Charleston Rose Society Photo Exhibit

Sunday is "Symphony Sunday" at the University of Charleston. As part of the day, the Charleston Rose Society is having a photo exhibit. I saw the article in the paper last night and I'll be participating. The photo below is an older rose photo of mine. I'll be entering it along with a dozen others. I think the show runs from 1-4 (not totally sure on the times) on the second floor of the Geary Student Union. Stop by and check out the photos!

Sutton Photography Online Store

I've been working on creating an online store for the past few days and it's live now! It's limited right now, but I'll be adding more sizes to the print selection soon.
There will be more photos coming soon, but in the meantime, check out the Sutton Photography Store!

Tamarack

I'm home from Tamarack and I have to go back for juries again in October. I would have gotten in except that my frames managed to get scratched between last night and this morning.

Here's the story: Last night Kevin realized that I hadn't put the picture hangers on the frames. I thought that maybe my work would be best displayed on an easel to save time and effort but Kevin insisted that we put them on. By the time that we were done, it was somewhere around 2:30 and it was a frustrating job. I packed the photos up and didn't see them again until I saw them all displayed for the jury. When I went in to Tamarack, they took my bag and set them up for me. Unfortunately, the picture hangers had scratched the frames behind them. I knew as soon as I saw them that this would not be the day I got in. Fortunately, I got a "resubmit" and I'm happy with that. I'm definitely in need of a nap, now!

On the way home, I dropped off some pieces at The Art Emporium on Quarrier Street. If you're interested in any of my fine art pieces, you can pick them up there or contact me directly!

"Passion" (6 of 6)

I saved this one for last because it's my favorite of the six. Sometime in September or October, I started noticing these strange flowers growing on a vine outside of my house in Florida. Soon, the vine was full of these passion flowers. I had no idea what they were, but I after some searching, found them on the internet. I probably took at least a hundred pictures of these because I'm so fascinated with them. In fact, I have one that I colorized and had printed on a canvas to hang in my bathroom. After the flowers died, a passion fruit would grow from the middle. Unfortunately, I moved back to WV before the fruit was ripe so I didn't get to try any of them.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish missionaries used these flowers to explain the crucifixion of Christ. The history behind this flower makes this image even more meaningful to me.

"I’m fascinated by this strange and amazing passion flower and this photo
is only one of many that I took. This intricate flower is not only
beautiful to the eyes, but also representative of the Passion of Christ.
The elements of the flower represent the crown of thorns, the ten apostles,
the five wounds, and three nails. As this flower dies, a passion fruit emerges
from the middle of the flower giving it a second life."

"Refreshing Rain" (5 of 6)

This print comes with some fun memories. I took this on one of my last days as an employee of the Walt Disney World, Co. My friend, Maria, her family, and I were taking advantage of my free entry to the parks. While we were at Epcot, it rained - not really surprising, because it rained every day of the spring/summer/fall in Florida. We had a great day spent in the Magic Kingdom and Epcot and I ate my first wonderful turkey leg. You haven't lived until you've had a smoked turkey leg at Disney. You don't need to eat for the rest of the day because it's so huge! I had just gotten my macro lens a few weeks before, so I was anxious to take close ups of anything. This looks like a night shot, but it was actually taken in the middle of the day. It was in Germany (in Epcot - not the actual country) and it's actually one impatien from a hanging basket. I love the black and white with the bright dashes of color.

"After a quick spring rain shower, this impatien was laden with water droplets.
The stunning contrast of the black and white with a hint of pink against the bold green
magnified by the water caught my eye.
In this photo, I can almost smell the clean scent of the air
and feel the calmness and refreshment that a spring rain shower brings."

"Evening Shadows" (4 of 6)

This image is one of my favorites. This was part of a still life project for a college summer photography class. I had no idea what to use and finally settled on my guitar and Bible - two of my favorite things. As I was leaving home that morning, I noticed the coral colored rose growing in my yard, so I cut it and took it with me. I had no idea how to group objects for a still life and I knew very little about how to really use a good slr camera. Even in my ignorance, this was a very successful shoot and a few shots from this day hang in the kitchen of my family's home. I remember how surprised my professor was when I downloaded the pictures and I had taken 350. That was only a hint of things to come! (I'm a little heavy on my trigger finger - at a recent wedding, I took around 4 times as many photos as my dad did. I get a little excited.)

This particular photo wasn't intentional. I had the neck of my guitar resting on a chair in the art studio. The sun hit the headstock just the right way and created a perfect shadow. I love all of the different textures of this photo. The floor in the room couldn't have been more perfect. (Or more dirty.) To me, this photo is very warm and inviting. This project made me fall even more in love with photography. When I saw what I could do with a good camera and lighting, I was ready to get serious. Within two weeks, I had my first digital slr! About a month after that, I became the staff photographer for the school newspaper. I had absolutely no idea that photography would be my career!

"The evening sun came through the old cracked window and hit the headstock of my
guitar producing a perfect shadow on the weathered hardwood floor.
I love the stark contrast of the rough, gritty floor against the unblemished rose.
This photo was taken in natural sunlight during a still life photo shoot.
This photo is very personal to me because it incorporates so many things that I love -
my guitar, my Bible, a rose, and some amazing sunlight."

"Peace" (2 of 6)

To be honest, this image is probably my least favorite of the group. I did this in college and this really isn't my type of art. I'm more about capturing what's already there than creating something new. We had to combine people and nature for this project. The goal was definitely achieved! I was heavily guided by my professor on this one. If you keep asking enough questions, eventually you can get someone else to have ideas for you! (I learned something in college!) Fortunately, the screeners at Tamarack loved it! The amazing thing about this print is that the photo of the sun setting over the ocean was taken with my first digital camera - a Kodak Easyshare 3.2 megapixel camera. I've become a bit of a "camera snob," as my dad calls me, since then, but this picture is blown up to 16"x20" and it still looks good! I guess it's not all about the camera after all!

The face in the water is my sister. My professor made her lie in the grass and sprinkled leaves in her hair. Anna was kind enough to come to school with me early that summer morning to be my model for the project. When she got up out of the grass, we found that she had laid in bird poop. I think I still owe her from that day.

As much as I wasn't into this project, I did enjoy Photoshopping this image.

"This print was created by overlaying an opaque layer over a photo of the ocean at sunset.
This was part of a college project to unify nature and humanity.
I get a peaceful feeling when I look at this photo."

"Unexpected" (1 of 6)

I'll be going down to Beckley to Tamarack on Tuesday for spring juries. Hopefully, I'll be juried into the gallery then! I've already gone through pre-screening (twice, actually) and I'm ready to get this over with. I'll be sharing a photo a day leading up to juries. There are six total.

This one is one of my favorites. For some reason it looks a little different after uploading. The colors are actually darker and richer. I took this one sometime in October while I was living in Florida.

Since my sister, Anna, and I spent many hours working on my artist statements for these, I'll be sharing those also (below the photo). I'm not sure that I always have a reason or a thought behind my photographs, but this project forced me to get deep and think about it. By the time Anna and I were finished, I felt like my photos were really thoughtful and meaningful. Maybe by the time all is said and done, I'll come out of this as an artist!

"Simplicity is hard to find in this complicated world.
The depicted unknown vine is probably a weed. It only measured about an inch
and was hanging from a gutter.
This anonymous plant is beautiful in that it just is.
Not knowing the identity, origin, or purpose of this vine adds to it’s allure.
To me, this photo is a reminder to look past inconviences and find
uncomplicated elegance in unexpected places"