Alcatraz Prison, CA

Here it is another week gone by before I've made my next post!!  That's crazy!  Pretty soon it's going to be Thanksgiving, then Christmas holidays!  Life just goes by, just like missed photo ops!!

I was driving down the canyon road this morning into town, and I had my camera in the back seat.  I wanted to take some shots as the fog was creeping in making for some sweet views, and then in the misty rain the fall colors of the live oaks really stood out in shades of orange and yellow!!  But it was raining - I missed the opportunity.  So now I'm hoping I'll find it again tomorrow morning.  It's still raining now.

I have been working and re-writing on my new web site.  Added my photography history with galleries and shows I've done, as well as, adding some helpful links.  I plan on adding more links.  Don't know if it's that necessary now that the internet is so THERE!  All you have to do is type in a description of what you're looking for and two seconds later it's there.  Added another gallery the other day:  Alcatraz Prison, CA!!  You might want to check it out for yourself.  Here's one of the images from that gallery:

When I was there standing on the first floor of the prison, I looked up through the grate to the second floor.  And it was eerily drawing me in.  That place can be creepy, but also pretty awesome.  I know it takes your mind back to when the prisoners were there under the surveillance of the guards.  The building was cold, wet, dark and dingy, but made for some awesome black and whites.  I love old historical places.

One thing I'm struggling with is whether or not I want to make a Facebook page of my photography only.  I don't know.  But then if I did, my blog could be posted there too and draw in more viewers to the website.  I'm still thinking.  Beyond that I need to make a decision as to "if" or "when" I put up my prints for e-commerce.

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE

So apparently my external hard drive is full with only 24 kb left.  That's probably why my PC is running slow??  I don't know.  I'm heading over to Best Buy to talk to a GEEK and probably purchase a humongus hard drive to make my life easier - hopefully.

Well I am back from a 5-day excursion to the big City of San Francisco.  We had great weather - sunshine every day.  Hardly any people during the week - but WHOA come Saturday it was as though it were a great big ant hill with people scurrying all over the town!  Crazy!  If you're headed that way anytime soon or just any time, go during the week!  And if you want to go see Alcatraz Island, purchase your tickets way ahead of time online.  That's the only way to go.  I did that for us and I notice the sign said, "Next available tour date - MONDAY"!, which was almost a week away.

I stopped by the High Hand Gallery to check out the re-hang that went on while I was out of town - and it's really awesome.  I had two artist friends tell me how great it looked - specifically my black and white photos of The Getty Museum and Bodie Ghost Town!  They were right.  During the last two months of the year, the gallery puts up two Christmas trees to hang some art pieces on them.  I didn't do any small pieces as I have in the past, and it just doesn't work for photography - at least not for me.  I thought I would just make Christmas cards - people like cards, so that's what I'll do.

More pics later when after I install my new external hard drive and get things settled on my PC!!  Again, thanks for spending time with me and for your support!

WEBSITE UP AND RUNNING!!!

I got my new website up and running today - with just a little assistance - powered by Redframe.  I uploaded three galleries for now and will continue adding galleries as I go along.  Later, too, I will add the e-commerce - we'll see how my public responds! ; )  I love the new look and I can change the layout from time-to-time too.

I'm going to send out an email to my friends and family members to let them know of my new website and maybe hear what they have to say too.  I'm always up for improvements, and believe me there is always room for improvement.  Thank you for those who have continued to read my blog, and maybe now there will be an even larger following.  I'm learning on a daily basis of the importance of SEO:  Search Engine Optimization!  I had to look that up! ; P

I'm in a good place right now and am going on a photo shoot.  Hope to have some new images from the bay area real soon!  Check back again!

Here is another black and white Getty Museum image for your enjoyment!

