Sara Jane Boyers Aloud

Last Photo of the Year 2011

2011-12-31T19:40:00.001-08:00

Christmas Day 2011

2011-12-25T15:26:00.000-08:00

The beach is beautiful. The weather magnificent with views throughout the basin. Friends abound. It is good to be home today with the way - and weather - in which we Southern Californians understand the holiday.

The Happiest of Holidays

2011-12-18T19:00:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving Day 2011

2011-11-24T19:24:00.001-08:00

Our plans turned around on Thanksgiving Eve and we were unable to join family out of town today. Disappointed not to be with others, yet it was a stunning day in Los Angeles and we drove up the coast for, what else does a Californian do when the weather turns magnificent? And magnificent it is in the Southern California fall: no fog, no rain, the ocean and the mountains reach for forever.

With dog and husband, we drove for 120 miles from the Santa Monica beach up through Oxnard. Not that far. There and back. But what a range: from black lava rocks at the beach below Pt. Mugu; to the end of the '50s/'40s? Wagon Wheel Restaurant & Hotel, the old road tourism passed by and forgotten by concrete freeways and finally demolished to make way for condos; to the Missile Park by the Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station - a somewhat surreal reminder on this American holiday of that which we wish to forget - the air power and missiles of our defensive world - standing stationary and silent.

In the end, a day perhaps not of family but certainly one of thought. An American road trip of sorts.

Community/Halloween

2011-10-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

8:08 on Halloween by the beach in Los Angeles. Weather probably in the 70s and free of the now seemingly omnipresnt fog. Three cats and two dogs closed in upstairs. Gates open. Pumpkin carved and lit. Luminarias with votive candles, lights framing the walkway, scary toys and candy in place since 5pm. Ridiculous headbands set on head and lipstick polkadots around the face.

Yet so few trick-or-treaters.

Dark houses all around.

Halloween has become disappointing for those of us without the young kiddies in our nest. Even more so since parents now take their children elsewhere, in search of the greatest gain or the greatest entertainment. Behind our gates we may exist but on Halloween the portals open up to ghosts, scary beasts, cinderellas, pirates, Frodos, lions and tigers and beasts, oh my, on All Hallow's Eve. But what is the use of the open gate if none cross through?

What those who take their children elsewhere do not realize: the treasure hunt for the "best" can too quickly turn into loss. When Halloween becomes a time of acquisition - the greatest amount of candy - but not of neighborhood connection, it becomes just another event. Connection in a block is about character. About individuals who chose to live in the next apartment, in the next home, in the next block. It is about getting along with/getting to know those around you. Asking something from them - the candy - but also giving of oneself - the pleasure an older neighbor takes in the costumes and enthusiasm of children grabbing those handfuls and handfuls of sweets. It is a moment to visit, albeit oh so quickly, and to admire and talk.

And for the neighbors who avoid the holiday: their loss as well. Their aging or avoidance should not exclude their interest in the newcomers. Halloween is one of the few times that we all can come together in a ostensibly non-religious, non-political, just "neighborly" event.

At the turn of this century when working on my book for teens on civic activism, I was equally enchanted and dismayed by Robert Putnam's book, BOWLING ALONE, where he comments on the decline of social intercourse and that the opportunity for communication with our fellow societal participants in this great scheme of life was waning. The more we converse and associate only with "like" fellows, Putnam says, the less we understand the greater scheme.

When neighbors choose not to participate in the one communal holiday of the year; when parents take our children where they can find the greatest material gain or for "safety" even when children have been scaring each other and themselves down the neighborhood streets for generations, we all lose. For real gain is best measured in meeting their neighbors and interacting with each other.

This is community - for the good and occasionally for not - but this is what holds us together and helps us understand how to go forward with a diverse population. Today with protestors down at your neighborhood OWS, with educators, family and friends wondering what has happened to our American society where we cannot seem to find a common ground that works for specific solution notwithstanding the grander ideological differences, and with generations lost in a world narrowing each day as others categorize our "likes" and preferences, community becomes all the more precious. Halloween, candy, scary cats aside, somehow seems like a good idea in so many ways these days.

Downtown Sunset and all the art.

2011-10-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

Amazing light while driving Downtown after an unexpected short rainstorm to a number of Art Events including the VIP openings of ArtPlatform, a new contemporary art fair in Los Angeles, Pulse (which I never made but will this weekend for it is the introduction of PULSE New York/Miami into LA), and MOCA's opening of a serious new exhibition, UNDER THE BLACK SUN, all about political art practice in California from 1974 & 1980

Some quick pics of downtown Los Angeles and from the art fairs. With all the imagery surrounding, it was perfect that LA itself shone. We saw the sunset waning but pics of last night are all around the web, a lot on FB, for all of us LA are captivated by that incredible moment when the city is washed clean, the marine layer lifts and the mountains themselves are spotlit. Brings us all to the moment we or our parents fell in love with this perfect geographic space to be.

From the car (for it IS LA and isn't that where we view almost everything?):

From the art fairs:

It keeps getting better!

2011-10-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

On Friday, my gallerist Craig Krull called to say that Peter Frank, an art critic & curator whose words and views I so respect, had written a review of my just closed show FINDING CHINATOWN in the October issue of Fabrik Magazine. (pg. 54).

So honored! Also delighted that Peter really seemed to have "gotten" what the work is about.

At ArtPlatform last night (next post), I walked around after gathering approx. 10 copies of Fabrik.

International Photography Awards

2011-09-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

I just discovered today that I received TWO honorable mentions in the IPA International Photography Awards! Both were for my 747 WING HOUSE submissions in the "PRO" categories: Architectural/Buildings & Architectural/Other.

Since thousands submit to these awards, including many well known photographers, being among the few "honorable mentions' is itself such an honor.

747 Wing House

2011-08-19T20:49:00.001-07:00

The summer has been spent so involved with preparation for the FINDING CHINATOWN exhibition, still up at Craig Krull Gallery, and meeting several other project deadlines that continuing the photography at the 747 WING HOUSE has been put aside as the owner slowly decorates, the landscape continues to change and grow. However, I was fortunate to spend an overnight there, the first of several I hope for the opportunity to watch the light within and without the house as the interaction of the windows' transparency, the glimmer from the wings and the added interior color will instantly highlight an image only a moment past still unseen, and then it will change.

It was also an opportunity to catch those first and last moments of the day reflected in this most striking subject.

It is a new type of photography for me and some experiments worked. Some did not. I'll be reviewing what I've shot for a while but here are the first two. At a black mountain midnight, out in the landscape with a waning but bright moon casting ambient light that the camera picks up even if I do not, the coyote packs howling and moving through the canyons, it was magic.

Above: in the first light of day.
Below: the last.

FINDING CHINATOWN reviewed in LA TImes!

2011-08-11T17:11:00.001-07:00

And with almost one 1/2 page in the print edition!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/08/art-review-sara-jane-boyers-at-craig-krull-gallery.html

and a "Critics' Pick" later in the month!

GRIDLOCK

2011-08-11T14:24:00.001-07:00

Capturing the message....and the sound, from the New York Times today, Thursday 11 August..
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/arts/music/when-gridlock-is-music-the-streets-provide-a-serenade.html?_r=1&ref=music

The Art of Summer /The Contrapuntal Sounds of Gridlock

I know those sounds too well from my multi-year photographic study on Gridlock

FINDING CHINATOWN, Opened At Craig Krull Gallery

2011-07-31T23:12:00.001-07:00

With three blogs, I always have to figure out where to place news....

That said, the fact that the opening of my first solo show of my decade-long photographic project, FINDING CHINATOWN, was absolutely packed is worth placing on all three! More on my FINDING CHINATOWN Blog.

Kite Day with Tyrus

2011-07-24T08:11:00.001-07:00

Beautiful day at the beach with Tyrus Wong and his family and friends.

Tyrus brought out his swallow kites, one of his earliest: "35 years old," he says, from his kite-making 40 years. "When I flew it, I had approximately 25 swallows up in the air." The hand painting of the swallows, the claws still beautifully depicted on the body, possibly with felt-tipped pens, take the appearance of a lovely watercolor. On each swallow, Tryus' name and phone number, probably if the kite ever broke away.

While I was there, the delicate nature and natural destruction of the bamboo structure made the kites at first hard to fly. But after I left, I hear that they were up. Tyrus promises to bring 20 of them next time, August. I cannot wait.

Below, a centipede just about to lift off.

Lines at Bergamot for Chain Letter Exhibition

2011-07-22T20:00:00.001-07:00

Arriving at 9am to check in at 10am, hard even then to find a parking space as Martin Cox, my sometime co-curator, and I stand at already the 109th in line of an expected 1,000+ for Doug Harvey and Christian Cummings' show, CHAIN LETTER. In the chain letter/email that I received, the show is "based on admiration," sent by a photographer friend who tells me to send it on to 10 additional friends, all of us who are willing to then bring an artwork on today, Friday 22 July, to the Shoshana Wayne Gallery for exhibition.

And so we did, taking it for what it is, a piece that will possibly piled upon for it is a large gallery but not for 1000+artists with, as we saw, a huge and immense and often VERY LARGE variety of work. Our work is flat, a photograph, "Here's looking at you."

Some pics from the art/social day as we stood.

Don't know if I will brave tomorrow night's opening....

