For the love of...

Photography.

What a way to struggle. I decided that what has made sense for me all along is to be an artist producing contemporary photographic images to share with the world. I've felt this since I was young but never believed it fully until last week when I was able to show myself that I could pull out all the stops for my very first public outing as a contemporary fine art photographer. Nothing has ever taken so much effort but felt so effortless at the same time. Bliss :)

The first week of preparation went very smoothly. Scanning in images, immersing myself in my work for the first time in a few years, where it was all about me and my process. The second week went even better as I scoured antique shops, a church rummage sale and thrift shops for the right frames for the images. Then staining them in between scans. I was having the time of my life.

Around week three my luck began to change. Which of course week three was my final week. Obstacles arouse around me the instant it came down to printing, matting and framing. To start the week off, I took a half day off. Tom was home for one evening and we were going to see each other no matter what. He had to leave the next day again for 4 days. The time off was OK I had most of the next day to print. At least that was my plan until 4 PM Tuesday came. I was working on resizing my 4000 dpi scans to 300 and just let me friend go on the phone when I heard and felt the most scary rattling that shook the whole house, alongside a very eerie sound not quite like the wind.

I thought to myself, "That was too big to be the cats!" [knocking something over] and ran from my office to the porch. There it was, one of the eight trees in our backyard had been twisted and toppled by the wind right onto the roof of the garage. It some how managed to bounce off the corner between the porch and the garage and then came to rest in the entryway to our yard, fitting perfectly within the fence and house. Missing the air-conditioning unit and the fence. The house suffered a through and through grapefruit sized hole in the eve. Which by all standards is getting off lucky in the scheme of things, It could have been much worse. If it weren't for my friends Mark and Sarah coming to our houses rescue, I might have lost my mind.

One day lost, not so bad. Extreme, but not out of the norm for me; at least it was in the space around me not blocking my path as trees have a tendency to do. I could make up the time the next day.

Wednesday: Crunch time. Three days to go. Time to print... I was borrowing a printer and of course a great adventure ensues. I was using roll paper since it is more economical, but maybe not as easy as I had imagined. I've used these printers before but not this model. If anyone else had been with me what happened next might have seemed hilarious. So I am loading the roll paper into the feeder, seems good. I tried to print and nothing was happening. So I hit the power button [note: never do this]. The paper began to feed through the printer in what had to be 3 foot segments. It didn't stop feeding through until, yes I measured, 11 feet of paper had fed off of my 32 foot roll. Of course I had white gloves on and did not spare 1 "F" bomb for later, I used every single one I had! The manual had no solution for the problem and I needed one fast! I called the printer company we spoke for an hour... "I'm sorry mam but you will have to cut the paper from the printer then hit the roll button for three seconds for it to retract." Urg!... Oh well lets get this thing moving... 1 more night lost, let's see if I can print, cut mats and frame in one day. Oh you need to sleep too, some time...

Cut to Thursday... print, spray UV lacquer, cut mats... triptych first... Wow I am not fast and my brain was slowing down time for a three hour nap. Friday April 10 was just a sunrise away and I had to hang at 10 AM... It was down to the wire.

Friday 10:25 AM If it weren't for Brook Pifer being a great supporter [she graciously gave me this opportunity] and allowing me to set up shop in her studio the day of the event to finish cutting mats and hang, and with Tom's help, I don't think I could have made it in time.

By 4:15 PM Tom and I are hanging frames and leaving to get ready for the 7 o'clock start time.

7 PM the show has opened the doors for the SHO Foundation Art SHO fundraiser featuring myself and 3 other local female artists as well as a DJ and some crazy laser projection painting.

From what I have heard two times the anticipated number of people attended. That is pretty amazing! This was a very motivating experience for me.

I would like to thank Brook and the SHO Foundation for giving me this opportunity to expose the public to my work. I would also like to thank the love of my life Tom for coming in on a red eye from LA to be there for me and help me hang with no sleep, Sarah for keeping me company and doing some serious math and her hubby for freeing our house from the clutches of the fallen tree's limb, Laura, Kristin, Denny, Tony, Ken and Ed for making a special effort to be there and show support for me. Thank you :)

For a peek at what work was in the show: http://www.anordinarygirl.com/art_show_2009/

Stay tuned!

~ Tammy