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Saturday, May 2, 2009

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!

11 comments:

  1. I love these, the city pictures are awesome! That picture of Alexis is stunning as well. You lucky guy. : )

    Glad you two had so much fun last night.

    B

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  2. many interesting shots Chris...the last time i was i tennessee we were surrounded by tornado sirens!!! 34 sightings i believe!!! my mom and i were doing a primitive antique show in the middle of a hay field...made for some fun memories!!!

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  3. This was fascinating...thanks for taking the time to write details about all the art work. It made for very interesting reading.

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  4. What a cool art show....we love that seran-wraped jump roper! It is always amazing to see what artists do. Once, many years ago we saw a gorgeous piece of art made out of dryer lint...now that's recycling!

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  5. 1) Yay for taking Alexis out for the evening (though making her work while on a date is questionable from a girl standpoint, but brilliant from a photographer standpoint!) ;P

    2) I'm going to take a wild stab and say that garage is located somewhere on 11th street...I don't know..these things just come to me...

    3) The art show concept in and of itself is brilliant!

    4) I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE circuit board art! I have a couple of circuit boards myself that I've scavenged that I hope to someday make into "art" as I just happen to be one of those artsy fartsy types...

    5) All of your photos are AWSOME!

    Stacie

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  6. Great city shots and I enjoyed the art you shared. A nice theme for an exhibition and some really interesting pieces. I can't imagine buying any of it to hang on my walls, but it was fun to look at :)

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  7. Interesting use of Saran Wrap! I like the blurred neon sign and the pills on circuit board shots...you, I have not even begun to figure out my camera yet, but I know what you mean about being impatient before you know what it is you are shooting, but people do not hold still, and its gone in the blink of an eye...

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  8. really, what is it about moving lights that compels us click? :) ]

    quite liked your cityscapes, and i need to keep those 'lessons learned' in my head too :)

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  9. Artsy fartsy people? Well I'm glad you've gone out and enjoyed them because look at the visual treat it gave us. Although, I am surprised you were able to take photos of everything......sometimes artists can be rather fickle about pictures of their work. I love the portrait ones, some of the make me go "Ahhh ok" and some just induce blank stares.
    Of course, the best picture of the bunch is your beautiful wife~
    Rebecca

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  10. stunning city scapes, Chris. I'm jealous. I love the first art portrait shot, and I also love the idea of Green artistry. This was a really great post. Thanks for showing it to us who couldn't be there!

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  11. city pics r just awesome!!!!I love photography!!

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