YouTube

2011-07-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

My first YouTube video: On the 405 on Carmageddon Weekend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc3Zg0cn9kA
Driving ALL ALONE through the Sepulveda Pass.

Watch for louder noise as I lift the little Leica D-Lux5 out of the open sunroof .... freeway wind noise is loud. It quickly leaves.

Carmageddon/FirstPicsSaturday

2011-07-16T18:30:00.000-07:00

From the Sunset Boulevard Bridge looking North.
Home by 5:30 after being out and about in WLA since 1pm. No traffic. Not on Sunset Boulevard which is usually a nightmare as it narrows before the 405. Not on North Sepulveda, the main artery through the pass other than the 405, the one I am old enough to remember taking from the beach to the ever-so-distant San Fernando Valley before there was a 405.

I was racing up (but not too fast. There are HUNDREDS of police and CHP out there!) Sepulveda because of a kind offer from Officers Karen Fowler (sp?) & Sara Faden of the Media Relations Section of LAPD who invited me to join the 1:30pm "Media Walk" on the 405, right south of the Mulholland Bridge. And there at 1:30 I was, walking down the exit ramp North of the Skirball Bridge, onto the north side of the 405. First pics downloaded here, including some on the south side of the 405 (I sneaked over).

For someone who has spent her life since age one in LA, this was like being in a candy store. I photographed and photographed with both my larger Canon as well as my trusty Leica D-Lux5, the camera I've been using throughout the Gridlock series.

And then, what I did not realize: the public could still enter the southbound side of the freeway from the Skirball Bridge and enter I did to find myself alone on this immense landscape of yellow and white stripes. I resisted the urge to weave but was in this state of heightened awareness as I rolled along the vacant concrete both north and south; the hewn mountains that formed both the natural and the later widened Sepulveda Pass; and me.

Alone I remained until Sunset Boulevard when a second car entered and with only one more addition around Wilshire Boulevard, we danced the freeways until south of the E/W 10. I was in an adrenaline rush.

Above: first pics from my walk on the freeway and a moment on the Sunset Boulevard Bridge, also in transition/widening. More to come. Still downloading.

GRIDLOCK

2011-07-16T10:34:00.001-07:00

CARMAGEDDON/LA 405 is upon us. The freeway, a major N/S route through the Los Angeles basin is closed for the weekend to provide for the demolition of one side of a major bridge, the same closure to be repeated in six months for the demolition of the other side. All to improve traffic flow in my city.... or so they say.

I will be out photographing on the 405 today/tomorrow in connection with my long-term project, GRIDLOCK, a project that is very much about being a Californian, about being in a car, about being stuck in traffic. It was first exhibited in 2010 MOPLA Pro'ject LA 160 Photographers Photograph Los Angeles.

From my website: "I am photographing from my driver's window, mainly with my viewfinder-less Leica D-Lux3/now D-Lux5. Stopped. Crawling. Trapped. Riding on the clutch as I stay in 1st should the flow move on. Immobile in a place of presumed mobility. Hoping to catch that elusive abstraction even while those behind me glower and gently nudge my car along."

Due to a knee injury last summer I recently had to abandon my 5-speed standard shift car and in so doing, although I have continued the series, a major element of the chance and risk of the project has lessened and it feels like the project may be coming to an end. So.... I have decided that Carmageddon seems like a good time, the possible ultimate GRIDLOCK.

Thus today and/or Sunday, I plan to try to be somewhere in my car on the freeways or highways, probably on the 405 south of the 10, to experience and document what is happening in the same manner as I have conducted the series. Again, it is always about chance and as is seen so far, it could be a Y2K bust or, I may never get off.

So far, traffic seems to be light but I'll see firsthand in a couple of hours. http://www.405la.com

I will post some photographs during the weekend!

FINDING CHINATOWN: The Exhibition Catalogue

2011-07-16T10:32:00.001-07:00

It's out and available at Craig Krull Gallery, even before the show (Opening Saturday July 30th)!
info@craigkrullgallery.com

See more at FINDING CHINATOWN blog.

On Photography Projects & Books

2011-07-13T10:05:00.001-07:00

photo from Schilt Publishing Catalogue 2011
I picked this up on the FB Flak Photography Book page. I had met Donald Weber at a FotoFest review and have been a fan of his work. That said, his clarity about his intentions and the actual process of creation of his new book/project INTERROGATIONS on the linked interview from dvafoto and his book website http://interrogationbook.com/ is instructive.

I've written about editing before. As a writer and photographer I, like Donald, understand the symbiotic nature of both, even when a book is not the ultimate goal.

747 WingHouse on the Architect's Newspaper Blog

2011-06-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

Featured by Sam Lubell in their "Sneak Peek" last week: some of my photographs from the Wing House. It's getting there!

747 House Sneak Peek
http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/18210#more-18210

Here are several new ones that I really like as well:

Working Dogs in the Garden When I'm Working

2011-06-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

Here's the thing about working dogs: They want to work but they don't want you to, unless you're working for them. Here's also the thing about the cats: They too could care less if you put the basil in the proper pot.

Black Rothko. The Chapel. David Novros

2011-06-13T07:08:00.000-07:00

Christopher Knight, Art Critic for the Los Angeles Times, shared this talk delivered by the artist, David Novros, on the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the De Menil-commissioned Rothko Chapel in Houston, TX.

Painted Places and Patronage by David NovrosROTHKO CHAPEL, HOUSTON, TEXAS | FEB. 12, 2011

The Rothko Chapel is one of my favorite places to be silent and absorb contemplative emotive work. Dark. Pulsating. Powerful. Spiritual.

A second collection of paintings from this era sits at in the Rothko Room at the Tate Modern. Originally commissioned for New York's Four Seasons Restaurant, the paintings became overly dark and moody and Rothko withdrew from the commission and gave them to the Tate. The tale of this adventure fits nicely into Novros' discussion of place, patronage and the oft sterility of museum exhibition and purpose. http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2002/dec/07/artsfeatures

In a year of death and loss some years ago, while at the opening of Art Basel, I turned a corner at Basel's Kunsthalle and encountered a black Rothko. Its effect on me was stunning and I sat in front of it and wrote a cathartic poem, releasing the guarded emotion of time passing.

Published in an anthology, Strangers To Us All, it is below.

Novros' talk concerns artistic vision, the importance of place intertwined with vision and the benefits of patronage and what that means. Whether the Chapel or the sad discussions presently concerning the Barnes Collection, the relationship between art, its creators and the public/private inspiration is intriguing.

That said, the powerful black Rothko's for me elicit response wherever.

AsianPacific Heritage Month

2011-06-09T08:24:00.001-07:00

May, just passed, is Asian Pacific Heritage Month.

In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs published a terrific cultural guide and calendar. Three of my downtown Los Angeles Chinatown images from FINDING CHINATOWN are in there.

Looking forward to my summer show at Craig Krull Gallery in Los Angeles (Bergamot Station, Santa Monica), opening on Saturday, 30 July.

Pacific Resonance

2011-05-10T06:11:00.000-07:00

Martin Cox, my co-curator, and I and our terrific participating artists have created an excerpt of our presentation for our April MOPLA "Project LA, Part TWO" performance.

It will soon be on MOPLA's website. Of course, every image (and music) is copyrighted by the respective participating artist and the movie has a compilation copyright, ©Copyright Sara Jane Boyers & Martin Cox. Credits as follows:

PACIFIC RESONANCE, A MOPLA PRESENTATION
PRO'JEKT LA Part TWO
12 April 2011 Space 15TWENTY, Hollywood
Curated by Sara Jane Boyers & Martin Cox
Music Composed, Produced & Recorded by Michael Intriere
Photographic Artists:
Sara Jane Boyers
Martin Cox
Nicola Dill
Ann Mitchell
John Rosewall
Magnus Stark
Svjetlana Tepavcevic

We are thankful to everyone who came out that night and of course to the Month of Photography Los Angeles who believed in our more "conceptual" piece.

Sunset/747Wing House

2011-05-04T23:42:00.001-07:00

The 747 Wing House is nearing completion and it's been a joy to be up there. Working with sunset glow and night impressions.

Tonight, up there with architectural photographer Douglas Hill. Cannot wait to see his shots! Here one or two of mine from tonight:

View from lower wing/studio roof.

Between the wings.

Pics From PACIFIC RESONANCE, MOPLA

2011-04-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

It was a terrific night, something different for the LA photographic scene and MOPLA loved it. They want a short edit for their website. Lots of attendees during the two-hour loop of this 33 minute projection/performance.

We too were moved by viewing this on screen in this perfect little outdoor venue for between Michael Intriere's emotive cello performance and the very complex but often abstract imagery from all of our participating photographers, we (Martin Cox and I who co-curated) were delighted with the way all of this worked.

Thinking about where to next take it.

MOPLA: PRO'JEKT LA PART TWO: PACIFIC RESONANCE

2011-04-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

Come join us Tuesday, 12 April between 7 & 10pm for an evening of meditative imagery and sound, the photographs alternating between manipulated abstraction and powerful intense focus into natural landscape and atmosphere. We love the concept of this quiet moment with Michael Intriere's emotive recorded cello composition, Seashore, playing along with our images, all being projected at Space 15Twenty, itself full of the reverberation of LA's dreams and surrounded by the lights and clatter (Amoeba Music!) of Hollywood.

