More Than Taking Photos - A Creative Process Blog

Saint Francis
Being printed on paper

Photography was my fun activity. I used it as a tool to paint from, as a way to attract attention to my Facebook Fan Page, a fun thing to do with my sister and a couple friends, and as an excuse to get out of the house. Somewhere in that process it became more. In these trying economic times I sell far more printed photographs than finished paintings. And generally I had to invest no money until someone told me they wanted a print, what size and what platform - what it is printed on.

I was offered the venue of Enchanted Circle Brewery  where I confronted the art if displaying photographs in some place other than my studio. Up until then I submitted printed photos to exhibits and they displayed them. Basically I was dealing with small numbers, and largely individual decisions as to size and platform. So when I was given the opportunity of a solo exhibition at the Trinidad Photography Gallery I was only thinking the number of printed photographs I had and the number I would need.

Until now the vast majority of my photographs live in digital files on my computer. The especially good ones I post on digital media. It is a huge leap to picking 20 to 30 of those which will look good with others, deciding on size, having them printed, ordering the stretcher bars and frames to make them ready to display.

Fortunately I have a printer, an artist with the necessary equipment, I trust and communicate well with. That is huge. I was not totally aware of how huge that was until I talked to other photographers.

Face to Face
Being printed on canvas

Carol is a painter first and the two of us have hung many an exhibit for an artist group we belong to and that experience helped us pick the photos to print from my jump drive of the acceptable to me. Sitting at her computer we visualized them on gallery walls and picked groups three or five which would compliment each other.

Doesn't help that when it comes to photography I am all over the place. Basically I am a landscape photographer who also loves digitally painting on the computer. And of late I have come to black and white photography.

Storm on the Road to Raton
18 x 28 on artists canvas hanging in my studio

Then to complicate it all more I won two firsts and two seconds in a state contest, one of which was butterfly below. I generally don't do flowers but I have three already printed hanging at the airport I can pull which will go with the one below.

Show Off
Being printed on canvas

I finally decided to throw caution to the winds and print more than I needed so I could pick and choose. I have the brewery to interchange with and what doesn't fit anywhere else goes in the studio.

Supplies as to stretcher bars, frames, and mat board arrive this afternoon via UPS. Well, the first wave. As Carol called me today with changes in sizes I placed more stretcher bar orders. This is all expensive and alters my little hobby to a major part of Binford-Bell Studio. Fortunately there are opportunities beyond the May show in Trinidad to offer my wares for sale. And photographs you can sell more than once. I do limit my signed prints.

Meanwhile I am trying to inventory all my photography going to the show or not and put them on a spread sheet like my paintings. Previously they were written notes in a journal.

Who knew when I said yes to this exhibit it would mean so much work which does not include the camera. It misses me.

Heading Away
Being Printed on Canvas

Situation Normal
Being printed on canvas 30 x 20