It Was A Dark & Stormy Night....

A cold front bullied East Tennessee last night with gusting winds and showers. It's the kind of night that makes you want to stay in, but it was Friday night and we were childless for the evening, so we headed to downtown Knoxville.

Being the first Friday of the month, we headed to First Friday at the A1 Art Lab in the Old City. Each month they exhibit works of local artists in various media. This month's theme is The Green Theme. Each piece somehow utilized recycled materials.

I'll be honest, I've never been one who cared much for this kind of thing, I'm not into the "artsy fartsy" crowd (or what I perceived as that group). I went once last year just to support a friend who was an exhibitionist....errr.....a friend who was exhibiting his works. Since then we've gone many times and enjoyed it.

"Greta" by Heather Harrison. "Abundancia" by Anna Maria Gundlach. This was a 5-6 feet tall full body piece that was cleverly put together with mjscellaneous pieces that would normally be thrown in the trash. She also had some great clay works. Her clay was some of Alexis' favorites this exhibit.A part of "Consumer Nation" by Eurichea Subagh. She created this set using receipts for her canvas. It was a cool idea and well executed (not to mention a steal at $60, ironically). Unfortunately, my shots of the main piece didn't come out well. This was one of my favorites."Industrial Dance" by Zophia Kneiss composed of recycled steel and quartz. This is a HORRIBLE shot of an excellent piece. I wish I had this one to do over again because it does not do it justice. But if you click on the picture to enlarge and check out the detail of what she's done, you can't help but be impressed with her work.
Artists name and piece title didn't come out on my photo. If someone knows, please leave the info in the comments section so I can update it.
Also artists name and piece title didn't come out on my photo. If someone knows, please leave the info in the comments section so I can update it.
"Corporate Bee" by Peggy Mann. This was my hands down favorite of the night and it wasn't for sale. From straight on, it looks like your typicle office layout map, with offices and cubes laid out. But the map is made of circuit boards and the people in the cubes are Prozac pills. Brilliant idea and great execution, IMO.
Alexis played my photography intern, holding my digital target for me to get a good white balance and helping me switch out lenses.
On the way home, there was a break in the rain, so we stopped off on top of the 11th Street Garage (can you guess where that is?) so I could take a few night city scapes. Of course, they had to include the obligatory nighttime shot of the Sunsphere.
Finally, on the way home, I had to take a slow exposure as we passed a lit up police car on the side of the road. I know it's a bit silly but I like these moving exposure shots.Lessons learned last night:

1. Keep playing with the manual focus on the prime lens. Still don't have it dialed in.
2. BE MORE PATIENT.......NOW. I rushed too many shots. I do that in crowds. Take more time just looking before even starting to compose the shot.
3. Keep this excitement and love for photography up.
   

Nicole B is hosting her second scavenger hunt. I did the first one and it was a lot of fun. It challenges you to hunt for photographs of 25 certain items in your area. People from all over the world did the last one, so you got to see interesting results. Some people went literal on the items while others were very interpretative.

Get over there and sign up. It starts today and runs through the end of the month. You don't have to be a serious photographer to really enjoy this one. It's FUN!