Weston Photography Newsletter - July/August 2008

Greetings!

It's well into summer here in Carmel, the fog is rolling in from the bay and the streets are filled with antique and very exotic cars during The Concours d'Elegance.

The 5th Annual Weston Scholarship Fine Print Auction is up for preview! www.westonscholarship.org  Online bidding starts on September 5 - 12, 2008. Fine Print Auction September 13, 2008 Carmel Art Association 7PM on Dolores St. between 5th and 6th Aves. 831.624.8111 - SAVE THE DATE!

This is our 5th year of The Weston Photography Scholarship Competition. Since its inception, we have given 61 awards totaling $21,300. This year alone we had over 42 Monterey County students submit work, and we awarded 17 scholarships amounting to $5,800.
Help support our program by purchasing a print donated by renowned photographers or by making a donation! 100% of all proceeds go directly to the Weston Scholarship Fund.

POMS - Print of the Month

The 2008 July Print of the Month "Nude & Hot Dogs" is the first photograph in this 2008 POM Portfolio that was taken in Kim's Carmel studio. The story goes - Kim was all ready to photograph a model at the beach and it started raining. At that time he didn't want to postpone the shoot so he decided to bring the beach to his studio. He went down to Carmel Beach loaded up on sand and brought it back. He storyboarded all of his dream like visions, he painted, built props, placed his models in the sets and then started photographing  the series. Sometimes he created up to 15 photographs in the process using the same set. After this session he decided that he liked the controlled atmosphere of the studio, where he could direct every scene. This type of work represents a major body of Kim's work in the early 1980's.

The August Print of the Month "Alice and Wonderland" is a image from another dream like series that we affectionately call Alice and Wonderland. Print # 8 of the 2008 POM Portfolio.

Workshops

Mark Comon
Weston-Carmel Figure Workshop
The end of June was a busy time for us here at Wildcat Hill. Mark Comon of Paul's Photo brought 2 groups up from the Los Angeles area. The groups were fabulous as Mark has done a wonderful job teaching and preparing them for the Nude Workshop. Many had been here before but some were newcomers. Not only to Wildcat Hill but to Nude Figure Photography! After the first day of photographing, images were downloaded and critiqued before we started in on the 2nd day. It was a marathon and we were busy! We had wonderful guest artist speakers as we shared an intimate dinner on the veranda. (Mark's participants bring their own self portraits!) Thanks Mark!

The Artful Nude Workshop
Center for Fine Art Photography
August Fort Collins CO
We had  a wonderful time attending the opening night reception of the Artful Nude Photography Contest, a show juried by Kim. Out of the 1500 images submitted, Kim picked 55 outstanding photographs that were beautifully hung in the Centers new gallery. Many of the artists where in attendance at the opening and we had the opportunity to meet and get to know them a bit.

In conjunction with the juried show we taught The Artful Nude Workshop hosted by the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins CO. It was held at artists, Tony Gardner and Valerie Martin's home by the Horse Tooth Reservoir. During the weekend we explored many things, but what comes to mind is "what it means to work with the light and textures of our surroundings, how to work closely with figure models and how to work in a group". What I love most about these gatherings of creative people is the experience and excitement that they bring with them to share. It becomes infectious. Watching the beauty of the models unravel while getting to know them takes your breath away. We enjoyed ourselves immensely getting to know  Larry Padgett, the participants and our hosts! We hope to return soon!
Thanks again Larry for bringing us to your town.

Tutorials
Kim has really been enjoying teaching private tutorials. If you are thinking of getting some extra special one on one attention, a tutorial may be just the right thing for you. Working with Kim here at Wildcat gives you a unique location to explore the realms of nude photography, you get to work on exactly what you want to do at your own pace. The tutorials are not limited to working with the Nude. Kim also teaches large format and silver or platinum printing. More questions? email gina@kimweston.com

Upcoming Workshops
We are looking forward to the September Wildcat Studio II workshop.
Thanks to all of our friends that have brought their photography over to share at our dinners this year especially Huntington Witherill, Ryuijie and Chuck Davis.

Many Thanks!
Thanks to all who have attended our 2008 workshops/tutorials, so far this year they have been a lot of fun! Thanks to all of the models, they have been a pleasure to work with! Thanks to all that have purchased Kim's work this year. Thanks to our subscribers in the 2008 POM Club! Thanks to all the new subscribers to our newsletter. Thanks to the photographers who have donated their prints for the 5th Annual Scholarship auction, some for the 5th year in a row!!!!!

With much gratitude,

Gina, Kim & Zach