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%.
Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Countdown to Photokina 2010
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010FAIL or Not Being Used as an Office Decorator
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010I started out wanting to do the art festival route. But unfortunately, here in Germany, photography is not considered art so that door is closed, locked and the key hidden. So, I found myself doing exhibitions. It started out slow but picked up speed the last couple of years. I enjoy talking with people about what I see behind the viewfinder and how I achieved what I did through my post digital processing.
But, I found myself having to draw the line between exhibiting at an establishment and being used as a cheap (and uninsured) way to decorate an office. I exhibited – or should I say furnished – a heilpraktikerschule (an alternative medicine non-medical school) in Frankfurt for nine months. In those nine months, nothing was done by the school to publicize the exhibition…no sign in the lobby, no website mention…nothing. Since I had a large solo exhibition coming up the end of the year, I made my intent known to the head of the school – along with the group that I was exhibiting with – that I would be picking up my photographs to exhibit elsewhere. Since no one else came forward to fill the space, the hallway where my photos resided for nine months remained bare.
Six months later, it’s still being talked about. We explained my reasons for not wanting to exhibit there again – the frames were filthy dirty, the glass streaked and greasy. They clearly had not seen a dust rag in nine months and it took – no kidding – half a roll of paper towels to get them thoroughly clean. Not to mention the fact that they were the nicest frames that I have and had museums glass – alone, I paid upwards of 200 Euro each. That was around 1600 Euro worth of frames hanging there – uninsured. And, since I seemed to be the only one publicizing the fact that I have photos on exhibit there, I saw – and still see – no reason to return.
As I said, I do enjoy exhibiting my photos and will continue to do so. I currently have one exhibition running and have four more scheduled through the end of the year. But my office decoration days are over.
Expanding My Horizons
Monday, May 11th, 2009Since many art festival organizers here in Germany don’t believe that fine art photography constitutes their concept of art, there aren’t many festivals open to photographers to participate. So, to get my photos – and name – out there, I have started to look into other options.
Several months ago, I attended the first monthly meeting of a group of artists in the village of Nassau. The artists, representing many different media, come from around the area. They are an eclectic group of people, but very talented and nice…and active. We have several group exhibitions scheduled and I have no doubt many more will be added before the year is ended.
We also have access to three large shop windows, where artists can display their art. I decided to go ahead and take a turn at that just to see how it would turn out.
I felt pretty positive about the outcome and have found that I have room for three more photos.
A New Family Addition
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009We were at the animal shelter playing with the cats when a handsome fellow caught our eye. He was found, the lady told us, and brought to the shelter. His owners turned up to claim him, but refused to reimburse the shelter the 15 euro that they had spent to de-worm him. They signed away their rights, and left him.
The 8 month old Björn came home with us and was soon renamed Orion. In the two weeks he’s been here, he’s wormed his way into our hearts and our bed along with the rest of our crew.
Welcome home Orion.
Purism vs. Photoshop
Saturday, February 28th, 2009A poster in one of my photo groups recently vehemently denounced photographers altering their photos, proudly announcing that his photos were straight from the camera. However, when questioned further, he admitted that he did basics alternations on his shots: levels, color correction and sharpening. But, he defended his actions by stating that he was simply bettering the photo and not “faking” it.
But is it? The masters of photography did alterations in the privacy of their darkroom long before photo manipulation programs. I rather doubt that they were questioned whether they dodged or burned their photo. Nowadays, it seems commonplace for artists to have a prospective customer ask them if the photo is original or photoshopped.
I was asked such a question at the last fair that I attended. While some artists shy away and avoid answering the question, I announced that, yes, I did use Photoshop. I explained that, when I take a photo, I have a picture in my mind how I want it to turn out. I use photo manipulation programs to help me achieve how I want the final print to look.
I like to think of it as the artist’s prerogative.