for next season.

Scenes from a Train - 4

My mother grew up on a farm in Spring Mills, Pennsylvania. She never hesitated to tell me about the difficulties of farm life. She told me that the reason that Shoe-Fly pie was eaten with milk on it was because it was the last pie to be eaten in the winter and by then it had become hard as a brick. But I loved Shoe-Fly pie with milk on it and the idea of having room to roam and a horse or two was very appealing to me. I’ve never realized my dream of living on a farm and note, that what appealed to me about living on a farm was not the idea of planting things or manual labor of any kind. My dream farm is more like the horse farms I see in Middleburg, Virginia, rolling hills with beautiful horses, the bastion of the very rich. And thank God for the very rich, because even though I have no hope of ever living there, it is still a wonderful place to drive through.

This is not one of those farms. This is a farm that, through her stories, I envision my mother might have grown up on.

Spiritual Renewal - 2

A few days ago I promised to recommend another website so here it is – www.urbanmonk.net. Warning – You can spend hours reading this site, especially if you have any lurking resentments, character defects, or just plain “issues”. And I don’t think any of us reach adulthood, no matter how great our parenting, without “issues”.

Next - More scenes from a train.

A Cloud Day

Yesterday Clif and I went exploring and taking photographs. It was one of those perfect sky days. We started out with a dead battery (thankfully in the driveway) which threatened to ruin the trip before we started but Sears came through with a new battery and we were on our way by 9:30. A little late for sunrise but the sky was absolutely gorgeous the whole day. Nice blue sky with white puffy clouds and a few threatening ones to give it some character. We started out at Merritt Island, going down some roads we hadn’t been down before. Then we went to the Enchanted Forest and finished up the day at Vierra Wetlands. The threatening clouds took over and it poured down rain. We had been going since 8 AM so we left before sunset but not without getting some nice photographs of the sun coming through the clouds after the rain.

Spiritual Renewal

I’m going to take a break from the train scenes to recommend a couple of websites. The first is www.zenhabits.net.

I really like this time of year when I get step back and look at the previous season and regroup, look at better ways of doing things. I get to look through the photographs I’ve taken and pick the wheat from the chaff. This year, though, there seemed to be so many things to do. I’m feeling the spiritual hit of doing too much. I found myself getting irritable and ineffective. It seemed the more I did, the more I had to do and I was often in a state of what I call, analysis paralysis. I would come into my office in the morning and try to determine what to do first and end up playing a game to clear my head which led to another game and the next thing I know it’s time to get ready for my job and I have done exactly nothing. I considered removing my favorite solitaire game from my computer. It was a sucking vortex that led, not to relaxation, but to more stress.

The first thing I did was to get back to my spiritual morning time. I also made a change and now I go outside in the morning for my prayers and meditations. The early morning is so nice, so full of promise. I almost miss having a dog that forced me to get outside in the early morning. Note to self – There are a lot of things about having a dog that I do NOT miss. I like my cat. It is a relationship of equals. I handle the food and occasional vet visits. He handles his own toilet and cleaning needs. Well I do clean the kitty litter but that is infinitely preferable to picking up dog poop from the back yard.

Anyway, I shared my new routine with a friend of mine and he recommended this website. It has many writings on how to simplify your life and as a consequence get more of the important things done. At first it seemed like every task was insurmountable. What do you mean don’t multitask? Well I have been making a conscious effort not to multitask and I have gotten more done. Then yesterday I tried another suggestion. I cleared my inbox. I went through and deleted and cataloged until I am now down to two items in my inbox. One is a link to the website I will talk about next and one is a very important task I have to do. I created a couple of folders for things I need to monitor daily but everything that comes into my inbox now gets read, dealt with and either cataloged or deleted. I am amazed at the feeling of freedom of an almost empty inbox.

Scenes from a Train - 3

This is not a picture from a train but from a train station. Anyone who has been there should know exactly where this is. Guesses anyone?

Scenes from a Train 2 - The Gardener

When taking photographs from a train one feels a little like a voyeur. I get a quick glimpse of a life or area and my mind immediately makes assumptions. What do I know about this man? Very little actually. I know that he is standing in front of a nicely maintained house looking at a tree early on a Tuesday afternoon. There is a wheelbarrow on the sidewalk and he is dressed for outdoor work. Of course it is only from his build that I am assuming it is a man at all. Something about his posture and dress makes me think he is up in years.