PACIFIC RESONANCE is our show.
Exploring MOPLA's 2011 theme "Adaptations and Reverberations," Sara Jane Boyers and Martin Cox have curated a night of natural and composed abstraction, seen from a diverse set of photographic investigations by seven noted Los Angeles-based photographers observing light refraction, moisture, surface and depth, colour and light, permanence and impermanence, timelessness and elemental concerns, all relating conceptually to the landscape and emotion of Los Angeles itself.

Images will be projected in a public square, Hollywood's Space 15TWENTY, with a specially recorded musical component as part of MOPLA's annual projection series, Pro'jekt LA FROM 7 to 10pm - ADMISSION FREE with RSVP to ProjektLA2@monthofphotography.com

Musician Michael Intriere, (a stalwart of the Los Angeles avant-garde art and music scene since the late 1970s), has composed and recorded cello compositions; SEASHORE I and SEASHORE II, which will accompany the projected photography.

Exhibiting Photographers:
Sara Jane Boyers www.sarajaneboyersphoto.com
Martin Cox www.martincox.com
Nicola Dill www.nicoladill.com
Ann Mitchell www.ann-mitchell.com
John Rosewall http://www.johnrosewall.net
Magnus Stark www.magnusstark.com
Svjetlana Tepavcevic www.svjetlanat.com

MOPLA2012/PRO'JEKTLA PART TWO: PACIFIC RESONANCE: Tuesday, 12 April from 7 to 10, Space 15TWENTY, 1520 N. Cahuenga Boulevard, LA 90028 http://www.space15twenty.com/

April: Poetry Month

2011-03-31T10:28:00.000-07:00

Poetry: The clarity of word and phrase. The reduction to powerful meaning and story contained in one gesture.

Poetry has affected my writing and my photography always. My first two books for youth were all about contemporary art and poetry.

So it is with pleasure that each year April brings us Poetry Month. As always, I am subscribed to Knopf's terrific "Poem A Day,"

This year, quite a few friends and children's writer colleagues are also doing their own poem-a-day or variation thereof. Cannot wait to be immersed in poetry for a whole month and wake up to these incredible moments! (Thanks to April Halprin Wayland for sending me to Kidlitosphere and her own compilation of this list).

Susan Taylor Brown will post Lessons Learned (Mostly About Me) in a Poem-a-Day at http://susanwrites.livejournal.com

April Halprin Wayland will be writing and posting an original poem a day during April.
http://www.aprilwayland.com/poetry/blog

Liz Garton Scanlon will give us her third year of a Haiku-a-Day every day in April!
http://liz-scanlon.livejournal.com/

Jone MacCulloch will post 30 Days-30 Students: A poem a day from students http://maclibrary.wordpress.com

A Poem A Day: A Personal Journey https://deowriter.wordpress.com/?ref=spelling

Poetry Postcard Project: Have a student written and decorated poem sent to your
home. Email her at macrush53 @yahoo. com.

Gregory K. will present 30 Poets/30 Days -a whole month of never-before-seen poems by a slew of fabulous poets writing for kids. http://gottabook.blogspot.com

Jama Rattigan will present her 2nd Annual Poetry Potluck (original poem and favorite recipe by guest bloggers) at http://jamarattigan.livejournal.com

Irene Latham will host a month-long Poetry Party: poetry quotes, trivia, craft tips, publishing resources & free books! http://irenelatham.blogspot.com

Andromeda Jazmon will be doing her fourth year in a row of haiga (original haiku + my photos) at A Wrung Sponge http://awrungsponge.blogspot.com.

Janelle at Brimful Curiosities will host a National Poetry Month Kids Poetry Challenge challenge in which kids are invited to create pictures for the poems she posts each Friday. For details: http://www.brimfulcuriosities.com/2011/03/kids-poetry-challenge-national-poetry.html

National Poetry Month Poetry Friday schedule:
a.. April 1 http://poemfarm.blogspot.com/
a.. April 8 http://www.madiganreads.com/
a.. April 15 http://randomnoodling.blogspot.com/
a.. April 22 http://bookaunt.blogspot.com/
a.. April 29 http://www.tabathayeatts.blogspot.com/

Chinese New Year: The Year of the Rabbit

2011-02-08T08:59:00.000-08:00

Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Xīn Nián Kuài Lè!

Below is my annual greeting with images captured this year, last week in fact, at the Eve and beginning of the Chinese New Year/Spring Festival. This year started on February 3rd and the 15 day celebration ends with the Lantern Festival on February 17th. The year itself will end in January of 2012.

The photographs of this annual greeting are part of my long-term project, FINDING CHINATOWN, a study of Chinatowns in the United States and Canada. The project will have its first solo show this summer at the Craig Krull Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, CA.

Many cities throughout the world will be celebrating the New Year in many ways, from parades, firecrackers, and prayer at the many temples and shrines. Most importantly, the Chinese New Year is a time for families to be together and the migration home represents one of the largest annual migrations in the world.

We are blessed here in Los Angeles to be part of such a multi-cultural community and culture that our Chinese-American neighbors share with us so willinging and graciously.

Here is my greeting.

A Tree Falls In The Canyon

2011-01-07T21:26:00.001-08:00

and everyone notices.

Busy Holiday Week

2011-01-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

From the swirl of holiday parties to a windy cool day at the beach to visit with Tyrus Wong and family for his monthly kite fly to a day between storms up at the top of Malibu to photograph the 747 Wing House, still in construction. Between holidays is not necessarily that restful but it IS creative!

And best of course is seeing my work and that of many of my fellow photographers on Aline Smithson's excellent LENSCRATCH blog. Her New Years Day curation of favorite photographs from photographers is incredible but do not skip over Aline's New Year's Eve post, a rare post about her own work.

Some pics from all of this posted on this chilly but brilliant New Years Day in Los Angeles.

Tyrus Wong, 26 December 2010 at 100 years+

My favorite image of the year posted on Lenscratch, Wing Abstract from the 747 Wing House Project. More to see on my website and photoshelter archive sites.

And new pics from the 747 Wing House Project, photographed between the rainistorms at the end of 2010. I am in love with these construction phases, contrasting often the many elements of structure with the beautiful environment in which it is situated.

Holiday pics

2010-12-22T07:22:00.000-08:00

It is the time of year for holiday greetings and for making a small limited edition gift print. Thought I'd post some of the cards and images here.

Tyrus Wong at 100!

2010-10-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

Out yesterday at the Santa Monica Beach to spend time with California - and national - treasure, Tyrus Wong who is celebrating his 100th Birthday as he does best(!): out monthly flying his handmade kites with the large attendance of Kim Wong and many family and friends!

Happy Birthday Tyrus! Here are some pics:

More on Tyrus on my 1 January 2010 post.

Catching Up

2010-10-24T08:30:00.001-07:00

Almost six months since the last post. A busy time with much to do including organizing and co-curating an exhibition of photograhers at the request of LACMA's curators: SUMMER MIX, an exhibition of work from the Annenberg Department's Photographic Arts Council.

Then, a composition of my photographs of the 747 Wing House has been on exhibit at the Pasadena Museum of California Art in their Design Biennial, accompanied by the model of the house designed by architect, David Hertz.

A busy Fall, continuing work on the Chinatowns Project in preparation for my show next year at the Craig Krull Gallery, in Santa Monica, CA

And best, out on the Beach this weekend to celebrate with Tyrus Wong, his 100th Birthday! The kites are still gorgeous and Tyrus is going so strong! See next post!

Do Photographers Need to Write Well?

2010-04-11T08:08:00.001-07:00

A photographer/professor friend, Ann Mitchell, has asked several photographers the following:
"From some of my students, I often get the 'Photographers don't need to write well [for] a photograph is worth...' response. Has it been important for you to write well as a photographer? If you could send me a few lines as to why it has (or hasn't) been a significant part of your success I'd appreciate it."

The question intrigues me for I am a writer as well as a photographer and the written word underlies much of my work, whether literary or visual. I often write down words from my reading and at times when out photographing, a phrase may return to inspire me, often months later than when it was read. When on a speaking engagement about the two books for youth on contemporary art & poetry that I created and edited, marrying the paintings of known artists with the words of evocative poets, I highlight the "conversation" that thus ensues between the words and the art. That is just what it is when the fine arts weave together. Many times an active collaboration as well.

Writing and writing well for me is an integral part of the creative process and, as a photographer, it is key to how I see and shoot and formulate a project as well as how I may describe it later... for "describe" again is about the word.

