This month is a little different. No painting, I'm getting back into photography. I will have 5 photos hanging at the Marco Fuoco Gallery. Here is the postcard. The flower photo is one of my cousin Louise's photos! Just beautiful.
The series of photos I will be showing, (in my post below), were taken in the quaint little historic town of Locke CA. Locke was founded in 1915 after a fire broke out in the Chinese section of nearby town of Walnut Grove. The Chinese who lived in that area decided that it was time to establish a town of their own. A committee of Chinese merchants who approached land owner George Locke and inquired if they could build on his land. An agreement was reached. The town was laid out by Chinese architects and industrious building ensued. The founding of Lockeport, later 'Locke', was a reality. By 1920 Locke stood essentially as it is today. In the 1940's restaurants, bakeries, herb shops, fish markets, gambling halls, boarding houses, brothels, grocery stores, a school, clothing stores, and the Star Theatre lined the bustling streets of Locke. Today it is mostly art galleries, museums, gift stores and a couple of bars and restaurants. The whole main street is about 2 city blocks long. On August 2, 1970, Locke was added to the registry of national historical places because of its unique status as the only town in the United States built exclusively by the Chinese for the Chinese.
The photo series was all done in the Dai Loy museum, the former gambling house of Locke. The first is called Pai Gow Tiles, the next I called Lucky Numbers, both of them the photo is 10x8 matted and framed in 14x11 frame. The 3rd image is called Chinese Lottery Balls, this photo is 14x11 matted and framed in 20x14 frame. The 4th image I called Lottery Box, it is 10x8 photo matted and framed in 14x11 frame. And the 5th image is called Lottery room view, this photo is 14x11 matted and framed in 20x14 frame and I think my favorite of the series, might be because I know my hubby is in the background! See him through the cage window? All mats are white and are archival quality, all frames are black wood. Makes for a nice contrast! I am very please with this first photo series that I've done, I hope the crowd who attend the gallery show do to!.
I have always really been into taking photos. As a young child I remember we had one of those Kodak Duaflex cameras that the view finder was in the top and you had to look down into the camera to see what you were shooting. Then I received a Kodak instamatic camera for a birthday I think. It was a back loader with the film in a cartridge so you couldn't really mess up the film, I found this old ad for the very camera! To load it is to love it! HA!!
In the early 70's I moved on to a Kodak pocket instamatic, with the spining cube flash bulbs. 4 flashes in one! It was quite the thing, small easy to carry around in your purse or pocket! I think I used that for quite a while. Look at this photo, I even remember it had the red button!
Around that time my cousin Louise was really into photography. She even had a dark room that I loved to go in. I thought she was so cool, she really got me into photography! I got a used 35mm camera that I really didn't understand and it seemed so hard to use and complicated. But I tried! Then my mon got a Polaroid! Wow instant photos, who knew! My first real artistic photo experiences didn't start until the early 80's when I got my Pentax K-1000. With that camera I did lots of creative things. I even had a little side business for a while, I called it "Take a picture it will last longer" Photos by Tj. I had the privilege to photograph weddings, events, bands and even a birth! I had that camera for years but then came the digital age. My very first digital camera sucked, it was really bad. Not good images, not good lighting, things were grainy. I don't even remember what it was but I wasn't very happy with it.
Within a few months I decided to splurge. I bought a very nice very expensive Sony Cybershot with a Carl Zeiss Lens. Just like this! It was a great camera that served me well for about 9 years. But, it was wearing out and I knew I needed a new one. Then it was stolen! So, now I've got my new Cannon Rebel Ti1, digital SLR and I love it! I am retraining myself on how to use an SLR, it's been a long time since I had my Pentax which was an SLR film camera, but I'm remembering! And I'm really enjoying getting back into photography again. I don't think I'll ever photo weddings again, that was so much work, but I am going to get creative and do some artsy fartsy things with it! I love my new camera and will be ever grateful to my fabulous in-laws for such a wonderful gift! Be well… be creative! Tj.
