5 Jahre art gallery ryf - Einladung zur Vernissage am: Donnerstag 12. März 2009 von 18 - 22 Uhr

'By God, she's a beauty!' Claude muttered to himself. Here it was, the very thing, the model he'd tried in vain to find for his picture, and, what's more, posed nearly as he wanted her! A bit on the thin side, perhaps, and still with something of the undeveloped child about her, but so supple, so fresh, so youthful! And yet her breasts were fully formed. How the devil had she managed to hide them last night? Why hadn't he even suspected what she was like? This was a find, and no mistake!
From The Masterpiece, By Emile Zola


I am stunned that in a couple of days a few of my photographs will be part of a photography exhibit. Last summer I was painting the house and running, art just a memory. Now I am back at it, working hard, and selling.

The owner even gave me a webpage at his gallery site - thanks Erich!

There are so many variables involved. I mean, having the luck to have good equipment and a pro darkroom. Being able to cross paths with people and things which mean something to me. To point the camera at these people and things and hope for the best. Bringing that feeling of love into the darkroom and trying to salvage just a tiny portion onto paper - how crazy is that, trying to transfer an emotion to a picture! Then finding that sometimes the picture does indeed contain a trace of love and truth. And finally, the frightening experience of showing other people these images. That a few can recognize the love and emotion, and pay money for it, blows me away.

Yesterday I had a short darkroom session, working on just one neg, making 4 prints. 1 came out pretty good. I used a different type of lith developer, LP Superlith. It pretty much does the same thing as LD20, but I like Superlith better because it is not as toxic.

I was once 25, No. 6
Chicago River

Today I was feeling the fire, printed 4 or 5 negs, and I believe I made a few nice prints. Below a couple of Print Info sheets from the session :

Maybe I had the old energy of youth because I was printing from negs made when I was 25. The more I look at the old negs, the more I fall in love with who I once was. I had the passion, the desire, and I worked my ass off. I was living a pure life - no TV, drugs, or greed for unreasonable things like money and power. One of my co-workers at Morningstar, David G., once told me I was living with blinders on. Although he did not mean it as a compliment, I took it as such, because my whole life was built around an obsession with art, and without blinders I was surely going to fail.

In a way I am still living the pure life - no TV, drugs, car, and still no money, although I probably spend too much time in front of the computer reading Yahoo sports and running blogs :)

I have never made more than $24,000 a year, and yet I have always had enough cash to do what needed to be done. The past 2 years I have averaged $12,000 a year, pre-tax - how the fuck do I survive? The older I get the less money I am making.

Sure, I'd like $100,000 so that I would never have to be a wage slave again, but maybe there is something to be learned from having to work at jobs that suck - having to be around people who are violent, crazy, or just plain mean, puts my life philosophy to the test on a daily basis. If I did not have to work I would probably talk to 1 or 2 people a week at the most, thus never being put into the fire.

The last two days I rode my bike at the cemetery. 50 minutes of hard loops yesterday, and today my best effort so far, 90 minutes of looping hard, in the rain. It was 65 degrees, and beautiful to be riding at top speed with rain and mud flying at me with every turn of the wheel. My legs were caked with grime, and when I got home I saw that my face was speckled in mud - I must have been quite a sight for the passing motorists, all clean and dry in their cars.