Hello everyone!
I’m exhibiting photos from my Sublimation Series at Rayko Photo Center
in San Francisco this week, from Thursday 5/21 thru Sunday 5/24. We are
holding a reception on Friday night from 6-8 pm.
I hope you can make it!
RayKo Photo Center
428 Third Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Show dates:
May 21 to May 24, 2009
Opening Reception March 22, 6-8 pm
You can also see the complete collection in the Sublimation gallery on my website.
Due to the good luck of being in the right place at the right time, I shot a series of photos of Dawn White & Vapor Trail making a dramatic rotational fall into the water at fence 14a (Log Drop into the MacNaughten Water Hazard) while riding at the Advanced level in the Adequan USEA Gold Cup Series at Woodside Horse Park in Woodside, California on May 24, 2008. Two of these photos were published by UK newspapers:
Mail Online – the website for the Daily Mail, one of the UK’s largest newspapers, posted this one as one of the Gallery: The world today in pictures 27 May 2008.
Telegraph pictures – the website for the Telegraph, the other one of the UK’s largest newspapers, posted this one as one of the Pictures of the day: 27 May 2008 – see the 4th photo.
I had a cover photo on the San Mateo Daily Journal on Monday, and again today (Thursday):
A series of adventures led to my being in Cafe Pergolesi early in March, and learning that an artist who was supposed to hang art for the month of March had no-showed. I offered to hang some of my photos. Thus began a week of selecting, culling, editing, printing, matting, framing, and going down to Santa Cruz the following Sunday to hang my photos.
The room I was hanging my art in was the Orange Room, so I selected 10 sunrises. 3 were printed up 16×24 by my friend Sam Linville – an amazing photographer in his own right and a wizard with printing. One was mounted on foam core and then framed with a thin black frame – no mat. Another was mounted on a 3/4″ board with a black edge. The third was matted and framed – framed out to 28×42. I also mounted several 12×18 prints on foam core and displayed 2 with frames (no mats) and several others with no frame, just mounted directly to the wall. I also had 3 12×8 prints matted and framed behind glass.
It was… eclectic. I think I did a fairly good job of selecting and preparing the images, but wish I had a more consistent display – all matted and framed or at most 2 different “looks” rather than the many different framing styles I presented.
My primary goal from this event was to “do it” – to go thru the process of selecting and preparing the images for the show, printing/matting/framing, hanging, writing up my artist’s statement, setting my pricelist, etc. I had no expectations of selling anything, if I did it would be gravy.
Last weekend I took them down so that this month’s artist would have room to hang his/her work. As I was taking them down there was one customer in the Orange Room sitting with his coffee and laptop. He noticed that I was taking them down and asked if they were my photos and I said yes. He said he liked my work. I asked him which one was his favorite. He picked this one:
It was the 16×24 framed in a thin black frame.
I asked if he would like to buy it, and after a bit of thinking about it, he decided he did. A few minute later he had sent me the payment by PayPal, and the transaction was done.
Although I’ve sold a lot of photos, this was my first “art print” sale – a photo I love, that I took for me (not for someone else) and framed and hung for people to look at, to critique, to consider, to buy. It’s a wonderful feeling to have someone else validate that I produce photographic prints worth purchasing and hanging on the wall.
I am working part-time as a photographer for the San Mateo Daily Journal. So far I’ve had 12 photos published, including these cover photos:
March 13, 2008 – San Bruno wans a ban on limos
March 19, 2008 – Senator backs mayor
March 26, 2008 – Congressional faceoff
March 27, 2008 – Tom Lantos Memoralized in SSF (1 cover photo, 2 more inside, not included on the website)
March 31, 2008 – Food prices on the rise (2 on the cover, only one shown on the website)
The SMDJ covers San Mateo County, from Menlo Park to South San Francisco, and out to the coast (Half Moon Bay). It’s a fun gig – I have learned a lot about local politics by attending the various debates, announcements, Lantos’ memorial, etc. The editor (Jon Mays) and writers are a blast to work with.
