Some local artists – Maria included – are helping to put together a Local Art Market Day on Mother’s Day Weekend at a new gallery in Greenwich, N.Y. – 70 Main Street, Saturday and Sunday May 12th and 13th. (Saturday hours are 10-6, Sunday 11-3). All kinds of neat art will be available for sale – jewelry, photography, pottery, painting, fiberworks and art, some reknowned Washington County Crafts. Maria is helping curate the art, and I will be there on Saturday giving my first-ever talk on my photography titled: “Inspire Yourself. Take Some Pictures.”
I will not be talking about the technical details of lenses and photography, about which I know nothing, but the opportunity photography – digital and film – gives us to pick subjects, frame and compose them, find inspiration, seek out the light and color of the world and inspire ourselves. You can take a great photo of anything, I think, if you think about it. I’ll be bringing my cameras and giving a talk, and taking questions.
Until recently, photography was something of a closed shop art wise. Like much of the fine art world, an expensive, technical conversation between small groups of people and institutions – gallery owners, museums, critics, academics and some photographers. I remember seeing all those black and white photos in galleries priced at $10,000 and up and understanding I did not belong in that world. Digital photography, for better or worse, has blown open the gate and let the rabble in and anybody with a digital camera can take some pretty good photos inexpensively. My camera is a lot smarter and faster than I am and it sometimes makes me look a lot better than I am. I started taking pictures five or six years ago, and photography has become a passionate, integral part of my work and personal life. I work hard at it, every day and have spent more time than I imagined in the rain, cold, mud and heat. I have taken no classes, and barely understand how to work my camera. I am learning all of the time.
Photography has changed the way I see the world, inside and out. It has helped my psychologically and spiritually. It has shaped my work, my children’s books, my blog. If I can do it, anybody can do it, and I hope to talk about self-inspiration and my own experience with photography. The show will be a great place to buy classy and inexpensive art for Mother’s Day. The public is welcome, of course, and there many neat shops on Main Street in Greenwich. You can get all the information you need from now to then on Maria’s website. It seems like a great place to get some original gifts for Mom’s.