Tuesday, April 03, 2007

An intriguing possibility

I stopped off for dinner last night at Bite. My friend Kirsten was working, and we chatted some in between her duties.

Not long ago, I made a print of the image at left to give to her, since it was taken there at Bite, where she works. I was pretty happy with how it turned out, and I thought she might like a copy. When I gave it to her, she put it on the door of the big refrigerator behind the counter, which is crowded with other pictures, newspaper clippings, the schedule for the waitstaff, and I don't know what else. She said she wasn't sure if she'd just leave it there or take it home. I never saw it again, but was afraid to ask her if she'd taken it home or not. I didn't want to hear that she'd thrown it away.

When we were talking last night, she told me the fate of that print. The owner of the restaurant had seen it and liked it enough to ask her for it.

"Well," I said around my straw. "That'll sure be helpful when I come to ask him if I could do a show here."

I was joking, but not joking. I had planned to approach him this summer, provided I had a sufficient number of shots that I liked well enough to show. Bite rotates out the art on the walls on the first of every month. They've had some nice stuff, and I've actually bought a couple of paintings off of their walls. Seems like they don't do photography all that often, but that might not mean anything. Maybe just more interest from painters.

I was not expecting Kirsten's reply: "Actually, he said 'He gets some stuff in frames, he could show here.'" He apparently said this without any prompting whatsoever. Kirsten didn't even know if I'd have any interest, so it's not like she was hinting at him or anything.

I can get my stuff in frames. Which means maybe I could show some stuff there. I could potentially have a show of my photography on display in public. It's, you know, only in a restaurant, but that still seems pretty exciting to me. Who knows? I might even sell a print or two. Even if I didn't, it'd be a fun thing to do.

I only have a handful of pictures that I would think of as being the kind of quality I'd want to frame for display in public. I don't want to approach him until I have a couple dozen that I would be proud of. I want to be ready to do it before I talk to him.

So now I have further incentive to get out there and take some more photographs, to play with my camera when the weather is fine. In less than two weeks, I'll be finished working for a while, and I was originally planning on immersing myself totally within my novel, but I think I can spare some afternoons to wander, peer, focus and shoot.

Sometimes it is good to get outdoors.

If you'd like to see some more of my photography, click the Flickr link in the sidebar.

21 comments:

Cursed Tea said...

Ok we are equal - you're jealous of the expat experience and I'm really jealous of your camera and fantastic photos and possibility of a show....

Oh and the prospect of writing a novel - I can never seem to find a full format - whishy washy ideas...
I think I'm better at editing others work and critisising it... :)

But seriously, neither of us is dead yet!! Perhaps one day I'll be posting my awesome photos with my awesome camera from my awesome photography show and you'll be blogging about some wonder you've found in you far flung new home!!

Good luck for getting the show up and running!! Can't wait to see more pics!!
Best Wishes
Kirsty

Chris said...

Picture me pouting because no one's asked ME to do a show of my photo's.

Just kidding. That's great news Maht. And to think you thought I was mocking you when I said you had a good eye (even if it is of lesser god status).

heartinsanfrancisco said...

This is great news! A show in a public place is wonderful. When you're ready to roll, you might send something to the local newspaper arts editor, perhaps a flyer with one of the photos on it.

You never know who might see your work. Good luck getting your show together.

basest said...

jeez...give a guy a fancy camera and all of a sudden he's some sort of visual artist.

(it is a good photo...)

Anonymous said...

Congrats, Moon Blobbies. I love your work (as you know).

Don't let this guy off the hook. Strike now -- hit him with a "Yes, yes, I have some things framed NOW." Get it together, pursue him for a date. Way to go.

Unknown said...

Yep, totally agree with goodthomas and the NOW philosophy. I'm sensing a great deal of PROCRASTINATION in the force young Padawan. For some reason I can't find your flickr thingy in the side bar but I remember lots of cool photos and I've only been stopping by here since your competition thing so you have definitely got LOADS of good photos. So come on when's the show?

Anonymous said...

Maht-

Very well done. A few people saw your swing set photograph on my desktop and they really liked it.

--Minty

The Moon Topples said...

Kirsty: OK, I'll tentatively accept the notion that showing photographs in a restaurant is somehow analogous to living a life in a foreign country.

Chris: True, but nobody's writing an article about me for a magazine, either.

HinSF: Thanks for the encouragement and advice. I'm hoping this all pulls together...

