La Vie de Bohème

La Vie de Bohème

Yes, this was posted several weeks ago by me. No, I've not gotten senile. Just need to share it again with you to enjoy. Last evening this image won first place at the Dallas Professional Photographers Association. It was a perfect ending to a stellar day!!!

By stellar I mean, I sold two fine art prints early in the morning. Got a great looking haircut thanks to Donna Graden. Had to choose between two matted prints that I had ready for competition and finally selected the one my heart was ready to show.

For years, my wife, Kim, my photographer friends (especially Dan Burkholder and Harry Sandler), and even my brother-in-law (Gary Palma) have exhorted me to enter competitions and show my work. Like my mother, I am quite stubborn and an obsessive perfectionist. To put my work out there required me to totally leave my comfort zone and put aside criticism fears. It was difficult to let go and just go with it.

Nevertheless, it was time to follow through despite my trepidations. My work was well received by my peers. All were equally impressed by the piece and by the fact that I also do my own printing. As a craftsman, I try to be in control of each step along the way. I know how it needs to feel and look.

One of my friends critiqued it early on in the competition. He coached me on what to anticipate and which criticisms I would more than likely face. It was very constructive but I knew that if I followed the judges advice the image would not look as good from afar. It would lose some of the three dimensional flavor and the luminosity in the clouds as well.

Prior to the competition, one my friends purchased a 6x9 edition of this piece printed on 8.5x11 fine art heavy stock watercolor paper. As a token of my appreciation of their patronage, my customer had the honor of naming this piece. The title chosen by them is: La Vie de Bohème (The Bohemian Life).

It's a suitable name for a terrific piece given the fact that Czechoslovakia use to be called: La Bohême (Bohemia).  "La Vie de Bohème (The Bohemian Life) is a French expression describing the type of life led by artists of the XIX century". That's a life that I've yearned my entire life.

If you would like to purchase this award winning print I am offering the following opportunities all hand signed by me: 5x7 greeting cards on Crane Museo premium card stock (five individually wrapped cards with matching envelopes), 6x9 prints on 8.5x11 fine art watercolor paper, and 12x18 prints on watercolor paper matted on 22x28 archival white matte board. Please contact me via email and this blog for pricing. Thanks for your support of La Vie de Bohème (The Bohemian Life).