Erin Antognoli - 2009 Art Exhibits

I have a ton of art / exhibit news for the start of 2009, so I'm going to list all of the shows that I am currently planning here so that you can mark them on your calendars! All but the Studio Gallery group show listed are solo / feature exhibits, and all will feature my Holga photography.

Art Exhibits & Reception Dates:

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Greater Reston Arts Center - Fragments & Ashes
http://www.restonarts.org/
January 8, 2009 to February 14, 2009

Opening Reception: Sunday, January 11, 4 - 6 PM

12001 Market Street Suite #103
Reston, VA 20190

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Studio Gallery - Studio Gallery Presents Artomatic Artists
Curated by Ellyn Weiss
(I will be displaying several of my Route 66 Holga images)
http://www.studiogallerydc.com
January 7 - January 31, 2009

First Friday Reception (part of Dupont Circle Galleries openings):
January 9, 6 - 8 PM

Meet the Artists Reception: Friday, January 16, 6 - 8 PM

Closing Reception: Thursday, January 29, 6 - 8 PM

2108 R St NW # 2
Washington, DC 20008

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Curfman Gallery
http://www.curfman.colostate.edu/
Jan 23rd thru Feb 27th, 2009

Opening Reception: Friday January 23, 2009, 4 - 6 PM

8033 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80523

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The Delaplaine Visual Arts Center - Fragments & Ashes
http://www.delaplaine.org/
March 7 – April 26 (in the New Gallery)

Opening Reception: March 7, 2009, 3 - 5 PM

40 South Carroll Street
Frederick, Maryland 21701

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It is shaping up to be an exciting start to the year, and I hope to see you at one (or more) of the openings and events taking place!

Election Day Holgas

After I voted on November 4, I shot a roll of Holga outside my polling place. I know it's been over a month since then, but I've been busy! Anyway, better late than never, so here are a few of the images that resulted from that roll.

The National Portrait Gallery Holga

Every month or so, I have lunch in DC with some of my artist friends, and not only are those meetings great for inspiration and comradeship, but they're also nice for me because I make art on my way to and from lunch! We met up at the National Portrait Gallery a while back and I made this Holga image on the way out.

Super!

Here's a Holga image I made on the way back from an artist lunch meet-up at the National Portrait Gallery in Chinatown last month, just before election day. If it seems like half my portfolio was photographed in Chinatown, it's probably not too far off. I love taking my Holga down there to play!

Adams Morgan Holgas

Since I'll be developing more film over the holiday weekend, I figured I'd share the last of my *really* old Holga images now. These were taken back in late September in Adams Morgan during Crafty Bastards.

Voice Of America - The Holga Interview (in English!)

As promised, here is the unofficial, slightly shorter version of my Voice of America Holga interview. Thanks to Sahar for putting together a version that most of my friends could understand! In this interview, you can see me at work photographing a model, and hear me talk about my technique, inspiration, and motivations with regard to my Holga photography!

New (Old) Holga

I made these exposures in Chinatown almost two months ago, developed the film a month ago, and am now just getting around to proofing the rolls. I have even more images to share, but figure why rush? I've waited this long to look at them! Besides, I've been so preoccupied with my upcoming shows that new artwork has taken a backseat for the moment. It still gets made, just not as frequently as it is when I don't have all the other distractions.

I Voted!

Did you?

Edited to add: I am so proud to be an American right now! President Obama. This is historic! I feel like good things are in store for our country. But we regular citizens are not off the hook yet. It's up to all of us here to make that happen, and to make a difference...

Election Day in the USA!

I have a million things I want to say about Election Day, but I'll try to be brief, as I want to get to sleep somewhat early so I can wake up tomorrow and vote.

Firstly, if you are over 18 and a citizen of this country, you better vote, or you really don't deserve to live here. Is that harsh? Maybe. But it's the truth. Since this country's inception, lots of people sacrificed so much so that you could have that privilege, and if you waste it, then you are essentially slapping our founding fathers in the face. I hear the argument, "But I don't know who to vote for... they're all the same." Well, in fact, they're not. If you think hard enough about it, then I'm sure you can think of more than a few differences between the candidates that might affect you, especially this year. I don't think that any one candidate is perfect, and for most of the presidential elections I've voted in, I was simply voting for the lesser of two evils, but still... there is a difference. And if you don't like the Democrats OR the Republicans, vote for a third party. There are plenty on the ballot. If you don't vote, be prepared to be silenced for the next 4 years, because I don't think anyone who forgoes voting should be able to complain. Sitting out voting only says to me (and a lot of other people) that you obviously didn't care enough to weigh in when you were able, which is pathetic.

If you are a woman, vote. Women in our country only recently (relatively speaking - less than a century ago) gained the right to vote. They fought for that right, and if you don't vote, you might as well go back to being the silent sex. Maybe women's issues are important to you. Perhaps you'd like to be in control of what happens to your own uterus. Vote. If you are African American, you have had the unopposed right to vote even less time than women. If you care at all about what your ancestors had to go through to gain this right for you, vote. Don't negate everything they sacrificed and struggled for.

