Two of the recent shows I’ve been a part of – The Okaloosa Public Arts organization invited to me participate in the exhibition to celebrate the opening of the new Student Services building at Northwest Florida State College. The art exhibit was by invite only and, (their words, not mine), “an exhibit of the work of our area’s most distinguished artists….” Hmm….needless to say, I was surprised to get an invite, an honored to participate.  My three entries are below.

The other show was the “Go Digital” gallery show, held by the Northwest Florida Arts Association. My four entries:

For more info on Okaloosa Public Arts, go HERE.  For more info on the Northwest Florida Arts Association, go HERE.

I never thought I’d say this, but I now have chickens.  I’m planning a series of images on them, taken with just my Android phone.  Will post more shortly….

PETA’s new animal rights campaign “Ink, Not Mink” features several tatted up celebrities.  Each image contains the tagline: “Be comfortable in your own skin, and let animals keep theirs.  Not only is this ad campaign broadcast an important message, but the images are truly amazing.  Check out the PETA  website HERE, to find out more about their organization and more cool pics from this campaign.

Duff McKagen & Susan Holmes-McKagan

Chris Anderson

Ami James

Duff  & Susan McKagen, and Chris Anderson were photographed by Robert Sebree. See more of his work HERE.  Ami James was photographed by Harrison Funk.  See more of his work HERE.

Center Street, Wallingford, Connecticut

I went back to my hometown, Wallingford, Connecticut,  for the holidays this past year and decided to photograph downtown, curious to see how much had changed from what I remembered.  Strange to see so much had changed, and yet it was still the same….

Railroad Station - Built 1871

Police Department - Originally Connecticut State Armory, Built 1920

Main Street

This section of Main Street was where my favorite bar, aptly titled Main Street, used to be.  I never realized how historic my former watering hole was.  The Episcopal church at the far left was built in 1868.  The next building, where my favorite bar was housed on the first floor, known as the William Wallace Block, was built in 1857.  The building on the far right, which is now a restaurant, was the first First National Bank in Wallingford, built in 1921.

These Still Exist?

Original Bank of Wallingford - Now Bank of America

The Center Street Cemetery, which is located, surprise, in the center of town, on Center Street. (You can see the outside wall of the cemetery in the Center Street image, top of the page.)  The cemetery dates back to the late 1600′s. Some notables found here: Lyman Hall, signer of the Declaration of Independence, Mose Y Beach, founder of AP, and Thomas Yale, founder of Yale University.

Lyman Hall, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Gravesite

Tombstones from the Early 1800's

This is only a small sampling of the wonderful history & historical sites in this town.  Looking back on this trip, strange how much of this history I never even noticed growing up there.  I could probably spend days photographing everything, but that’s probably true of most small towns in New England.

Walking Up Center Street

Join Us….

This is the local yard waste landfill.   I never new this place existed until a friend brought me here after we did some landscaping.  It’s unbelievable how large this place is.  All the images were taken with my Droid phone.

Today’s Droid photo.

This is just too funny.  Thanks Brandon Bloch.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’m teaching a Pinhole Camera Workshop for the Northwest Florida Arts Association on Saturday, February 26.  The class will build a pinhole camera, develop the black and white film, and participate in a “Retro Photo Show” in March at the Art Association’s gallery.  If you’re in the area and would like to register (space is limited) or for more info, check it out HERE.  It’s going to be a lot of fun.  Hope to see you there….

I’m in the midst of a series of portraits of local artists.  The first artist, Brandon Pence, is a good friend of mine and a very cool digital artist. Two things I found out about Brandon during this shoot, he likes fire and breaking things.

Check out Brandon’s work HERE.