Sometimes Last Minute Works

So that thing I said I was doing last Saturday? The thing I didn’t want to tell you about until I was sure it worked out? I can tell you now because it worked out.

Here’s the low down. Back in July I asked my brother-in-law Randy to help me choose some photos for a local art show.  Randy is an artist and I respect his opinion a lot when it comes to art and I wanted some constructive criticism on (1) whether I had any photos worthy of viewing and (2) which photos he thought would be most likely to be chosen since this is a juried show. A few weeks ago I emailed Randy 55 of my best photos and waited to hear from him. He has been really busy fishing (and no, I’m not being sarcastic, Randy is a commercial fisherman and does guided fishing charters on his boat as well) so when I didn’t hear from him right away I figured he was busy and knew he’d get back to me at some point. He finally did and he had lots of praise and advice on which photos he thought would be best for printing and framing. There was only one problem – he emailed me on the night before the submission date. I didn’t have anything printed, much less framed, so I read the email and set it aside and thought, well, there’s always next year.

Then Randy’s wife Mary stopped by for a minute last Saturday morning and while she was over she asked me about submitting the photos because Randy had shown them to her. I told her the deadline was only a few hours away and it was too late to do anything for this year. Mary wasn’t having any of that and neither was Randy, apparently, because my phone rang about 5 minutes later. It was Randy encouraging me to go for it. He told me where I could go  to have the images printed up quickly. He told me they would help me select mats and frames. And then he told me to come to his house and he would help me frame them. So I decided to go for it.

I’m really glad I did because all 3 of my submissions were chosen for inclusion! This was my first show and I was a bit intimidated about entering but with Randy’s help and Mary’s encouragement it all worked out. I learned a lot about framing and have some ideas of things I’ll do differently for next year – including getting things ready earlier – but I wouldn’t have changed this experience for anything.

As for the photos, you’ve seen them all before but I’ll show you again. This time they even have names.


Snowy Woodpecker


Mary’s Pansy


Cattails of Plymouth

They look even better in their mats and frames.

So there you have it.  I’m still just plain old me but now I’m plain old me with a juried art show on my resume.  Not bad for someone who really doesn’t know what she’s doing.

Related Posts

Instagram, 2021

Many of you wrapped up 2021 last week. I, however, took the week off and…

Pieces of Me

If you've followed me on Instagram this last week, you will know that I've been…

This Post Has 82 Comments

  4. congratulations Carole, I’ve been lurking for a while but I’ve forced myself to come out of my shell today, love your blog and your photos are beautiful, thank you for the effort you put in and for sharing

  7. Congratulations! Your photos are always great, and these are no exception. You have such a good eye.

  18. You take some amazing photos. Congratulations on getting into the show. I think the Woodpecker is my favorite – I hope it wins a prize!

  21. Congratulations! I’m glad you went for it. I don’t remember seeing Snowy Woodpecker before. I think it’s my favorite, but it’s hard to choose.

  25. Oh WOW! That is fantastic! Yay you!! (And I’m glad Randy and Mary kicked you in the arse and got you to go get the prints made and framed.) 🙂

  26. HURRAH!
    I have been hoping you would do something like this – your photos are really excellent. There’s just something about them that invites the viewer to look and look again –
    and a juried show at that.
    wow.
    applause applause

  37. All your pix are splendid. I remember that woodpecker one. I’ve been trying to get good bird pix with my fancy new camera but haven’t had much luck — maybe I should (gasp) read the manual. (I did take some decent duck pix in Rangeley, but the phrase “sitting duck” comes to mind. It’s much harder when they’re not sitting.)

  42. OMG, Carole! That is fantastic! I’m so proud of you. You are living the dream of a lot of us, in more ways than one. You go, girl!!

Comments are closed.

Back To Top