And for the love of God, do not vote on one issue alone. Look at the whole package. What will this candidate do for you? For our country? Ask questions, and apply some logic to decide if what they're saying is feasible. Voting is a responsibility that we as citizens should proudly and seriously execute, and not something to be taken lightly or put off entirely. Do some research on the candidates, figure out what their proposed policies are. Note: your neighbor does not count - I've heard the most random and inaccurate drivel passing as fact because "(my mom, my neighbor, my church, my dog, etc) told me this was true". Take a little initiative and look up the facts, both for the presidential candidates and your local candidates as well. Go to the polls informed, and do the country proud.

I have very strong opinions about who I want to win this presidential race, but I won't go into that here and now because I the point of my post is simply to remind people of how important the right to vote is. Those who know me probably know who I'm voting for, but even if you don't agree with me (and a few of my friends don't), I think you should vote anyway. The whole point is that we are all different, and should all have equal opportunity to weigh in our opinions on how we'd like to see this country turn.

So, I'll wrap this up now, and will be crossing my fingers that change is on the way!

First Place Winner!

I am happy to announce my first place finish in the "Emotional Impact" category of the ISPWP (International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers) Fall image contests. The winning image was taken at Crystal & Nick's wedding at Celebrations on the Bay in Pasadena Maryland.

The judge's comment reads: "Judges comments: Wow, look at her eyes. Serious emotion going on, and really well-framed to emphasize the moment."

I've placed in a lot of contests over the years, but it's always exciting to find out that I got top image in a category, especially when I only entered 2 images in the contest overall!

Check out the contest images here: Fall 2008 Contest
And the ISPWP site here: ISPWP

The ISPWP has a strict code of admittance for wedding photographers, as follows:

Membership Requirements

The application process helps to ensure that ISPWP members are established, experienced and have reached a high level of professionalism. The membership committee will evaluate applicants on the following criteria:

* At least 50 weddings as the principal photographer (not as secondary/backup)
* Sponsorship by an existing ISPWP member OR two email references from recent clients and two email references from fellow professional photographers
* Website review
* Agreement to operate your business in accordance with the Code of Conduct
* No unresolved complaints with the Better Business Bureau or other similar consumer protection organization

Frederick Area Bridal Networking - Fall Bridal Showcase

If you are planning your wedding, please come visit me TOMORROW at the Frederick Area Bridal Networking Fall Bridal Showcase. I am a member of FABNet, and am currently serving as Vice President of Administration for the group. I participated in this show last year, and can tell you it will be a valuable planning tool for any couple.

Visit premier local wedding vendors, register for hourly prizes, and be automatically entered to win our fabulous Grand Prize!

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Time: 12:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: Holly Hills Country Club
Address: 5502 Mussetter Rd., Ijamsville, MD

Engaged couples will have a wide range of Maryland wedding vendors at their fingertips, including area wedding and reception venues, photographers, videographers, caterers, florists, clergy, cakes, cosmetics / makeup artists, decorations, event planning, invitations / stationery, limousines, jewelry, lodging, music, rentals and registries, among other services.

My booth will be in the main ballroom on the first floor - just go through the main doors of the ballroom and hang a left to find my space. See you there!

Holga Show, R. Coury Fine Art

My latest solo exhibit of Holga artwork is now hung and ready to be seen by the public at R. Coury Fine Art Gallery in Savage, Maryland. The photos above were taken with my point and shoot just after we finished hanging the show. There are 29 works in all, some of them never before exhibited, so I'm pretty excited! More info is as follows:

Please come enjoy the beautiful photographic images created by ERIN ANTOGNOLI through the lens of her Holga camera.

RECEPTION FROM 6:00 PM TO 8:00 PM ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31st at R. Coury Fine Art Gallery. The artist will be present for questions and conversation!

Feel free to bring the kids as there will be trick-or-treating throughout the mill.

Or if you're in the mood, there is a Halloween costume party at the Ramshead here in Savage Mill from 5:00 PM to Midnight.

R. Coury Fine Art Gallery is located in Historic Savage Mill in the Spinning Building suite 217A, 8600 Foundry St., Savage, MD 20763. The gallery is open by appointment, and is owned and operated by artist Jill Hackney.

The exhibit will run from October 13 to November 14, 2008.

Gettysburg

This is another image I shot a little while back but am just now getting to scanning / sharing. I headed up to Gettysburg for the day to meet my parents who took a mini-vacation there, and walked around the town a bit. We had taken one of those Civil War tours where we saw the battlefields and heard about the events that took place there, and then went to the historic part of town to walk around and look into some of the shops. This image is of some of the ornate doorways that I found there.

Voice Of America - The Holga Images

As promised, here are the Holga images I made during the filming for the Voice of America interview I mentioned in the previous post. See the video HERE (my segment is 16:50 minutes in). You will see these images, along with some of my other fine art Holga images, in the piece.













Thanks to Sahar who made the video, and for Maira for modeling for both of us!

Voice Of America - The Holga Interview

Anyone speak Farsi? Just kidding. But not really. Because if you do, you will get to watch AND understand a really cool piece consisting of me being interviewed about my Holga artwork, my process, my techniques, and my inspiration.