Basest: Is this because I never went to college or something?

GT and Verilion: I do intend to pursue this, but jumping at the guy now would result in a show before I am ready. Unless he's changed his modus operandi, he tends to make snap decisions about the show for the following month (he no longer books in advance) and I'd hate to have him say I could show in May and have me not be ready. Also, I don't know what a Padawan is, but I assure you that procrastination is not really the issue in this case.

Minty: I just got a 16x20 print of the swingset that looks pretty good. It's on the short list for possible "showable" pieces right now. Just need to find some good frames and cut me some mattes...

Reading the Signs said...

Lovely news, fine photo. I would also like to wander, peer, focus and shoot but fear I might do damage as I don't have much talent with a camera. But, as you say, it is good to get outdoors.

Ms Melancholy said...

It was meant to be...x

Anonymous said...

Every time you said, "cut some mattes," it kinda creeps me out, Maht.

The Moon Topples said...

RTS: How exactly can you do damage by not being adept at photography? I'm worried you're doing it wrong...

Ms. M: We shall see, I suppose. I hope it all works out.

GT: Tell me what else creeps you out, David. Mwa-hahahahahaha.

Regardless of spelling, there can be only one maht. I shall have to cut the others until only I remain.

Is that what you wanted to hear?

S. Kearney said...

What a shame I won't be able to pop down and see your show. Wow, it's great when things happen, when we start getting out there and get motivated to create! Good on you.:)

basest said...

maht...most definitely...college is the answer to becoming a true artist. without an art degree, you cannot plumb the depths of bullshit that one must to truly create great art. Trust me...I tested the physical limits of a pencil for a drawing assignment. So I learned something. (By the way...if you used more than one pencil throughout your four years of high school, you wasted money.)

The Moon Topples said...

Basest: I have absolutely no idea what most of that meant. Tested the physical limits of a pencil? Meaning you broke it in two? And I think my money wasting is far beyond the extra ten cents a pencile would have run me. Just today I got an eight-CD collection of Andy Partridge home demos in the mail.

Anyway, I'm glad you went to college and all. Given the chance to remake some decisions, I would probably have stayed with it.

I guess I've had to learn about plumbing bullshit outside of the safety of a classroom. Maybe this is why it takes me longer to do some things, and why I have such a low tolerance for bullshit in general.

I do hope you'll come back and explain the two pencil things a little more fully...

The Moon Topples said...

Oops. Hello, Shameless. It is nice when we leave our little bubbles and try another bubble for a while.

You with your play and me with (maybe) and art show. Bloggers are taking over?

basest said...

okay...after the third double rum and coke, i guess i'm having trouble with clarity...and i'll probably write about this particular experiment on my blog, so I don't want to give too much away....

so..in short...the pencil thing. for my advanced drawing class, we were given the assignment to "test the boundries of a pencil as it applied to drawing" or someithing like that...i don't know. I wasn't really paying attention... but whatever the professor said, I decided to go purely conceptual. I think as far as imagemaking , i was othewise engaged in other classes and not terribly motivated for this assignment...

so...I approached the task as if it was a science fair-type project..and I tested a pencil's physical limits...the amount of force it would take to crush the pencil...and a couple other tests (the memory of which are evading me now at this moment). The finlal test was to figure out how much area a pencil could actually cover, and then, using some bullshit math, come up with how many pencils one would go through over the course of four years of high school level testing.

one pencil would do it.

I did not take into account any college prep type tests like the ACT or SAT. So the experiment was really flawed.

My art teacher liked it, though.

I guess I was trying to make a point about the pointlessness of a college art degree, except maybe to be able to bullshit at length about the depth of one's crap.

again...third double rum and coke. I should stop writing now.

Sundry said...

Very exciting. I hope to hear that you have a show up soon! (or later, even) Good for you!

The Moon Topples said...

Sundry: I'm shooting (!) for sometime later in the summer. Thanks for the encouragement. Means a lot from someone I know to be a formidible photog herself.

nmj said...

moon, i love this photo and i was worried that it had fallen off the fridge and been lost or something, so am delighted that the owner wants to exhibit your stuff, how wonderful!

The Moon Topples said...

NMJ: Yes, I am very excited myself. Having learned some of the costs involved in getting the framing right, though, I am worried that this will be another money pit for me.

Still, I'm going to do the best I can, and we'll see what happens.