Monday, March 30, 2009

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.

2 comments:

Karen Gifford said...

Hello,
I found your website and your blog, and just wanted to let you know I enjoy both very much! I used to live in Orlando for almost 20 years, but didn't have a nice camera. Now I'm in my home town in upstate NY and shoot with a Nikon D70s. (I'd love to upgrade, but for now I'm just investing in a few lenses...just bought a 70-200 2.8 AF-S and a tc-14E teleconverter to play with...should arrive this week!).

I feel like I've found my passion (that and writing), but sadly I have to work for a paycheck too! I would love to frame some prints and try a small art show sometime, but I haven't a clue what to do or how to get started. Any advice? Specifics?

Thanks and sorry for the long blog! Karen

Alison said...

One thing you should defintely do is join the email group artshow_photo@yahoogroups.com. There are many photographers there in all ranges of experience. They can give you tips on starting out and shows in New York to try out. the group also has a resource page which gives an introduction to art shows, what you need etc.
Good luck!