A PRETTY GENERAL SUBJECT

I’ve been bouncing between the commercial side of life and the art side of life. I love them both, but given the choice, well, there’s a lot more creative freedom on the art side of life. Of course, there’s probably a lot more self criticism too.

While the art side of my life is part of my profession and while I’m thrilled and humbled at the same time for the works displayed in town, besides submitting work to art shows, there’s not often much call for it. Art is somewhat finicky. But yet, it keeps coming up when I think there’s little business for it.

I’ve recently had two requests to display work in local venues (which will be announced at the time of their hanging), and I’ve had two requests for charitable donations of my work. When people are asking, that’s an honor.

The latest request came from the local chamber of commerce asking for a silent auction donation for the Annual Awards and Chamber Gala. They had previously asked for a silent auction donation for another event. That piece (The Door) auctioned to a woman who decided to provide feedback.

On a side note here, artists can be quite needy. We sit in our little comfort zones, be it in front of a computer screen or a canvas or a sketch pad, or behind a guitar or a camera, and our work is our baby and we want the world to ooh and aah our baby. We’ll never tell anyone this. It’s our dirty little secret. So when Anne (thank you, Anne) sent me a note about the response of those she gifted the photo to…well, she didn’t realize the gift she gave to me with that note (or maybe she did). You can read some of it here (seriously, it's the little things in life).

The hardest part of donating or displaying art is choosing which piece or pieces to share with the world. While we artists want the world to ooh and aah, we also fear they will boo and hiss or tell us quite simply that our baby is one ugly thing. You really have to have a thick skin to be an artist of any kind. The problem is I know what I like, but I don’t know what or if someone else will also like it. So it’s a tough choice. I try to stay local (and general) on things like this. Okay, I pushed it a bit with The Door. The Door comes from the Pushing the Edge gallery, which is my gallery for total fun; darkroom madness. I personally love that photo. I don’t know if it’s the memory of discovering the door itself, the fun I had with personalizing it or what, but I’ve always liked it and thought it a bit too far off for someone else to like. Then I show it (originally at Eileen’s Bakery - YUM!) and suddenly I’m getting feedback.

Oh, so that’s the trick. You have to show the art to get the feedback. Kidding. While The Door is a historical building piece in Fredericksburg, it’s still a very general piece in subject matter.

I guess you could say I took the same road with the Gala silent auction. I decided to donate Cannons at Chatham Heights. It was a hard choice (it’s always a hard choice), but we Virginians love our history and I love shooting cannons (No! Not real cannons…shooting…with the camera. Real cannons make too much noise.). I wanted to donate another piece of local history, and cannons, well, in Virginia they’re a pretty general subject. Though, with a touch of darkroom magic to give it that Civil War feel, the two cannons at Chatham Heights tell their own story.

CANNONS AT CHATHAM HEIGHTS

Hope to see you at the Gala!

11 FROM 2011

I read about a challenge of picking your best shot from 2011. So I went forward after reading another way to do this and picked my best 11 from 2011. It was a bit difficult. Not because I had problems with the work, but because I didn't go shooting as often as I would have liked. But I found what I liked. And with each photo, I'll tell you why.

And here are my 11 from 2011.

#11 WATER LEVEL
While this isn't a particularly fascinating photo,
this was a recapture from 2008. I like the
simplicity of the image. And the age.

#10 TRAIN
While shooting along the Canal Walk in Richmond, this train came barreling
along the tracks above me. I always wanted to capture a train and the overcast
sky the heavy iron work made for a perfect black and white.

#9 ST GEORGE'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
I can't tell you how many times I've captured the steeple
of St. George's Episcopal Church. It just stands out in
the middle of Fredericksburg and speaks of history. This shot
was taken from Chatham Heights. I've taken winter shots
from Chatham, and I wanted to check out spring. The red
roofs and green steeple were a pleasant surprise.

#8 GOLF?
All these years, I thought he was on the
course actually playing the game. Instead, he
was perfecting another skill. This is such a fun
photo - a very relaxed Tom in his element.

#7 BREAKING PROHIBITION
I had the opportunity to shoot at the A. Smith
Bowman distillery. It was a fabulous tour and
the barrels made for some great shots. And a lot
of fun artistic work.

#6 SKYLINE
A shot on the way to Belle Isle in Richmond.
I was walking across the suspension bridge to the island
and looking up saw all these wonderful lines. 

#5 SILVER LEAF
It's just that, a leaf. It was a cool spring day and everything had the full
color of spring. I saw the glint of silver from the light on the backside
of this leaf and gave it a shot. I really didn't expect the photo above, but
sometimes what you think you'll trash ends up being the best shot.

#4 LOVE
While shooting at the train station in Richmond (you wouldn't believe the
opportunities at the train station), I was strolling around, and for whatever
reason looked down and this was on the bricks. It was Valentine's Day.

#3 WISDOM LISTENS
Another shot from Belle Isle. It was the abandoned hydraulic plant, I think.
For graffiti, I love the message. It's just so true. But the fun part was
taking this from a boring wall and making it art. Will definitely print this
on metallic paper so all that glitters...well, glitters.

#2 THE DOOR
Okay, gotta admit, I love this piece of art. This shot
was taken at the A. Smith Bowman Distillery. And
this shot was a loss. Wrong lens, quick take,
unfocused. What can I say. Such is the power
of Photoshop. I get a lot of feedback on this shot.

#1 CROSSING THE JAMES
I don't know what it is about me and railroad bridges. Taken in Richmond,
this bridge crossing the James River spoke of timelessness. And turning
it into art changed the scope even more. This is a metallic print and
everything glimmers and shines. My favorite shot of the year.

THE COLOR OF WINTER

Birds are circling nearby my house. I’m reading a dark comedy about the Apocalypse and the trees are close to bare. The death of fall is upon us, the coming of winter approaches. But these are not the signs I generally look for to signal winter’s grand entrance. How do I know winter is so close? I start pulling color from my photos.

Now, you could say, “Whoa, slow down Kerri. There’re still plenty of leaves on the trees and there’s a brilliance of orange and yellow and red in the air.” Yeah. I know. I see it. But as I believe that I lack the artistic view of a landscape photographer, this does me no good. So yeah, if you’re big on landscapes, the land is still stunning. Fact is, every time I drive North on I-95, I marvel at the light dancing across the color of the leaves (okay, that’s really more when I’m a passenger than when I’m driving – on I-95, you just don’t take that chance).

But I digress. Where were we? Oh yeah, pulling color from photos. You see, I like the lay of shadows this time of year. I like the bare limbs. I like the dark side of winter. I look at a scene now and I know if the final result will be color or black and white before I even shoot. Used to be I stayed inside all winter, plopped down in front of the computer or TV, but since my ventures into black and white and tints, winter brings out the dark side of my artistic pallet. I know, it’s not to everyone’s taste, but that’s art.

So let me share a few shots from my latest fall excursion (I actually was looking for color). Don’t worry; I popped in a bit of color so as not to rush the season.

And that book – the dark comedy about the Apocalypse - Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. A lovely read for winter. When you get into your own black and white winter doldrums, this book will put a smile on your face (if it doesn’t make you laugh out loud).