This is adapted from my response to Ann:

1. Writing is as much about expression as is photography.
2. Writing is about metaphor. Isn't that what a lot of photography is? A visual expression that can be symbolic of idea and emotion? It takes being able to write well to understand the nuance and true significance of metaphor.
3. Writing well is about searching for the best possible expression, whether in the written word or in the image. It is essential to both.
4. Writing well is an exercise that sharpens the questions and focus of all that is being done photographically.
5. Writing well is about ensuring that the rules are learned. Well. It is only when absorbed into one's psyche and creative process that they can be broken.
6. Writing well is about grammar, spelling and most importantly, editing whether for a note dashed off or for a formal exercise that, when combined with or interpreted into the visual image, creates that picture that may be "worth a thousand words."
7. Writing well can be about collaboration, i.e., working on an idea or an edit with another whose mind and skills you respect to hone what it is you want to say.
8. Writing is having the skill and the knowledge to present oneself in the best possible manner and in this case, writing also includes reading to broaden and understand what is to be expressed. See http://www.simpleartmarketing.com/blog/category/writing-for-artists/

How does knowing how to write and to write well mean in terms of photography?
Learning how to write well enhances the application of those skills to one's photography to achieve what is to be expressed.
Learning how to write well enhances the photographer's ability to articulate what it is that is being done photographically and, can even lead to a different tighter photographic focus when, by editing the statement, that direction is honed.
Learning how to write well enhances the opportunities to enter into the business of photography from
1. Artist Statements
2. Proposals
3. Titling a photograph
4. Creating and preparing a website
5. Writing a blog or even Twitter! The latter: when there are only a few words permitted, they must be right.
6. Preparing a college and/or graduate application
7. Job applications
8. Press releases about the work
9. Grant applications - From a grant website "But this opportunity is often squandered when photographers don't appreciate the importance of the written proposal. "We look for a good idea first and the portfolio second," says David Sutherland, a professor of photography at Syracuse University and administrator of the Alexia Foundation for World Peace student photography contest." A caveat to this quote: many curatorial and gallery friends, while recognizing the importance of the written statement, entirely disagree, saying that in all cases, the work is the first to be viewed, the statement only after.
10. Learning how to write well opens up the range of artistic expression to add to the piece of art being made, whether in a fine art application or commercial.

Writing well is about reading, and reading well, for it may be about "a photo is ... " but it is also always about the word. And the better the word is expressed - through great literature, through poetry, through hip-hop and rap - the better the opportunity for visualization and aesthetic conversation

Here is the visual poetry of Federico García Lorca beginning his Romance Sonambulo:
"Green, how I want you green.
Green wind. Green branches.
The ship out on the sea
and the horse on the mountain. ....."
... or in the original Spanish:
"Verde que te quiero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar
y el caballo en la montaña. ..."

When one reads such words, says them aloud; when one writes down a word or phrase just to savor it for a while, the words - the concept - infuse our being and our photographs.

Writing. Reading. Words. All are about creation, expression, appreciation and adventure. Emotional. Risk-taking. Sensory. Powerful. Edited. Focused.

Wait, are we speaking about writing or are we speaking about photography?

FotoFest and MOPLA

2010-04-11T07:00:00.001-07:00

Coming out of March which had truly roared in like a lion with an intense 10 days at FotoFest, the incredible Houston Biennial.

A reviewee. A visual enthusiast in heaven between the many exhibitions in Houston, my favorite visit always to the Menil Collection (and the Rothko Chapel, the Twombly and new for me, the Byzantine Chapel!), and of course the special opportunity to see the work of fellow reviewee's, from all over the world. Incredible inspiration. Tried to take it all in. And so I did, meeting some terrific new people who could be photographers, could be reiewers but who became professional acquaintances - Facebook anyone? - and hopefully in time, many will become good friends.

Good reviews. Much hard work ahead. Some announcements to come!

And then MOPLA where, within a week after FotoFest, two projects were up for exhibition... both projected, getting away from the print for a moment. The first through a trailer, 'Lucy," onto chance walls for the GroupSC 2009: AN INTIMATE VIEW OF LA. The second: A one-night projection of four artists, part of MOPLA's themed show 160/160 CELEBRATING 160 YEARS OF LOS ANGELES BY SHOWCASING 160 PHOTOGRAPHERS.

Great fun and a fresh new way for me to think about my work: a quick slide show, not always in my favorite order, but...

Some installation pics from the opening nights:

from GroupSC 2009 at the MOPLA opening, 3 April, at Bergamot Station (The Santa Monica Airport project).
from Pro'jekt LA: LA Sights + Scenes, Tuesday, 6 April at Space15Twenty in Hollywood. (The Gridlock Project).

EMAIL Today: COPYRIGHT COMMENT Issues!!!

2010-03-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

This is a matter of great importance to photographers, illustrators and art-makers of any type. Writers should also take note.

TODAY March 24th @ 5PM is the deadline to let the White House hear your comments about copyright. Anti-copyright sentiment is rising. To preserve your rights, send an e-mail ASAP.
A more extensive summary of rights grab (including a one-click email process) is on the

Illustrators Partnership Orphan Works Blog
http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/

BUT THIS IS NOT JUST ABOUT ORPHAN WORKS. THE GOVERNMENT IS LOOKING FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS AND YOUR COMMENTS.

Below is the email I have written to Victoria Espinel U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) who has called for comments. Any of you are welcome to copy and adapt my letter. Just get it in before 5pm today!!!!! (I don't know if that's EDT or PDT... just do it!). Email comments to intellectualproperty@omb.eop.gov

intellectualproperty@omb.eop.gov

To Victoria Espinel U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) and others discussing Copyright protection in current times:

I am writing this letter to specifically address upcoming copyright legislation, primarily to oppose any current attempts at this legislation, especially in the areas of rights grab, including orphan works.

My background is as an intellectual property attorney (retired), a published author/editor and as a professional fine art exhibiting photographer.

As someone whose very incentive is to produce creative work and be supported by it, visual or literary, recent attempts to control this fail not only in their scope but in the manner in which they could be enforced. At present, there is no way in which a work could be "orphaned" without a trampling on the rights of the creator. It is too easy, given the fast rise of technology, to separate a work from information about its creator, giving rise to many enterprises to claim the work is "orphaned." This is a direct infringement of copyright.

Protection of creators' rights is the very reason for the creation of the Copyright Act. The recent attempts to amend the Act are in direct contravention of the US and other countries' policies and would not only create dire intellectual and economic consequences for the creator but for the economy as a whole that profits from new work. Without a protection from outright theft, the inevitable consequence of present legislative proposals, it would be difficult for artists to find ways to support themselves with their production. Without that production or even with the limited production that some may venture, far less than now, our society suffers in many ways, from critical thinking to a loss of opportunities for change, always the result of artistic endeavors.

Our world and market opportunities are changing so vastly that any legislation of this type is premature with dire economic and social consequences for a future world that none of us can fortell.

At the same time, it is true that issues pertaining to copyright should be addressed. Among those issues and suggestions may be the establishment through the Copyright Office of at least a registry for photographers and other image makers of their work in addition to copyright registration. Or, attempts to work with creators to establish one central such registry.

I urge to you to investigate strategies that would create solid lasting protection for creators and for the good of the country.

Sara Jane Boyers

Two Upcoming Shows! MOPLA in APRIL

2010-03-23T14:23:00.001-07:00

In early April, both part of the second annual MOPLA (MONTH of PHOTOGRAPHYLos Angeles)! Great thanks to the Lucie Foundation for creating MOPLA and supporting photographers!

FIRST:
Saturday, 3 April 2010: GroupSC 2009 - An Intimate View of Southern California - Premiere Installation, part of the Official Opening Night Events for MONTH of PHOTOGRAPHY Los Angeles (MOPLA)

Gallery Skart - 2324 Michgan Ave Santa Monica, CA 90404. http://www.galleryskart.com/
My project for Helen K. Garber's second year of photographers photographing their neighborhoods (or those they frequent) is the Santa Monica Airport.

A preview presentation was already held in January at the LA Art Show and now, finally the work, shown as in a multimedia presentation. INFO FOLLOWS:

45 Artists have created stories about their neighborhoods in an area that covers the territory to create "An Intimate View of Southern California". Santa Ynez is the North West Boundary, San Diego, the South West Boundary, Anza Borrego, the South East Boundary, and Apple Valley the North East Boundary. The photo-based installation will be moveable and presented with the latest multi-media technology.

Apr 03 - Minarc/Gallery Skart for Opening Night
Apr 08 - LACDA for Downtown Artwalk
Apr 23 - Minarc/Gallery Skart for FreshFairs

Here are some of my images from the show:

SECOND:

Tuesday, 6 April 2010, I am being showcased by MOPLA 2010 for their theme exhibition: 160/160 - Celebrating 160 years of Los Angeles through 160 Photographers.
Approximately 60 images from my GRIDLOCK ongoing series - a true LA story - will be projected onscreen at
"Pro'jekt LA 2: LA Intrigue: Sights + Scenes"
Space 15Twenty - 1520 N. Cahuenga Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90028
Projections begin at sunset: 7-10PM.
Free but RSVP to projektLA2@monthofphotography.com

All photographic images here ©Copyright 2010 Sara Jane Boyers

Wings over Malibu

2010-02-18T07:53:00.001-08:00

It is a great blessing to have such talented and creative friends.

Recently one of them has purchased a 747 and designed a house incorporating many of its parts! At her invitation, I have been photographing various phases of the construction and the other day, the light was right and the moment perfect. Here is what I saw.

Gung Hay Fat Choy/Happy Lunar New Year!

2010-02-18T06:11:00.000-08:00

The Lunar New Year - or Spring Festival - is again upon us, overlapping Valentine’s Day this year, thus a day in which cultures combine to wear red. It continues for 15 days, ending with the Lantern Festival. For almost a decade now, I have been photographing in the Chinatowns of the United States and Canada, over 40 Chinatowns so far. And now for the sixth year I wander at the New Year through the greater Los Angeles/San Gabriel Valley Chinese communities to capture the many ways in which this holiday is celebrated.

This year, I started in Arcadia where the Arcadia Supermarket was packed with last minute foodstuffs, flowers and sweets. Then to El Monte where on New Year’s Eve, Jenny Chen graciously permitted me to photograph her rice-package altars placed on the loading docks of the New Taiwan Trading Corporation, a major importer and distributor of Asian foods throughout the Southwestern United States. At the close of the day, Jenny burned incense and paper money for good fortune in the New Year.

