Checking off my to dos

Hi all,

So much to my chagrin is has been almost a month since I have written a blog. One of these days I will get the hang of it, I promise. But like usual I have a fair amount of news to share. For one I have received a promotion at work: You are looking at the new Events Planner/Marketing Person and Membership Booster. Ok, so I will work on a simpler  title but the position is neat. I am excited that I have a career job and it is a position that I pretty much created and therefore  I can grow with . And yes this will hopefully give me experience to own my own gallery and maybe even an art based event company.

Second I am fulfilling the other half of my life as well….Photography. I am talking to an old friend about  a website which I believe will be a big step. I am learning all sorts of terms like a HTML, FLASH and drupal. I can’t explain any of them at length but they are getting me closer to a pretty coolwebsite!! I am now stewing with what my domain name should be, just plain ol’ EGFphotography.com or something more unique?

I also cracked open a book I bought nearly a year ago, 2008 Photographer’s Market book filled with contests, blog info, workshops, publication information etc. I have checked off the ones I want to submit to and I’m going for it. Even if there are  rejection letters in my future I am ready to  take a risk. Slowly but surely.

I also wanted to share some movies I’ve watched, most notably What Remains about Sally Mann. Let me sum up this documentry in a couple of words: Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!!! I had pretty high expectations and it met every one. I liked being able to be a fly on a wall in her life. I watched her process, her ups and downs, her family dynamic, learned what made her tick and reviewed the important  career moments that make her a notable name. She is smart, strong, versatile, inspirational, creative. I highly recommend to all of you, It was time very well spent. I also saw Into the Wild and Namesake, two very good movies!

I also hoped you noticed that I added two tabs, the I Spy section and work in progress. I am hoping to use I Spy as a vehicle to bring a camera with me always and to document what I see. I have several fascinations and I hope to be driven by those to learn discipline with my photography. Works in Progress is a way to start new projects, one right now is Self Portraits, not because I am vain but because it is a subject matter that frightens me and challenges me, how do you sum up yourself in a single picture? Or a whole series?

As always thanks for reading and please keep giving me feedback!

Too Long!!

Hi readers, I hope I have not lost all of you. I have been busy busy and have not been blogged for several months! I do have lots and lots to share though and pictures I want to show you so please stay tuned for that.

First of all I wanted to share a brief summary of some of my favorite things right now:

Music: Jamie Lindell, Duffy, Tristan Prettyman

Movies:

* The Diving Bell & The Butterfly -if you haven’t seen it -you must see it. Its beautiful both in content and in cinematography-

*Once -I was fully ready not to like it but I ended up loving it- The music is great and a must have in your collection-

* The Piano -I may be the last person to see this movie but i found it a unconventional but beautiful love story-

Books: I just read a book by  Robert Adams called Why People Photograph. The book is basically a compliation of Essays written over a course of several years and encompasses many topics relating to iconic photographers as well as some funny and inspirational ancedotes. I highly recommend to everyone especially artists of any medium.

I also have gotten really into Podcasts lately. Some friends of mine in NYC have put together a podcast about day to day life, pop culture and art called the rascast which is short for the Rogue Artist Squadron >>http://rogueartistsquadron.podbean.com/. Check it out.

I am also into a couple podcasts put out by NPR the best one is called Off the Shelf Poetry and it highlights various contemporary poets and reads their current work as well as interviewing them. I look forward to hearing it every week. My favorite podcast is a photography related podcast called The Candid Frame, which incidently also has a blog>>http://www.thecandidframe.blogspot.com. The shows are an hour long and they highlight a contemporary photographer and talk about their work and their vision as well as their inspirations and process. Very Very Interesting.

One last thing to leave you with …

This last Tuesday I went to a wonderful lecture at Trinity Methodist Church here in Savannah sponsored by the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home Foundation. The Lecturer was Pulitzer Prize Winning Author of The Hours, Speciman Days & Flesh and Blood, Micheal Cunningham. I am sad to say I have not read any of his work but I did see the movie The Hours and was endlessly fascinated by it. That being said the lecture was probably one of the best I have seen, Mr. Cunningham was funny, charming and very charismatic. He spoke very highly of Flannery O’Connor and how her writing impacted him as a person and as a writer. He also read from one of his short stories which I loved! The story was a contination of a well known fairytale “The Six Swans”- I am sorry to say I do not know the title but it was a beautiful and funny story. Needless to say I am adding more and more books to my MUST READ pile.

 

Well thats it for now. Thanks and I hope you keep reading….

 

Edward Albee- American Playwright

Hello I am pleased and excited to share a lecture I went to tonight. A local private school- Savannah Country Day School sponsor a lecture series called Creative Minds. One of the lecturers was Pulitzer Prize Winning playwright Edward Albee. Albee was best known for his plays Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Delicate Balance, and Three Tall Women. 

My introduction to Edward Albee was through the play Whose Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? it played at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It starred Mercedes Rule and Patrick Stewart (from star trek fame). I  remember being mystified and totally enthralled. I later watched the movie starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton but it wasn’t the same as seeing the story unfold in front of you on stage.

I am excited to add another playwright to my collection- I met or rather stood near Arthur Miller who is by far my favorite playwright.  It is so much different than meeting a celebrity who stars in movies because people like Edward Albee and Arthur Miller made such an impact on American Culture. WOW!

Below are pictures from the event, including one of my mom getting his autograph.

Catch-up

Hi world! Happy belated new year!

I start this year a college graduate on the job hunt. I have found myself a permanent fixture on all the major search engines like Monster and Yahoo in order to find a new job. What are my plans? I want to gather as much experience as I can in the next several  months in order to find a job I love in a cool art gallery.

The next step is picking the right city. Right now its a tie between Boston & Chicago…both cold as my mother reminds me. Mom and I are planning a trip to Boston in late April or early May. I want to see first hand if it is the city for me. Then hopefully a trip to Chicago will soon follow. I have already researched galleries in both cities and  I am already excited.  I have spent 3 1/2 years in Savannah and although I have enjoyed my time here i do miss a good play, a good concert and lots of galleries to choose from.

I do have a fun thing to report. I have started an internship at a local gallery called Dimensions Art Gallery on MLK Blvd. The gallery is run by a woman who is my age and who has really got a good thing going. She has gotten alot of press in Savannah for being THE spot to see student art. She has a really great business plan that includes a 5 year expansion plan. I will be her personal assistant and I start next thursday.

website: <http://www.dimensionsartgallery.com>

Also I would like to announce  :

EGF     Photography. Which more or less started this Christmas when both my Aunt Bets and local friend Kathleen Boggs asked me to take pictures for their Christmas card.  I now have photoshop (thanks to my WONDERFUL mom) and am currently saving up for a nice digital SLR. So if you need a photographer for any occasion and you are in the Savannah area please email me!!!

today’s pick city: Boston Mass.

Boston Mass. Is todays pick city and has fascinated me since a high school friend went to college there. Here are my current pros and cons- these will be amended because of my small amount of knowledge..

pros:

1. beautiful historic city

2. a good size city, not too small, not to big.

3. can be involved in nyc events without having to live there full time.

4. four seasons again….(also going to be a con)

5. in the middle of academia: harvard, tufts, boston college, MIT… smart people lots of lectures.

6. grad school possibilties

7.  cool art scene…theater, galleries, art museums

Cons:

1.winter

ok i need to further research..any additions??