best time for clouds Eastern Arizona

[Kirk Gittings]

incorrectly monikered southwest "monsoon" season

ya think?

[ROL]

This the kind of deal where they provide you a free camp space in exchange for some free artist interpretive talks? If so, I may have to visit at that time.

[Kirk Gittings]

Yes and no. These gigs are highly competitive and sometimes pretty high profile (last years at Canyon of the Ancients was amazing)-lodging is available and yes I have to give a talk (but that is nothing to me as I do them all the time). I have also devised my own method of funding these through pre-selling prints to collectors who have my work. I'm working my way up, building my track record for gigs that have real funding.

[Mark Woods]

Congratulations! Well deserved. Enjoy your time. I look forward to seeing what you accomplish.

[Laura_Campbell]

Kirk,

The rains start in AZ around 4th of July. If they don't begin then and the rain is really late, they begin in August. I think you made a good decision choosing an August slot. The Arizona rains are pretty intense. They're longer and heavier than the ones I experienced while living in Taos (summer). You're gonna have so much fun! :-)

[Kirk Gittings]

Cool. thanks.

[ROL]

Nice, Kirk. I have toyed with these opportunities a bit over the last few years, never quite being able to go through with the application process (for various Parks) for one reason or another. One of my concerns regarding presenting (LF) film photography as fine art, is exactly what, other than show and tell, one might do with the quid pro quo – as darkroom technique is not generally feasible and bringing prints, related or not to subject at hand, might be (unavoidably) construed as some kind of otherwise verboten commercial opportunity. Now, I really am going to have to make an effort to get out there and see how you handle that.

[Kirk Gittings]

I always give a talk about who I am, what I do and why I do it along with a digital slide show. Its easy because I've been doing something more or less similar (tweaking it a bit each year and for each group) to students, photo and art groups, architects etc. for many years like 30. The key is to show allot of good images and be real. The images really always carry the presentation.

I also think that good landscape work is widely applicable to landscape anywhere in the west. Most of the people who show up for these things travel widely in the west and get that. My angle is the general theme of my life's work-broadly speaking-"Mythological Landscapes of the SW". People seem to really get it as it encompasses pre-history, history, respect for the land and peoples, the environment etc.

[Chauncey Walden]

Hey Kirk,
Have fun and good luck on the weather!
Chauncey

[Kirk Gittings]

Thanks Chauncey!