ThePhotoBeat.com

We've been up and running now for about 5 or 6 weeks. I've not blown up anything yet nor started thermonuclear war with my daring ventures into vB coding. Of course, I have a lot of help in that regard and have had the cool hand of caution laid on me more than once.

Go figure.

The site is off to a great start and has been a great learning tool, as well. I'm looking forward to seeing the membership grow and the critique forums get active.

Come on by and check it out!

Score one for the crazies of the world who don't like being told "film is dead"

Yeah!

The Impossible Project.com


Heh.

Of course, I signed! I'd sweep the floors for 'em if it kept them on target.

Just another reminder of why I like to wave my Freak flag proudly. Go, you crazy people, go!!!

Happy New Year!

Okay, so that's a mite overdue. And I posted nothing during the holidays, not even to shout my joy to the world about my beautiful new Tachihara 4x5, a Christmas present from a husband who loves to challenge and encourage me. I'm a terrible blogger, I admit. My online time is limited and, being a member of various forums I like to check in on, as well as popping over here, I always feel pulled every which way by conflicting demands.

So what better way to deal with this than to add to the load by starting a new forum of my own? Brilliant!!



Still in its infancy, but ThePhotoBeat.com is up and running on wobbly new legs. I am lucky to have friends who support my effort with their coding and general web skills, as well as gifted photographers to guide the content.

My love of photography and genuine pleasure in participating with others who love the craft probably made this step inevitable. For now, I'm regarding it as an interesting experiment, so we'll see where it goes and how it thrives under my care.

Pop on over if you've a mind to! There is room for one and all.

Yay!

That is all.

Just "yay".

V*O*T*E

Remember to vote today! This is a special one!

fall chatter

The Brookhaven Arts Festival turned out to be a really great event. Given the current state of our economy, it's an easy call that purchasing art isn't high on anyone's list of necessities. With that in mind, I expected this festival to be a bust.

The turnout was wonderful, even in our blustery, mostly overcast days. I sold enough to make it feel like a success. And as always, people stop in just to look at my old camera collection and want to chat and reminisce (I call these my "Uncle Charlie" conversations - as in, "Oh, would you look at this old camera - my Uncle Charlie used to have one just like it, and I remember him taking that thing everywhere...and there was one time, in particular..." and proceed to share a family memory with me), and I always value these connections. It's part of what photography is, of course - a way to capture a moment in time, and be able to continue to connect with it. Through that personal connection, we can connect with others. It's not always about just pulling the technically perfect print.

Anyway, I'm glad to have gone out on a high note, so to speak. I'm not certain when I'll do another festival, but for the immediate future I'm taking a hiatus. I continue to have most of my work posted in the Gallery of my web site, so for anyone who is interested in a purchase, just shoot me an email.

I'm winding down my business career (blissfully) over the next several months, and will probably need to internalize for awhile once it's over. I've been going like mad for so long - running here, running there, trying to squeeze in some kind of meaningful art in between Atlanta rush hour commutes and focusing on the health care industry - that it's going to take awhile to adjust to an abrupt stop. I'm looking forward to it and I'm also terrified of it. But that's fodder for another blog.

For any amount of cash

I've been waiting for years to buy a brand new cadillac
But now that i've got one i want to send it right back
I can't afford the gas to fill my luxury limousine
But even if i had the dough no one's got no gasoline

There's no more left to buy or sell
There's no more oil left in the well
A gallon of gas can't be purchased anywhere
For any amount of cash

-the Kinks, A Gallon of Gas


There is a Chinese curse that goes something like this: "May you live through interesting times."

Maybe I'm dating myself here, but I recall hanging my head out of my high school bus and waving at a friend who was stuck in a long line of cars, waiting to get to a gas pump, back in the '70's. He waved back without enthusiasm, and I recall feeling rather smug that, although still yet too young to have a driver's license, I hadn't followed the course of many of my upper classmates in hot pursuit of getting their own wheels as soon as they had license in hand. I never minded taking the bus, even sludging through snow-crunched streets in Michigan winter months towards that bus stop.

My indifference towards transportation served me well during the oil embargo of those times....those interesting times. The Kinks wrote the above song when the album "Low Budget" came out, and it's been dancing in my head for the last several days.

The current gas shortage, of course, is different. There is no saber rattling going on in the SE USA (except maybe at those who would dare to cut in line at an open gas station) - it's only due to a couple of hurricanes, and the failure of those in charge to safeguard enough supplies to see us through forced refinery shutdowns due to nasty weather.

We drive around town and pass station after station with the now-familiar plastic bags over the pumps, and deserted lots. It's like 1973 all over again, only this time we are also reading about an impending bailout that will keep us feeling poor, fearing the worst and hoping for the best, for a long time to come - and the accompanying sound track isn't as good.

We are living the Chinese curse! It's a cheap curse, I suppose, since it has "Made in China" stamped on its ass. A cheap curse with overwhelming repercussions.

The Chinese curse. I love irony, don't you?