Returning to the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival in March 2011 was a bittersweet moment. For one year, I had been a full-time fine-art photographer, and made my living exclusively from this trade. I felt I owed a large part of this success to the emerging artist program from 2o10. Little did I know that 2011 would be an even better experience. This time around, I had new photographs, a much better booth setup, and 20 shows of experience under my belt. The year in-between was loaded with improvements and creating new work. I had learned to build my own frames from scratch, and read dozens of books in printing, developing film, and photographing.

For this blog post, I want to take a moment here to thank the excellent and dedicated WPSAF committee, as well as reflect upon Florida’s best and most community oriented art festival. Without this program, I may never have realized my dream of becoming a full-time, professional photographic artist. The festival was so much fun, and I was glowing all three days. I was so fired up during the festival that I had completely forgotten to take any pictures at all that day. All I have is my memory of the event, as well as a lasting impression that led me to an abrupt career move. During the Artist Dinner on Friday night, I talked for hours with several artists. I was shocked to learn from these artists that you could be a full-time artist for a living.

Traveling all over Florida to exhibit at art festivals the past year, I rarely get to see my works hanging in their final place.  Last week, I had the opportunity to see my photographs hanging at The Mayflower, a luxurious retirement community in the heart of Winter Park, Florida. In March 2011, the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival (WPSAF) was my best experience yet because of its dedicated Patrons that sponsor the festival, as...

My first win of the season was a big one!  For the November 5-6 2010 24th Annual Lake Mary Heathrow Festival of the Arts Festival, I was awarded prestigious ‘Tony Senador Award’, with a grand cash prize of $2,500! Because the largest two prizes are given dead last, I had given up hope after the first 25 awards were given out, including 10 judges choice awards, 5 awards of commendations, 10 awards of distinction, and 1 award of...

In early March 2010, I exhibited my Florida Noir Series as a featured ‘Emerging Artist’. Although my first art festival, it was a wild success both in sales and as an artist. Sometimes I felt that I had spent to much time on the series, but hearing thousands of compliments and watching people hand me money, one after the other, was an intense confidence boost to keep expanding my art portfolio and experiment with new...

Great news! I was accepted as a featured “Emerging Artist” at the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival on March 19-21, 2010! There are quite a few perks to this distinction, as well as making my first outdoor art festival a success. At 350,000 visitors, this is one of the largest and most prestigious shows in Florida! While my latest photography and blogging has focused mostly on family portraits, engagements, and weddings, I still trek...