As always, I then returned to Downtown Los Angeles where the usually busy streets were quiet - even on Chung King Road in the middle of the art galleries! - as stores and restaurants close early and families gather for dinners at home until late evening when celebrations and fireworks bring people to the temples and family associations. Homes and businesses post red signs with the chinese symbols for good luck - "foo" in Mandarin, "fook" in Cantonese - often upside down. Association members gather to cook for us all before midnight and again in the morning. My thanks to Jenny Chen, The Southern California Fukienese Association, the Hai-Nam Association of Southern California and as always, the Chua Ba Thien Ha Temple.

Light of the Year

2010-01-01T07:28:00.000-08:00

The New Year has dawned, emerging from the Blue Moon eve, a light that at midnight on the 31st illuminated the dark spaces outside with a theatrical light, setting the stage for the transition from the year and decade passed to the new beginning. To start us off with words and images:

The words come from famous quotations about years and about time, for is that not what today's reflections are about? They come as well from my own ramble as, during these years of greater concentration on my photographic career, the words I write are more about the process than about a new book. This blog takes the place for now.

As we think about New Year's Resolutions, from JKF: "In its [knowledge's] light, we must think and act not only for the moment but for our time. I am reminded of the great French Marshal Lyautey, who once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow-growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose. Plant it this afternoon.' "

From Ralph Waldo Emerson: "This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it."

And from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (I, showing my own "seasoning," remember it from the Byrds):" To every thing there is a season.... "

The season seems tumultuous as has been this last decade. Yet without being simplistic, there is room for us, globally and individually, to change. Let us resolve this now.

On the photography side from Aline Smithson: her blog musings on December 31, speaking about her own work - the value of the single image, not necessarily part of a series, and reflecting upon her own work - are inspiration for me and probably today's blog. Aline's Lenscratch blog in general is a gift to us all. The December 31 blog: http://lenscratch.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-personal-favorites-of-2009.html.

Aline's second gift: in today's blog, evocative, emotional pictures culled by Aline from various photographers (I am one) of their "personal favorite" photo of the year.

My own favorite images come from a spurt of activity, on top of a year of activity, during these incredible Southern California pre-winter months when the light is the clearest and most evocative of each year.

One of the most delightful of the latter: a long afternoon into evening spent on the last Saturday of December right here at Santa Monica Beach as Tyrus Wong, 99 and famed Disney illustrator and amazing artist, once again brings his hand-painted/constructed kites to the beach. The wind was incredibly still and the day started out with a heavy wet marine layer. Not auspicious. However, as we wait and Tyrus brings his handkerchief up again and again to test the wind, at Sunset all changes. The light shimmers. The wind comes up and the remarkable centipede kite is shifted to a new wind direction and... suddenly, it lifts!

A documentary on Tyrus Wong has been made here in Los Angeles and donations are welcome for it to be completed. To help bring the story of this national treasure to the screen, visit http://www.brushstrokesinhollywood.com/. In the interim, Lisa See has written an informative brochure that accompanied Tyrus' retrospective in 2004 at the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles. More photos from the day:

Yesterday afternoon, finishing a photographic project on the Santa Monica Airport for Helen K. Garber's Group SC 2009, (this is from a view at Clover Park)
I feel the need to end the year on a photographic note. Thus I wander over at day's end to the eucalyptus grove in my canyon, historic as the first forestry research station in the US, established in the late 1800's. The rapidly changing light on the eucalyptus trunks offers a poetry of its own. My copyright notice: the first of 2010.

The new year brings us hope always. From resolutions to family to working out the vagaries of inspiration and career, the best is wished for us all.

Light above Palos Verdes at the end of the First New Day.

A wonderful holiday season

2009-12-24T07:51:00.001-08:00

The holidays are upon us, bringing joy, reflection and hope to us all. For even as we scramble to complete our personal projects, make our lists for the next year, we have those moments to pause, surround ourselves with the lights and music of the season and comfort ourselves not only with good food and drink, but with our communities of friends and family.

My wishes for everyone are for as productive a year as I have had. Hard working but filled with delights and the satisfaction that, most importantly, those around us are well. And that the New Year will bring us peace, THE goal in this difficult time and one which, if we all participate for greater understanding of each other, is there to be attained.

Sara Jane Boyers

BTW, this image was captured under the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles Harbor. Taken while participating in an urban "Painting with Light" shoot, created and guided by my friends, Mark Indig & Ken Haber, as part of their Urban Photo Adventures operation.

After a while.

2009-11-23T09:26:00.000-08:00

Wow. Nothing since 25 September, almost two months.

Two months of intensive work with both my terrific photo editor, Paula Gillen of Gillen Edits and, best of all, working with my new gallerist (Announcement soon. A good one in Los Angeles and I am honored to have the representation by someone whose eye I trust so much!), to define my work and create several new promotions for it, both for the gallery and for fine art publication as well as museum and other exhibition.

Hard. Revealing. Understanding collaboration - not just an edit but working and adjusting for goals and allowing views I respect to incorporate and change my own work. Again, not unlike the world of publishing BUT, a different art form and I should have expected a different emotion and artistic approach. Thus, lessons thought to be learned needed to be taken in again.

What this is presently all about? MagCloud. Discussed before but being worked seriously now. A magazine, built from "cloud" computing, i.e. totally via the internet where design is uploaded but a real "hands-on" magazine is published in a POD (print-on-demand) format, available by subscription or just an individual online order. Many are creating their own issues here. And I as well, although not so much for subscription but as a series of promotional tools, helping others to better understand, especially with the Chinatowns, the large body of prints from this 9 year+project.

The work was intensive enough to create an entire book, both from edit and design. However for my purposes, the magazine format is better. It can remain current, capable of change in an ongoing project such as this. It provides the capability to informally "publish" the work at different stages of photography and sequencing, permitting others to take a peek into the process as well as making my own formatting and choice of powerful images all the tighter. There is opportunity to have others "guest edit" the same body of work, a concept most intriguing for the Chinatowns.

Here's the cover image of the first issue, brilliantly suggested by Paula:

And then in the midst, as always, other projects. What fun for a photographer to use another photographer! In this case, I asked Martin Cox, both a commercial and fine art photographer, and a fellow member of the Los Angeles League of Photographers (LALOP. See the LALOPBLOGSPOT I write there!) to do a commercial photo shoot for me: To photograph the interiors of a small co-op owned by my family for purposes of marketing it as a rental.

I had fun being the assistant for the day and, while Martin's work is absolutely wonderful and showed this basically unfurnished unit to its greatest advantage - the realtor loves the pics! - the day of the shoot was incredibly overcast. Even though the gray days by the beach are filled with romance and emotion, for a marketing brochure, blue is better. So I worked in post-production to drop in some sky, pics taken by me from that same unit on sunnier days.

Having done so, I loved this YOUTube video from Tim Grey whose daily photographic tips are quite wonderful to receive each morning. Wish I had seen it BEFORE I did my work!

Here's one of Martin's nice clean shots with a little more blue and clarity from another day:

Light of the Day

2009-09-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Down at Venice Beach several times in the last week to photograph for a non-fiction children's book being released in Canada. My friend, Lizann Flatt is the writer. The publisher is in Canada. The editor/packager is in England. They want a family scene, perhaps with surfers.

Different than what I usually do. The first pics sent were too "edgy." The latter fine.

What this has done: on an assignment rather than on my own, I see the beach a different way. Filled with families, I have to curb my tendency to isolate the loneliness of the landscape.

Rather than outside, I am forced to be "in," to speak with my subjects or their parents in order to obtain the requested image. To ask for a release for here, when taking pics of children today, everyone with a zoom lens is looked upon with suspicion. Swallowing my fears, I again am surprised how warmly received is my request. Those who will not appear in the book will get emailed pics from me as thanks. One good deed does indeed deserve another.

At the same time, at the beach in the early am (before school to catch the diehard pre-teen surfers) and in the later afternoon after school on a 100 degree day in LA, I who live within hearing/walking distance to the beach and know well it's marine layer, am yet again caught by the distinct landscapes of only a few hours apart. Here are two of them: albeit different days but characteristic of them both. The first of course: 8am when the layer still is loosely hemmed to the sand and mysterious hidden objects abound. The second: 5pm, the layer burned off all day but returning to warm the night, the waning sun starting to create shadow, and the beach releases the people to their homes and landscape and the birds take over.

New York color

2009-09-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

From the spare, quiet vistas of New England to the gloriously intense color of Times Square viewed from the careening taxicab from Grand Central. A couple of hours makes all of the difference.

Two prints, the first a comp of the taxicab ride. The second - a seemingly vintage Clark Kent view of Gotham - from a friend's window downtown and with the high speed, very grainy Leica D-Lux3.

After all this, a full day in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, photographing NYC's third Chinatown followed by a terrific opening in Nolita at Jen Bekman Gallery of her "Hey HotShot! 2009 First Edition."

From there, without my main camera system, I walked back past Little Italy through the Manhattan Chinatown and caught some evocative images with the Leica - no large or even "table" tripod.

