NewsletterAug08

Welcome to the inaugural issue of my photography newsletter. It is my plan to put out a newsletter approximately quarterly. The timing may depend on how energetic or busy I am, and of course how much there is to share. Each newsletter will cover recent projects I've been working on, events, awards, etc., and perhaps even some musings on photography if I am in the mood. I also plan to include a special print offer for one of my images in each issue. These prints will be available at a significantly reduced cost to readers of the newsletter. So, read on, I hope you enjoy it.

I've been using the business name Hawkline Photography along with my name for many years now. But I've gotten advice from several sources recently that artist's should use their own name when marketing their work. Among other things, using your own name distinguishes your work from mass produced work. So, I have decided to follow the advice and gradually switch to just using my name, starting with this newsletter. I will gradually switch all my business references to use my name only. You will see my website listed as larryblackwood.com and my email as larry@larryblackwood.com. Not to worry, however, you can still use the Hawkline Photography name to get to my website or send me email. Both the Larry Blackwood and Hawkline Photography web addresses point to the same place, and the emails go to the same mailbox as well (as does mail from my gmail account if you have been using that address).

Two photographs of mine were recently published in Life Images, (summer 2008 issue). It is a relatively new publication and is not widely distributed yet. But it can be found in Barnes and Noble and well as Borders book stores. Life Images is a bit different from most photography publications in that they require a short commentary or story to accompany each photo. This adds an additional dimension to viewing the photographs. Or at least it does in most cases, I'm not sure my commentary did. The two photographs they published appear below. Both previously appeared in the exhibition of my portfolio of 30 images taken in and around Idaho Falls, ID that hung in the Art Museum of Eastern Idaho last year.

After the publication of my grain elevator photographs in LensWork (issue #75) earlier this year, I put together a proposal for an exhibit of the full portfolio and started shopping it around to various galleries and museums. I am pleased to announce that I recently signed a contract with the Wichita Art Museum in Wichita, Kansas to be the first to host this exhibit. It will run as a one-man show from February to July of 2009. I am particularly pleased to be doing a show in my home town of Wichita. The Wichita Art Museum is the first art museum I ever visited and was my first exposure to serious art. I still remember a number of the sculptures and paintings I saw there as a kid. So I am happy to be returning to the museum to show some of my own work. This is kind of a "home-town boy makes good" story for me.

The Link Gallery in Cheyenne, Wyoming has been showing my work since June. I stopped in the gallery on a trip to Kansas. I was very impressed with both the gallery and the owner Rebecca Barrett. The Link is housed in the front part of what used to be a movie theater in the historic downtown area of Cheyenne. Since I was coming from an art show in Casper, I had all my work with me and Rebecca, whose art training is actually in photography, agreed to take a look at it. She was very excited about it and it was obvious that she would do a good job of promoting my work, so we signed an agreement then and there and I left 20 pieces for her to show. The Link represents some very impressive artists and I am excited to be able to have my work sold alongside theirs.

I will be wrapping up a busy spring and summer of art shows with Art Fair Jackson Hole in Jackson, WY August 15-17. Previously, I participated in shows in Austin, TX, Wichita, KS, Logan, UT, Casper, WY, Salem, OR, Bellevue, WA, and Park City, UT. This has been a difficult year for art show artists, me included. Some shows go quite well in terms of sales while others do not. Most attribute the poor sales to the difficult economy. In spite of sometimes disappointing sales, the shows have all been great fun in terms of meeting interesting people and seeing what other artists are up to.

A few months ago, I was one of three artists selected to participate in the 2008 Artist-Wilderness-Connection artist in residence program in northern Montana. This program is jointly sponsored by the Flathead National Forest, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, the Swan Ecosystem Center, and the Hockaday Museum of Art. The program places professional working artists in various disciplines in remote forest service cabins in or near designated wilderness areas for up to two weeks. This forest experience is intended to provide a unique experience for the artists to work in, producing work related to their stay. Following the forest experience, a public presentation is arranged and the artist also donates a representative piece of work to the Artist-Wilderness-Connection Program.

I am the first photographer to participate in this program and am honored to have been selected. The other two artists this year are a writer and a musician. It will be interesting to see what they produce as a result of their residencies.

For my residency, I will be staying at the Spotted Bear Ranger District compound at the south end of Hungry Horse reservoir. Sitting on the bank of the Spotted Bear River at its confluence with the South Fork of the Flathead River, it is a perfect jump off point to explore Meadow Creek Gorge, Spotted Bear Lake, and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. In addition to the photographic opportunities provided by the wilderness area, I am also intrigued by the historic 1930s log buildings still in use at the Spotted Bear compound.

The dates of my residency are August 22-30. I'm really looking forward to this opportunity to visit the Bob Marshall Wilderness area and to work on a portfolio of images capturing all that area has to offer. And after a busy summer of road trips to various art shows, I am also looking forward to the chance to settle in to one place, slow down a bit, and concentrate on producing rather than marketing photographs for a change.

If you've made it this far in the newsletter, perhaps you deserve a reward. I am offering a print of one of my images at a significantly reduced price for readers of this newsletter. The current print offer is for this shot of Fountains Abbey:

Fountains Abbey is located near the city of York, England. I took this photograph on a trip several years ago. It is one of the most popular images I sell at art shows. I print this image with a sepia tint as well as a bit of a grainy look to add to the feeling of antiquity. For this newsletter special, I am offering a 9"x 13" print of this image, matted to 16"x20". This size mat fits standard frames available just about anywhere that sells frames (in the U.S. anyway) so no custom framing is required. I normally sell these photos for $85 at art fairs and $95 including shipping on my website. For this newsletter special, the price is $50, including shipping to anywhere in the continental U.S. (Shipping outside the U.S. will require adding the actual cost of shipping to the $50 price.)

If you are interested in this print, please contact me by email at:larry@larryblackwood.com. I will get back to you to arrange payment and shipping. Please respond by September 15, the cutoff date for this offer. All print orders will be processed and shipped the third week in September, if not earlier.