Busy Summer

It sure is awhile between posts! I guess that goes to show that summer is a busy time for a working artist. Over the past 5 weekends, I have had a booth in 4 different art fairs, but the season is winding down since I am doing fewer shows than in the past due to the slow economy and the fact that I have a really nice gallery to show in year-round (Riverfront Art Gallery). After this weekend, I only have one more booth show to do and then my annual open-studio through the Sonoma Arts Council's ARTrails program (my favorite show of the year where I get to show everything and don't have to set up a booth).

I am starting to put my new Epson 7900 printer that I acquired this past spring through its paces. It is like a Ferrari (the color intensity and dynamic range is unbelievable), especially when I work in the ProPhoto RGB colorspace. I intend to print several new photographs in the next few weeks, and going forward, new work will only be printed on the new printer. I will convert my existing images one-by-one over the winter (when I theoretically have free time). It is not a simple matter of changing the printer selection and clicking on "Print".

I am working on my workshop calendar for 2010. I am going to expand my workshop offerings and the frequency in which I offer them. I will be adding a class on digital photography, that will cover all the basics of using a digital camera to its fullest. I have taught a class like this before for the Petaluma Arts Council. It was a one-session meeting, but I am going to expand it to a two-session class so that people can absorb the material better. I am also going to offer a two-session class on printing your digital pictures. Once you get a great shot, how do you turn it into a great print? I won't cover the 300 different things you can do in Photoshop, I am going to only talk about the 10 steps or so you need to turn what's in your camera into the best print possible. I am also going to offer two versions of my landscape photography class, a shorter version (like I have now) and a longer version. Check my workshop section soon for more information.

I have edited my Patagonia pictures down from about 3800 images to about 250 images. I need to do further work on them before I post the 12 or so best images on the website. I like to work in sequence, so until I get this done, I will not be working on the landscape images I have taken since coming back in April. I do intend to catch up by the end of the year and do an exhibit on Patagonia sometime next year. I'll keep you posted.

I will be updating my website soon to make ordering prints a little simpler (not so many buttons). I just need to do some programming (something that I thought I'd left behind in a past life). I will also be adding an exhibition history and telling people about some of the awards I've won, publications I've been in, etc. I definitely want to improve some aspects of the website (I don't think I'll win any marketing awards anytime soon).

By the way, my 2010 calendar will be distributed by Barnes and Noble, along with many local bookstores throughout the Bay Area. I believe my calendars will sell out this time, on my second attempt at this kind of thing. It's all just practice for a future book anyway.

Until later...