New England Light

2009-09-08T06:22:00.001-07:00

Wandering around the Northeast for the past few weeks: some history, some friends and family and some photography. Returning to Boston's Chinatown for a summer view and today traveling down to NYC to capture the third Chinatown around New York: Sunset Park in Brooklyn and perhaps yet another?

In Nantucket, my work has been invigorated by the glorious light and spare design of these New England churches and many quiet hours have been spent photographing in the First Congregational, Methodist and Unitarian Universalist. With luck before I leave today, I'll also visit the African American Meeting House, the second such church in the country, and the Quaker Meeting house.

Whether this series ultimately resolves as "Sacred, Silent" or "Waiting" or a combination of both, it has fed a contemplative moment for me and my work. Several of the Nantucket images here.

Alan Rapp on Editors & Publishing/Self-published

2009-08-21T10:37:00.000-07:00

Alan Rapp, the remarkable former Chronicle Books editor whose last work for them was David Maisel's evocative book, LIBRARY OF DUST, has joined Hey, Hot Shot! as Associate Director of Jen Bekman Projects. His thoughts on self-publishing AND the need for an editor - "all content benefits from editing" - is right on point here.
http://www.heyhotshot.com/blog/2009/08/20/self-publishing-interview-with-alan-rapp/.

The collaborative process is incredibly creative and fun, especially when you have the right editor!

Staying up late nights to create and upload a MagCloud magazine before I leave for an East Coast trip, without time for proper editing although not quite finished and looking forward to some good editing before it is formally published, I am totally in agreement. More later but here's my cover.

Always Change

2009-08-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

I have learned that the work of promotion is to keep your name and your work in front of those whom you feel can be helpful to your career. To this end, promotion should remain fresh and current. A static website, one postcard a year, will not accomplish this.

Promotion is a challenge to the writer or photographer/artist as the creative process involves not only new projects but updates or revisions to the old. It requires us to be constantly thinking about how this work is presented to others, even while the process of creation is ongoing. While the general rule is that the work should be in its best and somewhat final form whenever a formal presentation or pitch is to be made, bringing a project up for some sort of "public" examination during the process can be a helpful way to hone a project. The task is daunting.

I am immersed in this process now: finalizing a presentation for a gallerist to see how my work is exhibited (see my post of 22 July); preparing several pitches for children's books and two different proposals concerning my Chinatowns project in preparation for a trip to NYC to see publishers and art galleries and museums; following up on a proposal sent, at their invitation, to a museum of photography for inclusion in an upcoming exhibition; gathering - and hopefully organizing - marketing information and ideas constantly with respect to the chinatowns series and; cleaning up my studio!!!!

Much of this is the reflective process of creation, edit, produce and then revision. But promotion is always a concern for ultimately, the writer and photographer wants the work to be seen and experienced. Rather than tacked on at the tail end, in today's world the writer/artist must factor in presentation both as an editing tool and as a necessity for the final-end product, if in fact there is an "end," for the work and approach is always so fluid. For me, thinking about promotion helps the creative.

What this has meant for me:
1. The Photo Website:
Yet again, an update/review of my photographic website for that is the easiest portfolio to which to refer people to take an introductory review of my photographic work.

a. The Chinatowns project is presently working. I have added only a few new images in the past few months and feel confident about the work at this time, helped in the Spring by Paula Gillen of Gillen Edits, terrific photo editor and consultant.

b. The Gridlock project- still being photographed - needed an update. With a static perspective - shot from the car while trapped in traffic on the freeways and highways - many newer images take a different approach, adding more figurative compositions to those of detritus and concrete. That said, they remain focused upon abstraction and curiosity about what is unseen or left behind. I have been printing in 20"x30" on Hahnemuhle's amazing art paper, the PhotoRag 308 gsm. The rich matte brings out the grittiness of this series.

Once again, I am consulting with Paula Gillen by email and ftp, and once again, she's come up with a better approach and critical review than I was able to make alone. See www.sarajaneboyersphoto.com and the screenshot above introducing this post.

c. I am also considering whether it is time to add my photographic resume to the website. Many photographers do. I had always been reticent but now, I am feeling more confident about the recognition my work has gotten.

2. Fine Art Presentation of the Chinatown Prints:
a. Trying out several image sizes - printing a lot - to determine how both the portrait and landscape images work together. Determining the size of the white surround border - deciding I did not want a pure bleed - part of the artwork as opposed to adding a mat in the framing stage. In long conversation with a framer about the frame itself, finding that my preferred frame - a natural maple - may work well for one print, but not to unify the whole and thus reluctantly, although they are beautiful, choosing black for a consistent exhibition look.

b. Choosing the two images I plan to frame: one portrait (vertical), one landscape (horizontal). Chosen not only for their own integrity but because, like the website and like a portfolio, these two are intended to best show what I do in a complete/final form. That process is not easy.

The size as well: Although today's economics may require a smaller format for exhibition and I am more than willing to listen to this - who IS selling right now?????? - I am printing and framing my preferred exhibition size. We can go up or down from here but there are moments when the artist makes a statement and here is mine.

c. Using my publishing experience:
a. Just like a book - pictorial, a novel or non fiction -the flow of the work tells its own story. Even if each image is unique in subject matter or presentation or creator, when combined with others for exhibition, website, portfolio, there are several stories about the work, the artists, or those simply standing in front of it and those must be woven into a dramatic narrative that is both visual and emotional.

Just as a writer during the revision/editing process may take a mss. and read it aloud to himself/herself or others to understand the cadence of the language/narrative flow, it behooves the photographer to continually review the order of the work presented, to ensure that one image flows to the next and that the themes inherent in the prints spell out the totality in an evocative manner. For me, this is a powerful tool, especially in a project as large as are the Chinatowns. Every time I do this, I gain further insight into my own work.

3. Promotion and Procrastination, or what I started this with ...
a. In the midst of this, I am again looking at MagCloud to create a leave behind for meetings. A great example: My friend, Ann Mitchell's, first magazine, DESERT DREAMS, Issue 1: Diptychs .

b. I started SaraJaneBoyersAloud on the premise of procrastination. As well to feed my need to write, the companion career that this year or so has taken second fiddle to the photographic one. The need to write, to journal, yet matches the need to capture the world with my camera. For the moment, this blog is helping me continue the periodic, if not the required daily, exercise of that skill. But..... enough today. Whether writing or photographing or editing... where it all comes down to... it is time to return to the work! More later...

Samuel Freeman Portrait

2009-08-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

Am delighted to see that my portrait of Bergamot Station gallerist, Samuel Freeman ("Samuel Freeman in Holly Mascott"), has been published in the Blue McRight catalogue from her 2009 exhibition - no one you know - at the Samuel Freeman Gallery. http://www.samuelfreeman.com/nav/a_mcright.html

Blue speaks about "personal residue" from not only the trailers ("embedded histories") but also from vintage songbird model kits.

I am drawn to this work perhaps because in her own style, the artist too seeks what it seems I am searching for in my continuing photographic exploration: lives lived and so often evidenced in the items that we design and sometimes, never notice or leave behind or, have been designed around us and sometimes for us, but not always with the sensibility and understanding of who we are.

Presentation

2009-07-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

The redone website has been up since late Spring. The promos are done and, for once, the email lists recorded NOT ONLY in my email log but actually, with some sense of order in word files. We'll see how long that lasts ....

Is the website working? I believe it is as I have already fielded a museum invitation to submit based upon their curator's review of my portfolios on site; a recommendation from a retired cultural attaché, a career diplomat, to definitely submit my Chinatowns project to the US Embassy in Beijing; and the clear identification of what it is I am doing by a simple link to the URL.

So, here I sit: website in hand, several proposals out but with a large question: When and if I land a more substantial exhibition/book project, et al, HOW do I present the work? I've already seen it in online format. I have already printed the showcase prints for the portfolio. I've exhibited in some smaller shows. But now, when the opportunity arises for a more serious review, how do I see the work being exhibited?

These questions have to do with
1. THE PRINTS, OF COURSE, and the questions encompass
HOW LARGE?
WHAT MEDIA? I have shot the Chinatowns in film - 35mm and 645 (medium format) transparencies - and in digital. I have printed for exhibtion in cibachrome and on archival digital media. I love cibachrome and I love my master printer, Frank Green, at The Lab Ciba.

Some say ciba/ilfachromes are "old school" but hey - how can you beat that incredible color saturation?

But, I also love my Epson 7800 and Hahnemühle Photo Rag which gives an entirely different matte look to a print. Whether in the darkroom or in the digital lab, choice of paper and other production and presentation questions when making an art print remain the same.

WHERE IS THE ELEMENT OF CONSISTENCY? For in the Chinatowns Project, work varies in size, vertical vs horizontal and the extent of the crop. It is not studio work and the type of camera, lens and approach may change, not only due to locale but also due to the duration and evolution of this 9+ year project. For the Gridlock work, the concerns are different since camera, format and print remains consistent throughout.

HOW TO PRINT? Should I center? When I decide the size of the print, how large on the paper should the white space be? Will I need a mat or? Today, the mat seems less important than placing the image on the paper and determining the nature of the impact of that total vision.

2. HOW TO FRAME? I love wide, flat wood frames. I love large prints. But there is a reality, especially in today's market: what do I do that preserves my vision AND permits the print to be accessible/saleable in my "market," i.e., that of an emerging photographer. Saleable and, at the same time, affordable for me to do so that the exhibition can be out there.