So from this little bit of info I have developed a story in my mind about this photograph. This man and his wife have lived in this home for many years. They have raised their children in this home. All along, while working to raise his family this man landscaped and maintained his yard. Now he is retired and he putters in the yard to pass his time.

Of course he could just as easily be a hired gardener for the rich family living inside who is off to school and work at this time. It is a big house and you can’t see if from the cropped photograph but the original shows a very big yard. But it seems too modest a home, especially being right by the railroad tracks, for a family that can afford a gardener. Maybe he has just been hired to put down mulch but where is his work truck?

What do you think? Tell me a story of this man and this house.

Scenes from a Train - 1

Hello, I promise you I have set a reminder for myself and a new plan to update my blog more frequently. I have some photographs to show you and talk about so that should keep me going for awhile.

Last June I talked about taking a train to see my daughter. On the way up I got a small room on the train rather than just a seat and I spent the time taking a lot of photographs. It was more a way to pass the time and I expected maybe to get one or two that were decent. I got several more and I’m going to put them together in a series called “Scenes From a Train”. This is one of them.

I call this “Now is Forever Gone”. Riding on the train I was intrigued by this car that was driving on the road next to us. It stayed with us for a short while until a change in the road took it off to the side. When I first looked at the photograph I wished that I had taken it when the car was more in the frame and I got to thinking about time. I remembered the phrase that is now its title. Say that phrase once to yourself and let it sink in. What I have done is blurred in circles. The car signifies us traveling through life. The outer circle at the left is very blurred, representing the far past. We remember things from our past but blurred. As each circle gets closer to the car it is less blurred until the circle surrounding the car is in sharp focus. The area in front of the car is blurred as well. We think we can see the future but it is blurred as well. And just as the road took a turn our future can as well.

I will share more of these with you in the coming days.

History and Change

Wow, I am behind! As usual. This technology age is kind of like a lifetime game of wack-a-mole. The newsletter is on time, the website is fairly up to date, and up pops the blog. And now I’m supposed to twitter or tweet…sigh. And forget about my MySpace page, all it has is a couple links to here and my website. It doesn’t help that I have become addicted to playing Spore.

At any rate the shows have been doing well for me. Perhaps my expectations are low since I really hit my stride with good work and good shows just as the economy was tanking so my doing well may be someone else’s barely getting by but I’m happy.

I usually get into about 50% of the shows I apply to, this year it has been more like 80%. I’m worn out. Still excited about the rest of the season, but worn out. I’m very excited about Northern Virginia Festival of the Arts. It’s a long ride, an expensive show, and I really don’t have that great of a spot, but there is more to doing that particular show to me. I lived in that area for 40 years and there is a sense of coming back and saying “see, this is who I really am”. It’s not that it was a bad place to live or that there were any bad experiences there. It’s just that the weight of forty years of history, of living less than 2 miles away from where I went to high school, has a way of stagnating a person. In Florida I have had the chance to grow in directions I didn't anticipate, to step into the road less traveled.

There are wonderful things about history though. Last week I bought tickets to the Peter, Paul, and Mary concert at Wolf Trap. I first saw Peter, Paul, and Mary in concert when I was 11 years old. I went off and on through the years and when my daughter was seven I took her to her first concert. Usually we got good seats, one year we lucked out and got seats in the front row. This year it will be lawn tickets because this year I will be bringing my grandchildren too. And yes, I will be flying to Virginia for the weekend just to go to a concert.

Hello 2009

I was looking up a photo on my blog and I realized it has been way too long. So here I am again. Shows have started up again for me and I’m in the middle of doing my first show of 2009, the Audubon Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. It is bitter cold here (well, in Florida terms) and I am so glad this show is inside. I feel badly for the people who came from out of state to be here. The festival is not an art show. It is a combination of field trips, speakers, and exhibits, all about birds. People come from all over the country and some of them are rather disappointed that the weather here is not any warmer than where they came from.

I got two exciting acceptances last week. One from Vero Beach, Under the Oaks for March 13 – 15 which is supposed to be a very good show and the other, drum roll please, is Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival on May 16 – 17. My home town finally gets to see what I’ve been doing for the past 9 years.

It’s too early to tell what effect the economy will have on shows for me. I haven’t done Audubon in four years and my work has changed so much that I can’t really compare. I didn’t make any sales yesterday but I also forgot and left my 8 x 10s at home and with all the people from out of town this is a small item show. The focus isn’t really on the art here so it’s an impulse buy situation and I didn’t have any impulse buy items.

The photo above is from one of the photo trips I took when I was visiting family in Virginia over Thanksgiving.