the burning house & London Street photography

I’ve always been fascinated by what possessions people gather and hold dear to their hearts. I love those “what’s in your handbag?” photos, so when I discovered The Burning House site, it got my head spinning. Such a simple idea, such an interesting photographic project and so enjoyable & interesting to view.
 
The idea is to photograph the things you would take with you, if your house was burning down. As Foster Hunting, the creator says “It's a conflict between what's practical, valuable and sentimental. What you would take reflects your interests, background and priorities. Think of it as an interview condensed into one question.”

I found curating my selection more challenging than I thought it would be, and interestingly my items were mainly sentimental, hoping to preserve all the memories I have collected.

Perhaps you could to take some time today, to consider what you would save and you could share it here or send a submission over to The Burning House.

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I’ve been counting the days and finally the London Street Photography Festival starts today. For those of you near or in London, you should check out all the incredible events organised. I’m so excited the work of Vivian Maier will be here in my city, I’ll let you know next time what I thought about this photography phenomenon, as I'll be heading there next week.

A Preview of the Mom 2.0 Exhibit

Last night was the preview party for the Mom 2.0 Exhibit. It was fabulous; seeing dear Houstonian friends(folks from Houston are Houstonians I was told), meeting new ones, and being surrounded by photographs created by the women, the mothers of this community here at Shutter Sisters. It made my momma heart proud and my photographer/artist heart giddy with excitement. I got a chance to get a preview of the preview which was awesome. Of course, I took lots of pictures.

To see images that I have so admired from the web, off my screen and larger than life displayed in the exceptional space of the FotoFest Gallery was amazing. Universal and sacred moments of womanhood, of motherhood celebrated and honored as the art that it is is so incredibly validating and empowering. I know we don’t needanyone to tell us that what we do matters everyday but it sure is nice to hear. And having the first gallery show of Shutter Sisters’ photography wasn’t a simple whisper either. It felt more like a shouting from the mountain tops, See this everyone? This is who we are. This is our life. And it is beautiful and heartbreaking and exuberant and really really important!

The installation of the Mom 2.0 Exhibit will grow and change and become even richer and more textured between now and the next time I get to see it; featuring more than just the images we share online, but also the stories and the words we share everyday. It’s going to be something to experience for sure. And there will be an auction of the work as well with proceeds going to Haiti which is amazing as well (details to come). I do hope you can join us for the Mom 2.0 Summitand the reception on Friday night, Feb. 19. But, even if you can’t, just knowing that the Shutter Sisters spirit stretches above and beyond our computer screens and into the world is something we can all take great pride in. Yay us!

A special thanks and congratulations to all the sisters who have their work displayed in the exhibit: Sarah-Ji, Kate Inglis, Jen Lemen, Stephanie Roberts, Karen Walrond, Maile Wilson, Irene Nam, Meredith Winn, Kristin Zecchinelli, Chris Sneddon, Meg Fahrenbach, Angie Warren, Gabrielle Blair, Laurie Smithwick, Maggie Mason, John Armstrong, Siobahn Connally, Ali Edwards, Aimee Giese, Sheri Reed, Yvonne Marie, Maria Claudia Costa and Xanthe Berkeley. (links to al this awesomeness to follow...I'm still at the airport coming home!)

The exhibit is up now through Feb 20th at FotoFest for the public to enjoy! The FotoFest Gallery is at 1113 Vine Street Ste. 101, Houston, TX 77002. For more info (like a map and hours) visit www.FotoFest.org. And tell them Shutter Sisters sent you.

being a woman is a gift

In a matter of days the Mom 2.0 Exhibit will be installed and available to see at the FotoFest gallery in Houston, Texas, even before the Mom 2.0 reception. This video was made for the show. I can say nothing more that needs to be said. The amazing Katherine Center said it all.

This is motherhood. We are living this movement everyday. We are defining it right now. This is how we love, share, worry, laugh, give up, give in and find a way to do it again, day in and day out without question, without skipping a beat, without regret.

The Mom 2.0 Summit is going to be an amazing conference. I was there last year so I know. I hope you can make it. And the exhibit (reception to be held Friday Night 2/19), will be nothing short of incredible, thanks to super-Laura Mayes, her creative team and so many of you talented, talented photographers. It has been a pleasure to work on the project and more than anything I know that what we're doing, as women, as mothers is going to be tangibly validated with every image hung, every word displayed and every person there to witness it.

