Hey ho ho - the product section of my website is up. It makes me happy. Now it is just the people and the projects.

Mandron Gallery

The University of Michigan's Club of Greater Chicago - School of Art and Design 5th Annual Alumni Art Show is having it's opening reception on Thursday, Oct 23rd from 6 to 9 at Madron Gallery. In an earlier blog post I outlined a little bit about the show.... 5 years ago, Steve Vandervort and I came up with the concept of the alumni art show. We put out a call for help and Charlie Daas, Jason LaBelle and some others I can't remember helped launch the 1st annual show. Charlie provided the 1st gallery space since he was the director of a non for profit that built the Acme Artist Condo. The 2nd year we used the Around the Coyote Gallery and got some wonderful support from the Art and Design School. At that show we were able to get the president of the art school and each year has been incredible. For the 3rd year, alumna Yen Chin of Madron Gallery was able to let the association use Madron Gallery which has been incredible. After year 2 I stepped off of the committee which is a good thing since Jason, Yen and others I don't know have made this show something I only imagined back in the beginning.

So, clear you calendar for the evening of Oct 23rd. I'll do another blog and send out an email announcement closer to the show. Oh, by the way, I have some great photos in the show - so you gotta come and see.

old friends

It is great to catch up with old friends. I dunno, they just kinda fit like that favorite pair of old jeans. It doesn't matter that they have been hanging out in the back of the drawer without too much attention, two way street really, but when you pull those jeans they just feel right and remind you of all the good times you had together. Okay - too much on the analogy. It's just that I had a great time today catching up with an old college friend who is in town. We have stayed in touch over the years - he was at my wedding, we were both at our other good friends wedding a few years after but it has been a long time. He is on the account side at one of the WPP companies so it was great talking shop, photos, art history and all the stuff in between.

So, we have the beer above because even though we didn't drink. Lunch just kinda felt like the picture above. That was taken outside of Santa Fe on an afternoon that would be perfect for a Corona - and that was what today was - cheers,

a wait list for the website

a couple of years ago I had stacks and stacks of negatives and proof sheets and very few prints. I guess I still do since those stacks are still there on the shelves with the negatives waiting to be scanned. Anyway, I went through a role of film once - well, maybe a few times over the course of a day or week - but then it got filed. Now, with digital negatives and good assest management software I am going back through and tagging and looking and seeing a whole bunch of stuff that I never would have seen in the past.

I say this because I don't think I would have used this photo if I had shot it on film. I remember seeing when I took it and seeing the image in my mind. Then I remember seeing it on the computer as a thumbnail and thinking that there were other images more striking. Going through again, this photo got a second chance and I am growing fonder of it the more I look at it.

Well, the architectural section of my website is up and I think it will be a few months before I make any changes to the images - but this one is going to be sitting there in the queue. I've never had a wait list - kinda cool.

Oh, so you ask - why a wait list, why don't I add it right now? Well, the program I am using to make my website only allows 20 rollover/linked images on a page. Yes, there are work-arounds but that gets more fussy and the more streamlined I make this the more current it will stay since I am the one designing and publishing this baby. So - we have the start of a wait list!

never done before

Lisa and I went to a get together Sunday night and so people could get to know each other, everyone was given a question to answer. My question was "What is something that you have never done that you would like to try? Why?"

The funny thing is that I couldn't come up with anything meaningful. Maybe it was my perspective. Sure, there are things that I haven't done and I will feel a whole lot more fulfilled once I get my photography business to the point that it can help better support the family. But there is no aching thing that I have never done. I have a burning desire to make images and art but that is not what the question was talking about. I would like to go to China sometime but I have been to Europe many times and although I want to get to China it's not on my bucket list.

I have traveled, I have been a ski bum, I have been to art school, I have been a certified scuba diver, I have sailed, camped, kayaked and traveled the country with only a few hundred dollars in my pocket and all my belongings in the trunk. That's not to say that I am done - not by a long shot. Maybe it will be traveling the country when I am 60 on a motorcycle. I certainly want to go skiing and scuba diving with my boys and wife. Lot's of stuff to do but I don't have a bucket and I think I kinda like that.

philly in june - well, I can cross that off of the list that I don't have.

University of Michigan Alumni Art Show

I just found out that I have been accepted into the University of Michigan Great Chicago Area Alumni Art Show which will be Thursday evening, Oct 16th. Man, I gotta say U.M.G.C.A.A.A.S. I don't even want to know what kind of acronym someone could come up with for that.

A little history - a few years back I was talking to an older alumna who mention that most of what the chicago chapter did was to get together at bars to watch the football games. He wondered what other activities we could plan. Since I am also an SAIC alumna (you look it up - I'm not typing all of that) and their yearly BareWalls Alumni Art Show is huge - I suggested an art show. There was much doubt floated about - but I was sure there would be a great turn out. I was told to plan for 40 people. We ended up with 10 exhibitors and of course they invited their friends. The result was over 100 people and the beginning of a great tradition. The yearly show has moved to the Madron Gallery which is a great and makes available a huge gallery for us. The big bummer is that they now have to limit the number of participants since it has become very popular. The SAIC does a lottery due to popularity and so are we. The bummer is that one of the orginal ideas was to give everyone a voice, to let everyone participate. I guess that is what can happen when everyone wants in. Bummer.

The up side is that I made it in and the above picture will be one of 6 that I plan on showing. Stay tuned for all the details.

lake michigan photos

Going through my photos, I had to get these posted. It is going to be a while before I get to the special projects section of my new website.

Mornings are always long at our family place in Michigan. We are at the edge of the woods facing west and overlooking Lake Michigan. That means that at 8am often feels like dawn because the sun hasn't cleared the trees. These photos with the long shadows were take somewhere between 8 and 9 am. To the left of the picture are two small inland lakes, North and South Bar Lakes and the town of Empire. The mist over that low lying area is moving off over Lake Michigan as the sun casts the strong shadows from the trees at the edge of the lake. I took these photos about a month ago - mid august

finding photos

I have started this blog as I tackle going through 100,000 photos to categorize them and make selections for the launch of my new re-tooled website. So, I will start this blog with a photo that most likely wont make my website but will hopefully find a frame and a place on one of my walls. Cheers