Duly marked on my calendar: Sept. 21 – 26, 2010 from 10am to 6pm, the greatest show on earth (or at least in my part of the world)…Photokina 2010. If you pre-order your tickets now you can save up to 38%.

It took two days for me to put everything back where I had it stored. My orders are filled and out the door and I’ve updated my inventory program. The only thing left to do now is send our hosts a few photos that I took of the event and a thank you card for their hospitality.

For me, personally, the weekend was a hit. I talked with many, many people, enjoyed a weekend outdoors and heard some great music.

A samba band stopped by to perform for us.

One of the artists also performed for us throughout the weekend.

The idea of Kunstrausch was to show artists’ work in various “native” settings. We exhibited in garages, barns, empty rooms – wherever we were offered space by the local folks. This was where I was originally scheduled to exhibit. I was to have half of the barn; the side covered with the black cloth.

After deciding that one photographer didn’t have enough photos to fill an entire room, my space was switched with his. This is where I ended up.

You’re not seeing double on the eagle photo on the right side. I had two mounted – one with normal glass and one with museum’s glass to show the difference in the two.

I had also done magnets as a test, as seen on the white board on the left. They were a big hit with the women, with many saying that they were getting them for presents.

Up against the black cloth – although too dark to be seen (except for the white tag on one) – were two tall EZ-Up chairs.

I covered an old refrigerator in the corner with a white tablecloth and used it to hold a tabletop stand for my cards.

What you may notice on the right side of the photo on the floor is a water dish that I had put down for the four legged visitors. Above it is a photo of a squirrel drinking from a fountain that I had taken in Orlando. I don’t think the dogs appreciated the “art”, but the humans appreciated the humor.

One last photo of a reflection from one of the windows of part of the courtyard that we looked down on.

The day was beautiful: not too hot and not too cold. The hours were from 10-6pm. It started out slow, but we knew that it would pick up after church and breakfast. It did indeed.

I brought a few more photos in Halbe frames with museums glass, one of which sold.

The crowd seemed to ebb and flow, either no one being there or there being so many people that they had to wait to see everything. The compliments were again many with people wondering how I took the photos, what equipment I used and discussing the merits of digital versus analog. My signature book was filled with many comments and compliments about my work. One lady turned around on her way out and said that she had never seen such wonderful photos before. Very nice to hear, believe me! It was fun to talk to the people and tell the story behind the photo. In mid afternoon, the mayor of Gutenaker (the village where we are located) came by and chatted to us. It was a nice surprise and very thoughtful of him to take time out to visit us.

A few of our friends stopped by to see what I had new and to chat with us. It’s always nice to see them; some had quite a ways to drive to get to us.

The day ended with many sales, a few orders to fill and two exhausted people. Wolf, my husband, is not only my biggest supporter but I couldn’t do it without his help.

Breakdown was a two trip affair. Wolf drove the first load home while I continued to take everything apart. We thanked our hosts for such a great weekend and drove home.

Even though the hours were from 2-8pm, the mayors of Katzelnbogen, Berndroth and Ergeshausen were on hand at 11am to address the artists and assembled guests. They then took time out of their schedules to tour the exhibits and talk with the artists. We talked with the mayor of Katzelnbogen and have arranged a solo exhibition of my work in the fall at the city hall. A wonderful start to the weekend!

The day started out gray and rainy – thank goodness we were able to set up yesterday. But, luckily, by late morning the rain clouds had dissipated and the sun came out. I decided to bring all the easels I had and a few more photos to display on them. I also put together a sign which I put outside so that people would know that there was something to be seen on the first floor.

The people were slow to come for the first few hours, so Wolf and I took the chance to check out a few of the other artists.

It was certainly interesting to see people’s reactions to my photos; especially to my owls and golden eagles. Three people mentioned that they knew my work, having seen it at other exhibitions. I always try to add something new to each exhibition so that people don’t see the same thing over and over. Kunstrausch was no different. Compliments abounded and sales were pretty good.

Initially, my assigned space was to be part of a barn, or the right half of this picture:

The owner called me a few days ago and said that the photographer assigned to a large room on the first floor only had nine photos, which was really too few for the size of the room. Did I have more and would I like to trade spaces? My answer, of course, was that I had many more but would like to check the space out. The room proved to be many times what I presently had, so I gladly made the switch.

The owner of the property kindly offered to allow us to set up early, so we took advantage and set up today.