I don't know about you but I know what Katherine says is true. Being a woman is a gift.

Share an ode to Womanhood today, in all Her splendor and authenticity and let's show the world what we're made of.

Exhibiting Photography in the Real World

Pictured here is my friend and honored guest Imogene at the opening reception. She is featured in a number of my Project 365 images on display.

Last Friday night was the opening reception for my first solo photography exhibition, Project 365: Daily Discoveries, and quite frankly one of the most memorable moments of my life. When I began Project 365 on January 02, 2008, I felt certain that I would complete the project, but was a little unsure of how I would feel about the end result. I liked the idea of sharing the project in the form of an art gallery exhibit, and was thrilled to hear that the Monroe Art Guild gallery was eager to host it, but the tactical exercise of selecting, sorting, printing, matting, framing, and displaying the exhibit was slightly overwhelming (in a good way). Walking through the gallery Friday night, and hugging my family, friends, and a number of very kind strangers made me so thankful for the opportunity to share my work in a physical space.

I encourage you to explore gallery opportunities to share your work in the form of an exhibit, and when you get that first opportunity, here are a few tips to help you prepare and display your own exhibit:

1. Get creative with your display. I wanted the ability to show the breadth of the project by visually displaying all 365 images, but knew that gallery space and budget would limit the amount of prints I could enlarge, frame and display. So, I used Moo to print postcards of each image. On the front of each postcard, I printed each of the 365 images and on the back I printed the name of the project, my name, and my web site address. In the gallery, I wanted to connect the digital photography project to the visual of an old-school darkroom, so I spray-painted 365 clothespins black, hung black fishing line in rows, and suspended the images in sequence with the clothespins on one wall of the gallery space. This format allows visitors to immediately get the impact of 365 days, and to watch the progression of seasonal color and my focus over time.

For the large, framed prints, I shared written stories, quotes and poems in the form of small plaques beside each image to help strengthen an emotional connection between the viewer and the image – just like a blog format. I love getting inside the head of an artist and wish more artists would share their written thoughts behind their work in gallery exhibitions.

2. Consider matting and framing costs and availability before you print. Based on the size of the gallery space and the mobile panels used to display artwork in the space, I selected 33 images from the 365 set to enlarge and frame in two different sizes. Knowing that I would need a large quantity of nearly identical black frames for consistency, I shopped first for reasonably priced frames (Sam Flax in Atlanta) and settled on 27 18 x 24 and six 22 x 28. (This required two shopping trips as I cleared out their stock on the first visit, so be sure that you plan for frame purchase well in advance of your show.) Based on these two frame sizes, I worked with my printer to determine ideal sizes for the prints, allowing for a minimum three-inch mat around each image with a slightly larger width on the bottom edge. To save time, my printer also managed the process of having the archival mats cut for the prints to ensure that they fit the prints and my frames. I then recruited my husband to help me frame them all on our kitchen and dining room tables.

3. Splurge on good paper and befriend a good printer/photographer if you have no desire to learn the fine art of printing. When printing my fine art prints, I work with a individual printer/photographer, Dave Russell in the Atlanta area. In his studio he has a high-end professional, large format printer. Before he printed my digital images, we met at his studio to review my files so he could test colors and image format to ensure the best printing quality possible for my images. He also shared paper samples with me and made a few test prints of my images on the paper selections so I could see the differences in quality before making a decision. We decided on a high quality, archival Hanamule gloss paper. This paper is (not inexpensive), but luscious for large color prints. Had he just quoted the price and not shared the difference in quality with me in person, I probably would have selected the lower quality paper and would have been less pleased with the results.

4. Don’t forget to sign your prints. I’ve seen photographers sign the bottom edge of mats, but I don’t think this is a good idea as the mat can easily be separated from the print over time. I used an artist’s acid-free pencil and signed the actual print in the lower right corner, just above the bottom edge of the matt. What’s nice about this is that you can see the signature if you look at the print from a certain angle, but it’s not readily visible when you step back to view the framed image.

I’m sure you have more tips or have seen really cool photography exhibit display ideas that have inspired you. Please share them with us in the comments.