A little while ago I offered through a local Sarasota newsletter to make free portraits. I had a number of replies (some of which can be seen in the previous post). Sari is a Balinese dancer and she came back for a second secession. I created a slideshow of her dance and posted it on YouTube.
Tag Archives: Sarasota
Sarasota Portraits
Two days ago Mari and I celebrated two years plus one month in Sarasota and one year in our wonderful home on Phillippi Creek. For my photography profession the move from Boston has been a bit of a shock. In Boston I had a 35 year reputation and a wonderful studio. In Sarasota I am just another “guy” with a camera.
To kick start my portrait work here in Sarasota, I place an ad in a newsletter offering free portraits at my home on Phillippi Creek. A number of people responded and I have posted some samples of the portraits we made together here in my scaled down studio in my home. (I made a couple of portraits before the ad) Click to View Portraits.
Mineola* – A Pleasant Place
June 6. 2010
It has been a long time since my last entry. A lot has been going on. Nothing on photography, but much on lifestyle changes.
First, Mari and I decided we were staying in Sarasota. We needed to find someone to take over our studio in Waltham, MA and pay a key fee so we would be able to make the move work. We found someone who was actually already in the artist community.
Siesta Key Drum Circle
Here is another video slide show of photographs I made from a few trips to the Siesta Drum Circle at Siesta Key Beach in Sarasota (also included are a couple of photographs from Nokomis Drum Circle in Nokomis). Mari and I met sixteen years ago at a weekly event called Dance Freedom in Cambridge, MA and the drum circles down here have a similar flavor to them where anything goes dance wise. Although in the case of the drum circles here there are more watchers than participants. This drum circle according to their web page (www.siestadrumcircle.com) began twelve years ago.
I have seen a number of videos on the web (mostly through YouTube) of the drum circle. My hope is that the photos I made give people a different persecutive of the event and capture some of the energy. The sound was captured with my Canon G10 and edited and enhanced with Apple’s GarageBand.
Bird Land
Play Video
I never thought I would be photographing birds. In my thirty plus years of photography, I never had photographed birds before. Just now I went outside for a break and there was an Egret fishing in the canal behind the house not more than ten yards away. So the birds are hard to avoid here in Sarasota. I have put together another video slideshow of birds I have met.
This is the second slideshow/video I have created and any feedback would be appreciated. Enjoy!
A Different Way
Well….it has been some time since I have made an entry in this blog. A few weeks ago I got a great deal on a used Mac G5 computer which has opened up many more possibilities for editing and presenting my photographs. I had an old G4 computer that was 10 years old and whenever I tried to work with video, the computer would groan and than go into major slow down mode. So I have been spending the last few weeks learning programs that enabled me to create what I am showing you here.
Sarasota Sam’s in Style
About 10 years ago I was at an art opening in my neighbor’s studio. My friend Bob Ballou was showing some work in this studio and his wife Bronwen and stepson Nicolas were with him. I was taking some snap shots with a digital camera and Nicolas (who was not quite 5 at the time) came over to me and asked what I was doing. I told him I was taking photos of the people and asked if he wanted to see what I was doing. He ended up making a few photos himself. After awhile he looked at me and said “I want to be like you”. I asked him if it was because I had a cool camera. He said no, then said “because you’ve got style”. As you can imagine I was a bit startled by his comment, coming from a not yet 5 year old. I asked him to repeat what he said and he said it again, “because you’ve got style”.
Well Nicolas it has taken about 10 years, but now I can say I am in Style Magazine.
In Debbie’s Backyard
I go out to Debbie’s backyard to have a smoke and late in the day play my xaphoon. Here is a list of all the animals I have seen in Debbie’s backyard since being here for three months: squirrels, rabbits, soft shell turtles, always lizards, bats, vultures flying overhead, osprey, all kinds of herons, egrets, red-shouldered hawk, sandhill cranes, and yesterday (July 9) a Bobcat sitting in a tree. No alligators yet, but I am still looking.
Three Moons
In response to my friend Bob Ballou’s comment of asking me to provide more information on my process of discovery, here goes: Mari and I have been in Sarasota for 3 moons now. We left Waltham Massachusetts during the full moon and last night (July 7th), we were atop the canopy walkway at Myakka State Park (with Mari’s sister Debbie) to watch the sunset and the moon rise. On the canopy we met a very interesting man, Michael, who was there for the same reasons as us, to view the full moon and too charge his magical stones.
Summer Solstice 2009
Mari and I attended a Summer Solstice celebration at the Unity Church of Sarasota. It was held outside in the Unity Labyrinth. We have been told that Sarasota is one of 22 Crystal Cities of Light in the world. Here is a link to Jo Mooy article Prism of Light and Crystal City of Light.
The sound file you are hearing (if you have your sound on) was played and sung during the Solstice celebration and also sung around the world on the Solstice: The One Song Project. The chant is “OMA, KA, OM” pronounced “OM-AH, KA,OM”.