 

New Website

With the upcoming demise of my old website, I finally got in gear today and started working on the new one.  I pretty much spent all day on it.  Got the basics going, dialogue About Me, and all that other stuff; uploaded two galleries to it.  Wrote a lot of notes of other galleries I want to add, with one gallery devoted to some of my own favorites, rather than posting more of my older stuff.  I want fresh and new!! ; )

The new hosting company is RedFrame.  They seemed to be one of the most reasonably priced web templates, including hosting and e-commerce with no commission taken.  I won't have my e-commerce up right away.  I'm just concentrating on designing and completing the galleries for now.  Then Blue Cat Studio will help be re-direct this Blog to the new website, and tie up any loose ends.  For the most part I am doing the work.

Worked my two shifts at High Hand Gallery (within a 5-day period) learning our new POS (Point of Sale) system.  I think I'm getting it down.  There are approximately 33 artists learning this new system so it will probably be a couple of months until we all are on the same page.  But I really like this new system.

This weekend I will be taking in three new images of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles to High Hand for the new re-hang.  I posted one of the images my last post, and here's another.  I really get a little crazy when I see such great architectural designs for many of the museums.  They are a piece of artwork themselves!

Black and White Images of Getty Museum in Los Angeles

It's been a hectic summer with family injuries, losing loved ones, and ending it with a newborn.  Life is sad and yet amazing at times.  Now we're rolling into fall.  I love fall with all the changing colors of the leaves of the trees.  I guess I'm trying to ease into the fact that I haven't written much lately.  So much going on.

This past Thursday night was Auburn's last Artwalk of the 2013 season.  I am showing at the local Naturopathic business in Auburn.  We had great weather this year (last year it was storming with lightening and rain!)  A lot of traffic and visitors coming in to check out my European images.  Finally I was able to show them all in one place!  Received numerous positive comments.  And lucky for me, Naturopathic wants to keep my artwork in their business thru April of next year!!  Awesome.  This will give me longer exposure to the community for possible sales!

I've been printing out images from Bodie Ghost Town (2012 Series) onto Museo Silver Rag.  Then matted and framed them and they are hanging in High Hand Gallery thru the end of this month.  In the meantime, I've been printing out even newer images I took at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles this summer.  Since they are an architectural series with stark contrasts, I've printed them on metallic paper to enhance the image even more.  Next step is to mat and buy frames for this series.  Here's one of them.

Yesterday and today I've been spending many hours on the computer looking up various websites for photographers.  I've been watching tutorials and almost falling sleep at it too!  My website will no longer be, as my current hosting company is updating their servers and my website will not survive!  I need to create a new one, on my own I might add!  Ugh!  Learn new things!  It's hard! ; )  But it has to be done.  So that's where I'm at.  I'm hoping I can transfer my Blog over to the new website so I don't have to start from scratch!

September 11th Memorial

In honor of those who died on September 11, 2001, I am posting some photos I took on a trip to NYC in the Fall of 2011.  They were still working on the tower, but the water memorial was in place.  It truly felt like hallowed ground and I remember my mind trying to imagine the horror those fallen may have felt, of course, to no avail.  There's no way in hell I could even imagine.  The tragic memories their families still feel to this day is heartbreaking.  I could say more, but then it would turn political.  This is a memorial and tribute to those who died, to those who died trying to save those in peril, and to those left behind still mending and re-living the events of that fateful day.

ARTSTOCK - High Hand Gallery

Last night was ARTSTOCK at High Hand Gallery.  We had a great turnout with lots of art-lovers joining us for the opening of the show, we also had 'artful' food with hand-painted tablecloths, and of course all the large format art pieces.

I took pictures of the event which included hors d'oeuvres, live music and wine tasting!!

I spoke with several folks about my own large format canvas wraps of Bodie Ghost Town; folks who had been there, some never heard of the place, and other photographers.  This morning I spent a couple hours working on the images I took last night, re-sizing, etc., and putting them up on our Facebook page.  Now I can rest for a while...well okay, just a little while before I get started up again!

The stone sculpture is by Shermm Moore, and the upper two right hand painted/encaustic pieces are by Charlotte Cooper.  The others are mine! ; )