New Exhibit!

I'm happy to announce that Public Art of San Antonio has chosen seven of my photographs to be part of a exhibit at San Antonio City Hall starting in January 2015.

The exhibit will be running until July 2015, and will feature several photographers from around San Antonio. I'm told there will be a reception in late January - I'll update my Facebook page when I have more details.

The photographs that were chosen are black-and-white images, taken during my trip to Arizona and Utah in 2013. 

This comes at a great time for me - I've been trying to figure out what my next steps might be while I'm preparing for a big trip next fall (Australia! WOOT!). I'm looking forward to working with PASA - I've heard nothing but good things about their work. 

On that note, happy Holidays to you and yours!

Point the Compass update, and some thoughts on The Wolverine

The show. Theshowtheshowtheshowtheshow. That about sums up the progression in my head these days, with just over five weeks until the opening reception for my first gallery show. #pointthecompass #knowitloveit

I’m trying to squish every detail I can so it doesn’t become an issue later, and so far, so good. The prints are printed, and are currently being framed – with any luck, I’ll be signing them this week.

Among the interesting experiences that have come with this have been getting interviewed for the first time. It’s an interesting experience from the other end, I must say.

The Wolverine has come and gone, marking the end of summer movie must-see blockbuster season.  (Summer movie Netflix season just doesn’t have the same ring to it.)

I thought it started off very strong, dissolved a bit in the middle and rebounded fairly well. It benefits from comparison to the wreckage that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: The Last Stand. Not an adamantium bullet to be seen, thank goodness.

One of the bigger surprises was the effort made to tie The Wolverine into that universe – with all the ballyhoo about him being alone in this movie, the tie-in to his humanity was a very clear reference to the events of X3.

Hugh Jackman continues to bring his A-game to the role, and the fearsome sidekick Yukio, a cross between Jubilation Lee, Hit Girl and Gogo Yubari,  adds some spice to the mix. I hope she makes the transition into the full-fledged X-Universe.

I could have used a little more berserker vs. ninjas, but it sound as if that’ll be appearing in an uncut version on blu-ray. And yes – the mid-credits scene was awesome.

Energy and apathy

Massive celebrations! I've got my first photo show!

How, you ask? (Humor me and ask, would you?)

One of the local libraries has a summer reading program centered on London (the hook is London is hosting the Summer Olympics this year). The Amazing Superwife happens to work at this library, and knew I had a collection of London photos from our trip there a couple of years ago.

(Yes, that's inside information. No, I'm not ashamed.)

I called my show "Toasting London" and put it up last weekend at the Brook Hollow Public Library here in San Antonio. It's a fairly small show - 17 pieces, in total - but it ended up fitting the space well. I did a lot of re-correction and re-cropping of images, and found some new shots in there that I hadn't seen before, which was very rewarding.

How did I celebrate this milestone? (If I was some corporate cliche machine, I'd roll out some nonsense about millstones becoming milestones with enough effort. But I'm not, so nyeah.)

Massive brain-suck! I spent the rest of the weekend playing Skyrim.

Aside from a carnitas burrito from Los Robertos, my celebration was getting sucked into Skyrim. It was an inexpensive celebration, but perhaps lacking in the celebrate. But there was a reason for that.

Sidebar: Skyrim is a prime example of why I rent games before buying.

If it sucks, I can take it back with minimal loss. If it's so damn addicting I can barely leave the couch, I can take it back and remove the temptation from the house. (But it might have snuck onto my Amazon wish list.)

But what this was, really, was recharging and dealing with the post-project hangover. I find that after a big project is completed, I don't want to do anything for at least a couple of days. With several projects winding up at once - stories I've been working on, photo shoots, this photo show - unplugging from work and plugging into something else - was necessary.

So, the celebration continues unabated (the photo show hangs through the end of the summer) and I'm feeling better for having zoned out for a bit.

Movies update: Prometheus was the best thing I've seen this summer since Avengers. All kinds of creepy alien goodness. Men in Black III was agreeable, but didn't really make an impression. Snow White and the Huntsman was decidedly average, on an extreme curve - the visuals were great, but Kristen Stewart was not.

Work update: I've had a new story published by the San Antonio Express-News about our time in Ogunquit after my sister's wedding. There are several other projects on the burner, too.

What, you ask? All in good time...all in good time. As long as I can stay out of Skyrim.