Each year the City Of Bellingham hosts a photography contest called the Essence Of Bellingham. I entered it in the spring of 2016, when I had only been west a short while. I didn't win. In 2017 I entered again and I was awarded 4 honorable mentions. Woot! One of the images was printed and hung up in city hall for the year. Pretty cool. In 2018, I entered and my photograph of the Tacos El Tule food truck won an honorable mention! The story gets better though. When I posted the news of my award, my friend and a collector of my work could hardly believe it - her husband was from the very small in the middle of nowhere Mexican town known as El Tule! Isn't that just wild? She BOUGHT the photograph to give to her husband for their anniversary. I just love how small and significant the world can be. In making sure the story continued on, I made a print to gift to the folks at Taco El Tule. None of this would have happened if they weren't selling tacos!

I have a bit of experience narrating food truck and pop up restaurant stories

Below are the ten photographs I submitted this year, and here are all the images I set aside to try and pick my final shots from. It's always a fun process. 

When I moved to Bellingham in the fall of 2015,  I became very intrigued by the scape of the water front. Especially the decay of a former granary building and multiple structures remaining from a closed paper mill. At the time, a major waterfront project was underway, there sure was a lot of activity and construction happening! Turns out a competition was had to turn the mill's acid ball into public art. The winners of the competition, Mutuus Studio, a design firm out of Seattle, proposed moving the ball, and coating it with reflective glass beads. The coating had never been applied in this way ever before.

I found myself one afternoon on Central Pier after they had moved the ball, wondering how I could be part of the coating project. I thought it would be a great photography narrative. As an artist I wonder about things like this rather often, but acting on them is sometimes a challenge. I did find the gumption to introduce myself to the design firm, and after a delightful phone conversation, found myself celebrating a yes and permission to photograph the project! WOW!

Having never worked on a construction site before, I had to sign forms, and procure a safety vest and hard hat. Luckily I was able to borrow those from the city. I was told that my being allowed on the site, as an everyday citizen/artist was not something that happened easily. I felt remarkably grateful. I was at the project 8 separate times over a period of two weeks. I clocked in 17 shoot hours, and about twice that in editing. The highlight of the entire gig was the evening when they tested the lighting, the ball had been fully coated, the entire team was present, once darkness fell, and once we figured out how to trigger the reflective beads, it was pretty darn magical!

Another moment for me was on day two. As the first coat of primer was going on, the sky painted itself with the most amazing collection of clouds. The clouds really added to the scape, and really made for some magnificent and unique images!

Before the acid ball could be coated, it first had to be power washed, caulked, and primed. Coating with the beads was tricky, it required two men, and timing was of the essence .  They did the project in three sections, beginning at the top of the ball, and working their way underneath. On the final beading day the painting team had to wrestle with very high winds.

My project portfolio in its entirety is here.  

Below are some of my favorite captures.

To challenge myself in 2018 I decided to make one large 18x24 collage per week. i have always collaged in an 8.5x11 format, very occasionally in 9x12. The dynamic of working larger has been interesting for me. 

Not quite sure of an exact making pattern. some seem to begin in the middle and work themselves to each side. many are morphing faces, and i am actually enjoying that process, especially the sitting and cutting all the faces out. who knew! 

One recently became part of a group show in May. 

All need a written narrative. Some are clear as to what they are speaking to, others are not.

Here is one:

this week's 18 x 24. a ton of narrative in this one. in my past there were people who did not reveal themselves truthfully - they would give you that stone face, and or offer lip service. placate you. sometimes they were one person in certain circumstances - another person in another - even the horse has that stone face look. these people were miserable beings. i could have had the wrangler running off into the other direction i suppose but i sense it's purpose was to put these artificial beings out of their emotional misery. at least symbolically. the rush of color and the force of it's paint strokes show a sense of power/ a get it done-ness, and that small blast of blue is to me like the other side of something. the color blue is a very important part of my life. the original three images chosen for this piece began with the stone faces, the colorful rider and the texture of the mountain scape - it evolved and came together by the morph of that man and the brown of and the stare of that horse. for those following my work - these stories or subconscious reveal are not planned - they arrive as I make. it's part of why I collage, and why I teach collage to others. a tool for emotional sorting and expression.

Not all of this 18x24 work resonates with me, there are even a few of these collages that I don't like very much.  I am glad for the not so good pieces. I can learn from them. Presenting art immediately challenges my budget. 

Hopefully I will find creative ways to share and show these.

An image like this does not actually convey size.