The economics of exhibiting consist of many variables and, much as I want to show in exactly the way I want, I have to consider the context. More than many emerging photographers, my experience both in the music industry and in book publishing helps me here. Sometimes.

I know how to compromise. But I also know when to stop, at least in music and books. The question now: In this area of my passion, my time and my expense, gladly undertaken as I seriously further the career, can I rationally weight and compare these considerations?

We'll see.

In the interim, I've posted a garden comp on Facebok for a writer friend's birthday. Sometimes it seems important to just shoot and, on a foray into my own garden, this is what I do. It starts this ramble. And, when I think about it, it too is about presentation.

Julius Shulman 1910-2009

2009-07-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

A very sad time as this terrific photographer and personality, Julius Shulman, has died. Julius inspired me with his images of Los Angeles and its incredible architecture and living in my very early years and continued to inspire me with his work and conversation even up through this year.

Additional information is up on the LALOP blogspot at http://lalopblog.blogspot.com/

Sundance, 1600 & the 4th

2009-07-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

Away for the 4th in Sundance, UT where the rain (rain daily in July? Think about global warming) has kept it green. Just on one hike there are deer, incredible wildflowers and peaceful times.

Not really a landscape photographer, the question is how what I photograph becomes meaningful to me in a manner in which to convey that to others. While seduced by the blinding beauty, for once I am trying to reserve my thoughts and images.

At the open air Utah Symphony concert therefore, only a few pics with the little Leica point & shoot using only ambient light. Something I've never done: pushed the ISO to 1600. No tripod. Chromatic aberration everywhere but hey - the pic of everyone walking down the ski slope turns into an impressionist moment.

Note: SJB photo by Christine Kummer-Hardt

Layers

2009-06-27T06:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my friend Claus became a US citizen. At the age of 84.

I sat with Christine, his wife, who long ago had to give up her German citizenship to become American. I sat among 4,000+ people who came to watch the 2700 others - children, spouses, brothers, sisters, mothers & fathers, friends - pledge allegiance to the United States.

People from 90 countries whom the presiding justice, recognizing that becoming a US citizen today does not mean that you give up your past, called to stand up as each of those country's names were called and honored. Dual citizenship is the norm and it recognizes that there is no instant transformation of loyalty, culture or history from one nation to the next. In fact, stated most profoundly by the judge, it is precisely that background that the immigrant brings that makes the US strong – and especially in this difficult time when we are not - for it is the new creative force and culture that continues to weave the American fabric into a greater tensile strength.

Having spent the last nine years photographing in the Chinatowns of the US and Canada, it is startling how such a simple ceremony summarizes so much upon which my work seems to be based, even if only at a subconscious level.

I, a multi-generational American, far from and unknowing of much of the cultural background from which I came, was honored to be invited to this evocative event. It is far more important that many of us realize and I would heartily recommend that we who take our citizenship for granted - in all countries! - spend a moment thinking about identity, about the individual contribution of each of us, of what hard work means to those who make the choice to leave their homeland and move to another land to raise families and connect with the greater community and even, to return or move back and forth between many lands. The mix is vibrant.

ORPHAN WORKS BILL BACK AGAIN!

2009-06-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

Photographers, writers and illustrators: please note that the Orphan Works legislation, badly written to ease the taking of our creative work is rearing its head again.

From the orphan works illustrators' partnership blog:
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Orphan Works: Back Again
In Orphan Works Land, no news has been good news, but that's about to change:
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/06/11/copyright-holders-acknowledge-losing-battle-for-public-consciousness-at-world-copyright-summit/

Website Optimization & Metadata

2009-06-19T09:56:00.001-07:00

"The point is", the knowledgeable stock photographers at the Photometadata.org tour, told us last night at an APA/LA-sponsored event, "you set up a beautiful website and no one comes." (kinda like this blog so far... have to tell more people about it!).

What draws others to your site or blog is essential now in this not-so-new-anymore millennium. The point is - and we now have the means - to "attract INBOUND traffic," a great complement, if not becoming the substitute for, "outbound traffic," i.e., traditional marketing via our material sent to others who may not have requested it via email, postcard, calls. How we do that is through keywording of images and/or pages (for those not photographers who still want to attract others to their site) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

There are many tools, some of them overwhelming at first and some not so. Many can be found, even for non-photographers at photometadata.org or via the SEO COOKBOOK, provided for free by Photoshelter at http://pa.photoshelter.com/mkt/seo-kit-for-photographers.

Something I should have known but that surprised me: Keywording, although valuable for many other reasons, is NOT picked up by Google and other search engines. Think about what you say in your text on your website for that is what Google sees.

In the Interim

2009-06-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything lately because I have been sending out proposals, thinking about a curatorial project, working on my gridlock series - I seem to be the only person in Los Angeles actually seeking to be stopped in traffic - and now, responding to interest from a major photography museum for an invitational show! Not yet selected but at least nominated.

Above, the one photograph I managed to be still enough to shoot after an hour and one-half at rush hour on five freeways around LA yesterday. Tomorrow when I venture downtown for theatre and need to make time, I'll be crawling. Yesterday when all I wanted was to be slow, still trying to photograph that surfboard on the I-10Eastbound that I've been racing by four times in the past week, traffic was uncharacteristically non-existent.

So today I took a less oil-squandering tour around the internet - trying not to watch too many SNL spots. There I found this lovely, contemplative and for me right now, oh so relevant blog about photography, shows and photo books, The Space In Between, by German writer/photographer Stacy Oborn.

Truly fascinating: her article on two very different photographers as they adventure down diverse paths to the making of a photographic book. http://the-space-in-between.com/2009/01/14/one-thing-done-two-ways-elijah-gowin-and-james-luckett-on-making-a-book/

30th Chinatown

2009-05-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

Drove up and back to Santa Cruz in one long day. But, it gave me the opportunity to add the 30th Chinatown - Salinas, California - to the long-term Chinatowns project.

A Chinatown in transition. Site of many homeless. A sense of loss exacerbated by the gray marine layer that often permeates this "island in a sea of lettuce."

There have been neighborhoods in other cities, first inhabited by other cultural immigrants, where the Chinese have moved in... a Jewish temple in an old part of downtown Toronto that is now a Chinese day care/youth center comes to mind. The American and Canadian cultural fabric is always in a state of flux and there are spaces where ethnic or cultural identity was strong and then newer generations weave into the larger identity and the next wave enters.

Salinas is one of those spaces for the change is happening right now as one views the architecture of a culture not really there anymore, altered and then abandoned. But the City is working along with the community to revitalize and there is already a community garden, modern temples and gathering places. I hope to return next year when the Lunar New Year celebration brings many residents there and reminds one of another era.

A great thanks to the Salinas Police Department for making me feel a little more secure as I wander here for a brief time .

First Five Images

2009-05-26T10:46:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Aline Smithson for sending me to this 25 minute webcast from ASMP on website management and self-marketing. http://www.asmp.org/strictlybusiness/2009/04/not-working-enough/.

Thinking about my "first five images...."

Done... for the moment

2009-05-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I've sent out the emails announcing the website redo so I guess it is done, if only for now.

Among the "What I love. What I don't," format that I seem to be using: The fluidity of a website is truly invaluable, as long as one can control it. I plan to turn soon to my sarajaneboyers.com, a never completed site for my literary work and, by virtue of the eponoymous title, probably the main directory site for me. But I've never really spent enough time in Dreamweaver to figure out how to work with it. Not too hard but again, just a matter of time when I'd rather photograph, write or work on projects. For these tools become housekeeping hogs as well.

However, now seems to be the time, if only to gain several additional archival pages for specific exhibition of some photographic or literary projects that can be made private.

Like opening a creaky door into a darkened room, I hope, and finding a treasure there. Or let us hope that some of you will...

What I don't like: managing now all of these spaces. The photo website. The literary/main website. The teen activism book website. The Saatchi online gallery. The LALOP blog. THIS BLOG! At least four email addresses. Facebook. Linked In. And, we don't even want to discuss the russian spam...

In any event, this is all at least a serious start. I watched tonight as photographers handed out their cards at the opening of the inaugural photographic exhibition at the new Annenberg Beach House, although much of the professional part fell away as we walked down to the beach from home . What a privilege to watch the mountains fade into the sunset (caught below!)

We do live in a terrific age when we can simply point others to our images online. I love a portfolio, still think it is the best way to present, but this facile introduction to one's work just cannot be beat.

Another type of portfolio

2009-05-12T07:40:00.000-07:00

Uploaded pics today to Saatchi Galleries Online. As always, having to edit down to a bare bones portfolio (11 pics!) is good for me. Surprising how comprehensive a small number of pics representing my work can be.

I am a fan of this communal site, supported by Charles Saatchi in the interest of disseminating work throughout the world. The site was suggested to me by my friend, Ann Mitchell whose own Saatchi site and website and blog are pretty terrific!

Website Administration

2009-05-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

Because of time constraints, I have been using Foliolink for my website. It comes with a set of rather elegant templates and is used by some very well known photographers. I will do more later but presently I tussle with the administration concerns, i.e. making a portfolio private, trying to set up active links and a host of other smaller but vital issues concerning the presentation of image and info on site.

The pics seem ready. Now it's about the workability of the site and, put off although it shouldn't have been, the Artist Statement. It can be said that we as photographers may have difficulty with words and that is why we photograph. To the contrary however, I have found most photographers eloquent in knowing what it is they do and writing about it. OTH I, a published writer, am tongue-tied.

