SOLD!

 I am very glad that I submitted my photo to Munson's art show for three reasons. 

• First, as I mentioned in the previous post, I hadn't been doing much photo-wise and so it was nice to get back into things: take a photo, do the post-processing to get the results I wanted, prep it for submission by printing and framing it, and seeing it / having it be seen in the show. 
• Second, and I just gave this one way, I was grateful just to have it accepted into the show. There were many great photographs in the show by some really good photographers that I know and admire.  I was pleased to have my work shown along with theirs.

• Third, as is indicated by the email below, the photo sold! I am appreciative and humbled that other people presumably enjoyed my work, and especially that someone felt strongly enough about the photo to spend their money on it. Many thanks to that person!!

What's even more amazing to me is that this is the second year in a row that my photos have been purchased at the Munson art show! (That one was also of birds... note to self: more bird photos!) I guess the pressure is on for next year. And I believe that this makes the third photo I have sold through the Sidewalk show over the years. 

Time to get back to it.

Trying to loosen up a bit

 Really?... I haven't posted anything here in 7 years? Really? 

That doesn't seem possible. 

As I said in the last post (7 freaking years ago), I haven't been doing a whole lot of photography recently, or at least not consistently. I've certainly had some intense photo projects (Chemo Characters - more on that in a later post; sister-in-law's wedding, etc.), and have had the occasional fun day of shooting, but I haven't been consistent. The usual combinations of weak excuses and valid reasons... been busy, conflicting commitments, dire health issues (hopefully resolved now!), other interests, and generally not photo-motivated. Also, I was running into the same issues that I described before... getting caught up in and/or discouraged by the technical issues and not focusing on the artsy and fun sides of why I got into it.

So, I will try to focus on 'good' art instead of the 'perfect' photograph - that seems more fun. (That doesn't mean I intend to take bad photos... I still want them to be really good.)

In this spirit, today I submitted a photo to the 2024 Munson Arts Festival. The original photo admittedly wasn't great... technically speaking, it was even pretty bad. I took it with my phone instead of my regular camera, through a dirty window and screen, with only a few seconds to get the shot before the bird flew away. But I got it. In the moment, I was struck by how spectacularly vivid the colors of the goldfinch had been amongst the pink apple blossoms, with dark green tones of the sprouting leaves within the tree. I took the photo for the colors and the simplicity of the subject, so I knew immediately what I planned to do in post-processing - accentuate the colors and abstract composition, giving it the feel of a painting, without worrying about having tack-sharp detail. Details weren't the point.

Here is this year's submission.