But if you don't speak Farsi, you can still see me in action, as well as a bunch of my artwork (including the shot above from the video shoot)! Visit the Voice of America site at this link:

http://www.voanews.com/persian/_-late-edition.cfm

(For anyone who is ultra confused by that page, you can find the direct link to the video HERE, but be warned it will automatically start playing the video in Windows Media Player)

Click on the second link under 9/26. My piece is around 16:50 or so in. While I am speaking in English, they dubbed it over in Farsi! The original aired with the Iranian population in mind, but they're gonna have an English version soon to air around the world, so I'll be sure to share that when I have it.

Enjoy, and I will post more photos from the shoot I did for the video soon!

Connecticut Avenue

Those of you who attended the last artdc.org artists' dinner that I helped put together might recognize this location - it's on Connecticut Ave. right near the place we all met up!

We're planning another dinner next Sunday after Crafty Bastards ends, when we'll head over to DC9 and grab a bite to eat. If you're an artist, come join us...

Union Station - Washington DC

I shot this image months ago, but am just now getting around to posting it. It was taken just before my volunteer shift at Artomatic, and Union Station's metro stop is just before the one I needed to exit to get to the show. I was early, so I decided to get off the metro early and do some shooting in a different neighborhood. This is from underneath the covered outdoor area of the station looking out. Union Station is a neat place to photograph, and I don't stop there nearly enough. Too many places, too little time!

You'll be able to see a real print of this and many other of my new works at my solo show at the Greater Reston Arts Center this coming January, for sure!

Route 66 - Nevada

Well, Nevada isn't technically on Route 66, but we had to go to Las Vegas at the end of the trip since that's where we were flying from to head home. I had never been to that state either, and so it was a good opportunity to check it out. However, it was 119 degrees out, and so we stayed indoors as much as humanly possible before heading to the airport. And that's about when I chopped off all my hair. Had we stayed another day, I probably would have shaved my head bald.
:-)

We did brave the heat to see the Hoover Dam, and my photos below are from there. But otherwise, this is a fairly anticlimactic post. Have no fear, I still have some point and shoot images from the Canon Elph to go through, and will post a gallery once those are together!

Route 66 - California!

Andy and the Pacific!

The final state on the official Route 66 trek is California. Upon crossing the border, we drove through some really, really, hot, as in 114 degrees, heat. We passed through the tiny town of Barstow, which is tucked in the middle of the scariest mountains I have ever driven on since Alaska, where I took this:



And then passed by this old volcano:



That evening, we made it to the very end, in one piece, and lived to tell the tale! We reached the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Pier kind of late, so we saw it quickly just to touch home base, got dinner at a great Indian restaurant a block away, and then sought lodging at the Pacific Sands Motel, which was right across the street from the pier. The decor left something to be desired, and I know for a fact it has been at least since the mid 80's that anything in that room has been replaced. How do I know this? I usually draw something on the bottoms of the drawers of the places where I spend the night to mark that I have been there, and for the first time in over a decade of doing this, I ran into another signature... Jill & Robert from May 2, 1987. Yeah. I had to share my drawer space with them. But that's okay... I wonder where they are now? I drew a picture of Andy's running shoes on my half of the drawer on July 8, 2008.

The next morning we wandered around the pier and I took these:











Then we checked out of the motel and drove up Route 1, where I took these:





We found a place to camp along the beach, which was awesome because we could walk to the ocean and then retreat to our tent.

Amy:



Andy:





Later that evening it got cold, so we lit a campfire and I got to wear my new (used) jeans and lime green pumas that I picked up at a Goodwill store near the pier. We then took lots of photos with our respective cameras. I posted a few at the beginning of my 66 posts of me by the fire, as well as of Josh and Amy. This one of Andy taken with my Holga was also from that same session.



The next morning we woke up and headed for Las Vegas, which will be the next post in this installment: Nevada!

Route 66 - Arizona

Jack Rabbit Trading Post - Joseph City, Arizona

After traveling through New Mexico, we hit Arizona, which was full of some wonderful things. We stayed at the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, which had classic cars parked outside each wigwam. I took some Holga photos of those cars, and two of them are here:





I got a cool vintage bracelet in an antique shop in Williams, which had this skull out front:



Josh, on a pit stop on our journey through the painted desert:



The meteor crater - I got a cool shirt from here, but had to buy the children's size medium. Apparently, they think adults are huge!:



Another image outside the Jack Rabbit Trading Post in Joseph City:



Next up: California, and the end of Route 66!
(but not the end of the trip... we traveled Nevada as well before heading home...)

Route 66 - New Mexico

Tucumcari, New Mexico

The next state on our Route 66 journey was New Mexico. I don't have any Holga shots from this state, since mostly it was just desert and landscape type scenes, which didn't really suit my Holga style. So the XPan got used heavily on this leg of the trip.

We visited a state park that had a lot of Laguna Indian ruins, and it was pretty cool. The next few photos are from that park:










A random rest area / gift shop haven on the side of the road:


Around an old church in Laguna, New Mexico:





Next state up: Arizona!