Butterfly

2009-05-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of a home studio: watching the natural world live around you while you work.
One of the disadvantages of a home studio: the distraction of the natural world.

Most of the time, I lean toward the perk side.

I am continuing the website work, refining the statements and fortuitously, just yesterday a friend sent on a slew of quotes by the photographer, Robert Adams.

I am presently thinking of this one, "At our best and most fortunate we make pictures because of what stands before our camera, to honor what is greater and more interesting than we are. We never accomplish this perfectly, though in return we are given something perfect--a sense of inclusion. Our subject thus redefines us, and is part of the biography by which we want to be known."

And wow, looking for the source of the quote (remember I'm a writer as well and editors always want the source... ), I just found this cool site, Photoquotes.com! That said, I cannot find the source of the quote so I am at least listing the two Robert Adams books from which it may have been taken:

BEAUTY IN PHOTOGRAPHY: ESSAYS IN DEFENSE OF TRADITIONAL VALUES, Aperture 2005

WHY PEOPLE PHOTOGRAPH, Aperture 2005

Note that I'm giving the URL's for Aperture rather than Amazon. The writer in me wants always to go to the publisher or independent bookstore first. However if you just want to buy a book of mine, please do it wherever you can!

So... back to the big "D's" - distraction and diversion, part of the fabric of my life it seems - at top is a lovely butterfly just outside my window. Not a Monarch for those I haven't seen lately in this former canyon home for them, but still pretty terrific.

Next tough moment

2009-05-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

I've sent out an email to some well respected photographers I know to check out the website from their perspective.

Sometimes I wonder why I leave myself so open yet, on the other hand, I am finding that the photographic community, like the writer community, is wonderfully giving and helpful. I am happy to be in this although I do await the assessments with some trepidation...

What I like About Any Project

2009-05-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Deadlines. Edit. Consistency.

Whenever there is a new proposal, a new portfolio, a new book or, even a new blogpost, it requires me to hunker down and be clear. Usually with myself. This takes time and it is not always as successful as I would want. Nevertheless, it usually works.

Reviewing and adding to my SaraJaneBoyersPhoto.com website is one of these moments.

Over the weekend, not only am I reviewing with a new perspective - an edit for a website is truly not the same as for a portfolio, especially for the flash-based template site such as I have - but I have gone back into work, especially my unfinished Gridlock series, and made it serious, printing out work prints in 20x30 format, larger than I've printed before.

This is becoming one of those exhilarating moments for me when a project moves from exploration into focus!

There seems to be enough that is strong now to put up for the website, but I know that there will be more.

Photography Is Not A Crime

2009-05-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

Lots of activity recently on this subject. Here are a few pointer links:

The Facebook group, Photography is Not A Crime (I just joined it!) where I also posted the following: "And, if you want an example of why this is necessary, just see "Photographers Face Wider Anti-terror Curbs" which starts "Cameras trigger terrorism fears(UK) ... Civilians are being told to be on guard for people carrying cameras and zoom lenses as part of anti-terrorism seminars being rolled out nationwide ... ."

Photography Is Not A Crime - Your Rights A concise list of what a photographer can and cannot do, by Carolyn E. Wright, an attorney and professional wildlife photographer who specializes in the legal concerns of photographers. As a recovering attorney, I wholly support Carolyn's statements and BTW, think it is worthwhile checking out other pertinent info on her blog, "PhotoAttorney."

There are also various Flickr and other groups out there, including several websites by photo journalists. Just google "photography is not a crime."

Photo editor

2009-04-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have put up the various Chinatowns categories. Way too many pics and in need of an edit.

Also, looking at the full site, how do I recategorize the rest of my ongoing work?

Luckily, I have a photo editor/consultant! Paula Gillen, whom I first met at Photo Lucida in 2007 when she was still a photo editor for the New Yorker has become a friend and, best of all, my photo editor. In subsequent years, Paula moved to Colorado and has established a highly successful business as a photo consultant for various museums, media and for individual photographers. Her website, GillenEdits, explains it all.

So here is the bad part: Paula RIGHT NOW has access to my site and is deleting, moving, commenting on the work. It is an agonizing process for me to just sit back for a moment, especially since I can check in by going to my website and seeing the movement there. A bit surreal. But then, the edit process while a little more immediate is not unlike that which I am used to with my books. The most difficult part of any work: when to carve it up, clean it up, force oneself to understand and act upon what it is that really is one's most basic direction. Notice that I've moved to the impersonal? There's a reason for this.

Let's see where this goes in the next few hours.

Harold

2009-04-29T02:20:00.001-07:00

With all of this work, I also find that I am not shooting much, except perhaps for Gridlock, but that still, the need is there and I am again graced with nearby wildlife. "Harold," who visits every year in the Spring in some incarnation, is here almost touching my studio window.

The good side of working on the website

2009-04-29T02:13:00.000-07:00

Like other deadlines by reviewing the work for the site, I find that I am also refining more of it. I've been making more edits while at the same time doing what I (and most others) do as a writer: reviewing the body of work itself with a different eye, honed over time and distance. Doing so allows not only a crisper edit but occasionally the discovery of something passed over which now is possibly shining.

The Gridlock Project is a good example, not even yet up on the web but now, soon to be!

Back to the Website

2009-04-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

Trying not only to reedit and add in, but to understand exactly what the website is and what it is for.

With respect to the Chinatowns Project, I've categorized the work - almost 8-9 years of it! - into three categories: Settings, Community, and Outside. That said, some of the work could be put in at least two of them. Stylistically, given the size of the project, the work needs to have a consistency as well.

So, the first questions, perhaps with respect to all of the portfolios, are:
Is the work interesting?
Is it different from others so as to make it a source of interest?
Have I been successful in presenting my strengths or should I edit even more to exclude any that is weak?
Do I have enough or, always my problem, too much?
What is the story that I am telling, for even in work such as mine that makes its focus on detail, there is always a tale to be told.

The latter provides me with many sleepless moments for within this body of work there are many ways to go: As fine art photography... my most passionate concern. As a fine art photography monograph (and perhaps more than one). As a children's book project (my other career). As a documentary/community project, perhaps a series of touring exhibitions in North America, if not beyond. And hopefully, something to sell! There is also the aspect that the work could be exhibited or shown by government or tourism bureaus as examples of the North American immigration history ... something that I would certainly like to see.

But the insecurites arise, very much like putting together a book project that one has researched for some years. Faced with the material, where is the element of unification? And how to best show this?

BTW, here's a site I found with the best reasons for a photographer to create a website or a blog. http://www.magicalplacesfineart.com/blog/2008/10/11-reasons-every-photographer-needs-a-website-or-blog/

Homophonic

2009-04-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

"Sara Jane Boyers Aloud" and "Sara Jane Boyers IS Aloud" (my URL name since I messed up the first time on blogspot - see posts below) for this little set of rambles raises a few diversionary paths. Remember I said I was a procrastinator?

The first is the homophonic reference to my being "allowed" to say whatever it is I wish to say "aloud" right here.

"Aloud" gives expression to thoughts - usually in the air but then, what else is this online presence but a "broadcast" if not from mouth to ear then from fingers to eye.

"IS Aloud" is perhaps not grammatically correct, but I am using it
1. because I have to (see messed up above .. this may become its own state of being);
2. since it may describe the state of being, in that I am aloud, speaking (or in this case writing)

"Allowed" gives permission to the expression. Permission from me to consciously put something out there. Permission from Google - aren't we all going to have to get permission from Google one day? - to add them to this blogspot.

Using my writer's mode, here's an exercise I found while researching "homophonic." One always wants to go to the dictionary or source.... http://www.all-about-homophones.com/homophone-machine.php

And since I am stumbling around in the world of words and phrases, I think it's "if not...then" and NOT "If not....than." Please email me if I am incorrect!

Closer to nature than we would think

2009-04-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

Who has time to think about the website when a deer, a young buck, just appeared on the back hill. Yes, it is urban LA but not all of it is that urban. And while coyotes are heard - and often seen - near the mouth of the Canyon, it is rare for a deer to venture this far down. Until tonight. At dusk and no time for a tripod. Perhaps he'll come back.

problems already

2009-04-21T06:43:00.000-07:00

Confidence and complexity. Under the guise of redoing the photo website, I am thinking about the words and getting up the blog.
Confidence, complexity and focus, the latter of which I seem to be lacking although I believe it is simply a ploy of my mind to keep me from the hard edit of the work.

That said, today I try to link both this new blog and my Los Angeles League of Photographers blog to the sarajaneboyersphoto.com website. It was 103 degrees yesterday in Los Angeles, 93 at the beach and so this seems the proper thing to do but it's not working. Hmmm...

Aloud

2009-04-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd write about redoing my photographer website, www.sarajaneboyersphoto.com. I thought it was time to create a blog.

Given the vagaries of the blogspot website, I messed up the first time so "Sara Jane Boyers Aloud" is not available... my own fault and so "Sara Jane Boyers IS Aloud" is the easy second choice. Cannot seem to be able to negotiate with myself to give up the first.

As I think about what I want to do - the website, the blog, my future - I love my friend Aline Smithson's quote from Lenscratch, her amazing blog: "This process brings up all the not so positive part of being an artist--doubt, fear, and questioning."

We'll start soon...