Day 14

Last night was the awards ceremony at the Orange County Fair. There were over 1000 accepted photographs this year, and out of all of those, just look at what my two little ones were doing!:

Left: Sown, Purchase Prize

Right: Newberry Springs, off Rt. 66, First Place for Non-Tradition Prints; Purchase Prize

copyright Jennifer Geisert

My photos are now included in the permanant collection of the Orange County Fair, and the hope is that they'll go on to be exhibited around Orange County. I'll be notified of where they'll be on show, places like airports and whatnot. Yay!

Me and My New Friend With the Awsome Moustache

July 2008

copyright Jennifer Geisert

This year's fair theme is "Say Cheese", and in addition to there being lots of cheese-related items (hats, giant blocks of chedder that are being carved...), there was also a whole building dedicated to cameras and the photographic process and history. There was a giant camera obscura set up, and there were cases filled with old cameras. I spotted another version of the Kodak Duraflex I have, as well as my Brownie Starflex that I was taking for a test drive last night. (I'm finding it far more fiddly than my Duraflex.) Lots of awsome stuff.

See more about the Orange County Fair here.

Day 6

Amboy

Copyright Jennifer Geisert

I feel busy. Work has suddenly gotten crazy, and when it rains, it really does pour. I come home tired, but in a good way. However, I haven't done much in the evenings (like water my tomatos or basil or peppers....again....oops), and I think Netflix is partially to blame for this. Netflix and I are still in the honeymoon stage of our relationship. I've watched more films in the last two months than in the last two years, I think. I'm currently working my way through the first season of One Tree Hill. I began watching the show last September/October on Soapnet every afternoon as I worked in the kitchen on my upcoming exhibition, and I just couldn't understand what the hell was going on, and where all the non-crazy parents were. Now I'm totally addicted.

I've begun applying to exhibitions again. I'll find out next week if I was accepted into the latest one. I've never really thought much about it before, and I'm sure that the fact that I'm thinking about this one an awful lot has somehow jinxed me, but you never know.

I've also gotten shamelessly excited about music, in particular the recent release of Portishead's THIRD album. The first one in 11 years. Wow. I just think that if you are creative and it's what you love to do, you'll never actually retire from it. You'll do it til you die. And while you may take a break, and you may take years to return to it, you WILL eventually return to what you love. Creativity doesn't stop just because you want it to.

Incidentally, the above Polaroid is one I took after a two year break from photography. A friend and I just got in my car and drove to the desert, to Route 66, and spent the day photographing. Unfortunatelly, I think it was possibly one of the hottest days of the year, well over 100 degrees, but we managed. I had the air going full blast, a cooler full of water in the backseat, and sunblock in my backpack. It was an awsome day, and I can't wait for more. Maybe next will be Vegas at night with it's neon.