After the Fireworks

Here are a couple of images from tonight after the Silverbacks game!
It was a great game. We won 3-2.

Happy Fourth of July!

Although this is actually an image that I took a couple of years ago in Bellingrath Gardens, I never had a chance to process any of the images! So this is new to me and the first time I've seen it and the first time it has been on display. Happy Fourth of July!

If anyone needs something to do in Atlanta tonight, go to the Silverbacks game! Fireworks after the game and we're playing Charleston. Go Silverbacks!

2007 Decatur Fine Arts Exhibition!

The Decatur Fine Arts Exhibition is almost over, but there is still time to go check out all of the good work. The closing reception is Sunday, June 3, from 4 - 6p.m.

This exhibition was juried by Erin Dixon (artist who currently teaches at Georgia State), Mark Karelson (artist and founder of Mason Murer Fine Art in Atlanta), and Stephanie Smith (artist who teaches at West Georgia). The exhibit is in the Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College.

I have two pieces in the exhibition, "Daflak" (above) and "Shotgun Moon" (below).

Growing up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, hurricane Katrina was devastating in so many ways. Even though I no longer live there now, my parents do, many of my friends do and it is still where I think of as "home." People who have not been to the coast since Katrina, have a harder time understanding the true devastation. It is hard to even do it justice with photographs. A photograph can only show one frame at a time. This was a disaster that stretched from New Orleans to Mobile. It is hard to conceive of the magnitude of that or how long it will take for the people in the area to recover from something like that. People ask me if things are "back to normal on the coast now." No. People are still recovering. Still rebuilding. Still living in trailers. They are living in what is now the "new" normal, but it is still a recovering process. And the hurricane was two years ago in August.

"Daflak" is my artistic response to Katrina. The base image was taken in St. Louis Cemetary #2 in New Orleans about 6 months after Katrina. The tomb was open and that is a coffin that you can see. (The coffin was also open, but you cannot see into the coffin in this photograph.) To me, this image tells such a story of the Gulf Coast versus Katrina. The skies are threatening. The waters have risen. The tombs have begun to disintegrate, but there is hope. It is no longer raining. The waters have stopped rising. There is a calm, cheerful duck swimming around. Things are going to get better. There is hope! (and we all need insurance!)

"Shotgun Moon" was taken in Cleveland, Mississippi. This is the last shotgun shack, (or tenant house, as my grandmother calls them) on my grandmother's property, and it actually is right next door to her house. Every time I go to visit her, another board is missing, or another tree is gone. One day soon it will be gone altogether, but I am so glad that I have the pictures of it that I do.

I have a daytime image I took of this shotgun shack two years before this one. At that time it had a front porch and an extra tree. I go back and forth about which image I like best! This image is the same image that I won best of show with at the 2006 Marble Festival in Jasper, Georgia!

May 2007 at Atlanta SPS!

I love ribbons! It is probably something obsessive compulsive in my personality, but I REALLY love winning ribbons with my photography. It is one of the highlights of my month...entering photo club competitions locally and trying to win ribbons. I have no idea what I'm going to do with all of these ribbons one day, I just know that I really, really want them!

So, May was a good month (so far!) for ribbons! The theme for the Southeastern Photographic Society's monthly competition was "People, but not studio posed shots." We are allowed to enter two images each in three categories: color print, black/white print, and digital projection. Here are my entries and my three winners. Including one FIRST PLACE winner!

First Place went to an image I took while I was out of town in Cleveland of Mary Susan (I told y'all I'd post my favorite picture from that session soon!). Mary Susan was absolutely adorable playing the piano!

My second place winner was at a wedding reception. Needless to say, the cake was the highlight of the day for the boys. Instead of a wedding cake and a groom's cake, this wedding had a wedding cake and a children's cake and the boy's could not wait to get into all of that chocolatey goodness! Sam couldn't even wait to use a fork!

My honorable mention winner is actually of my sister, just before she walked down the aisle. Matter of fact, about a minute after I took this photograph, she looked up at me and said, "Would you put that camera down!" I think she was ready for me to be maid of honor and stop being lead photographer. It's tough trying to do both!

My last three entries did not place, but you cannot appeal to every judge every time with every image. Willis & Elizabeth James were not very interested in posing for me, but I was able to get some beautiful images of them in a field of flowers next to their house (okay, I suppose it was probably an empty lot of weeds, but they were colorful weeds and they looked good!).

Quintero is the awesome goalie for the Atlanta Silverbacks men's soccer team. He is great and we are lucky to have him! This photograph of his son is one of my favorites. It was taken after a game last season. That's mom in the background. I'm looking forward to seeing how much he's grown this season!
Rosario is the beautiful belly dancer. This was at the end of a group candle dance at a performance last summer.

Mary Susan Photo Session

This was such a fun photo session! Mary Susan posed for me in her Easter dress, we had a piano recital and a bunch of adorable pictures. My FAVORITE picture will be in the next post and you'll see why when you read that post, so check back soon!

Apocalypstix vs. Toxic Shocks! Atlanta Roller Girls Roll Again!

Tonight was the roller derby in Stone Mountain, Georgia. I remember watching roller derby with my mom growing up, but I had no idea that it was still an activity you could see and participate in today! Apparently this has been going on for three years now and I just never knew about it! On the plus side, now I do know about it and I get to go photograph roller derby whenever their bouts fit into my schedule. I'm looking forward to it.

Not only did I have a great time tonight, but once I got their, I discovered that a friend of mine was actually the captain of one of the teams! What are the chances? Hope everyone enjoys looking at the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.

April Art Festivals & Portrait Sessions!

It is April, but I am certainly hoping to avoid any of those showers the last two weekends of April. I'm working hard to get all of my processing done, all of my printing done, and all of my matting done so that I can leave Atlanta for two weeks. I'll be going to the Mississippi Delta, mostly Cleveland, Mississippi, with little day trips to the surrounding area, including a full day in Oxford on April 28.

My schedule is filling up quickly for my time in Mississippi, but I do still have some spaces available, so get in touch quickly if you still want to book a photo session while I am in the area!

• April 20: Artist & Patron Party in the evening
• April 21: Crosstie Art & Jazz Festival; Cleveland, MS; Saturday, 10a.m. - 4p.m.
• April 22: afternoon photo session
• April 23: afternoon photo session
• April 24: morning appt.
• April 28: DoubleDecker Arts Festival; Oxford, MS; Saturday, 10a.m. - 5p.m.

Several other appointments and photo sessions are tentative, but have not been scheduled in yet, so now is the time! I'll have some of my new products on display at the festivals, so come by if you are in the area and say hi!

The photograph in this post was printed in a two-page spread (yeah!) in the March/April 2007 issue of Delta Magazine (Delta as in the Mississippi Delta, not as in the airline company) that is still available in the areas that carry that magazine! My photograph is on pages 20/21 and then I have a second photograph (yeah x 2!!!) on page 24.

Lots of exciting stuff going on at McRaney Photography! And the new website WILL be going up SOON!!!