I won’t say how many years it’s been since my previous newspaper cover photo – it was when I was 16 – the Carmel Pine Cone published one of my “art photos” on the cover. I still have my issue in a box – I need to scan the cover and add it to my portfolio.
I went out to the Horsepark in Woodside yesterday afternoon to take new photos for my Horse Trials Virtual Course Walk
There are some course changes from the May Event:
Advanced – Advanced course has been added! It looks great.
The final fence (20) has been moved “around the turn” so you turn, then finish.
Prelim -
There are a number of changes on Prelim:
3A / 3B is not quite as offset as last time out.
Instead of 8 A/B in-n-out to the first water, fence 8 is earlier. Then 9A into the water, 9B in the water (the Canoe which was jump 16 in the other water in May). There’s a corner fence marked 9 after the water, I suspect it’s 9C, but I could be wrong.
There’s another corner, marked 10, between the water and the drop.
The drop (now fence 11) has a narrow fence set after it, instead of before.
The second water now has narrow canoe to drop in, then the corner on the exit.
The final fence (19) has been moved “around the turn” so you turn, then finish.
Training – no changes noted.
Novice -
Fence 1 is shared with Beginning Novice
Fence 1 is shared with Novice
If you are riding, Good Luck!
You can still see the May course here:
I’m not working this event as a photographer. I’m going to be shooting for fun and for my portfolio.
I’ll be shooting “motordrive” photos to make panorama images of entries going thru the coffin for Prelim, Intermediate, and Advanced. If you are riding Training and you are riding early (e.g. shortly after 1 pm) email me and let me know and I’ll see if I can stick around to get your ride thru the Training coffin. (Unfortunately I can’t stay for all 4 hours that Training runs on Saturday.) If you are going out to the Horsepark to watch XC, look for me with my big camera and tripod on the south side of the coffin complex. If you see me, stop and say Hi!
If you want to get some good shots on XC, there are a couple of great spots to set up for dramatic single-fence photos.
The big drop on Advanced (19) should be good, and I expect the huge picnic table oxer (13) before the second water to have both beautiful light and great jumping.
Intermediate has a great table (9) before the first water, both of the water complexes should be great. If you want to watch the whole course from under the big oak, with a good telephoto you should also be able to get good shots of the last fence.
Prelim fences 9AB (the first water) should photograph great in the early morning light, and their big fly fence at 15 is always spectacular.
For Training, I like the Oxer at 15or the stile at 17 (depending on the time of day and the light), the coffin and the last water.
For Novice, I like the oxer at 16 and the last water.
For Beginner Novice, I like the ramp at 12.
I’m house sitting for my sister while she’s traveling for the holidays. Just outside her office window is a bird feeder (presently covered with goldfinches, Lesser Goldfinches to be exact).
When I filled the feeder yesterday, I started in on pruning the roses under it, and today I finished the pruning, all the roses along the driveway and the roses in the back yard. There’s our mother’s old Peace Rose, still hanging in there even though it’s more than 30 years old.
Pruning roses presents a lot of interesting metaphores for life. Here is some deadwood, I need to cut it away so that it doesn’t draw disease into the plant. There are some old canes that are no longer productive that need to be cut out to let the newer canes flourish. Don’t leave the canes too long, cut them shorter so that the new stems they put out will be fewer, but stronger. When there are several canes all in the same area, or canes that cross paths, pick one and remove the others. Leaving them all will just result in a tangle and no good blooms will come from any of the canes.
I’m done pruning the roses. I see in my mind’s eye the blooms they will produce this spring. Now I need to prune my life. I need to get rid of the deadwood, the old and unproductive habits and posessions. I need to pick from crossing (conflicting) activities and focus on those that will bring positive results in the coming year.
Sam showed me around the Burbank area yesterday. We visited Descano Gardens in Pasadena. The light was bright but subdued and perfect for shooting flowers and leaves.
