Happy Halloween: Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia

Being the day before Halloween, it’s perfectly acceptable to be thinking about the creepiest experiences you’ve ever had. One of the most recent of mine was on a recent trip to Philadelphia. First trolley stop on my list: the Eastern State Penitentiary.

It’s located right near the Museum of Art – home of the “Rocky” statue. Pretty darn near downtown.



The first thing I noticed was that it’s in a neighborhood. A neighborhood where people live and drive and walk their dogs. This evil history, just set amongst the townhouses.



We walked in from the street into the gift shop and paid for our admission. There’s an audio tour you can get so that you can listen to different parts of the story where ever you are in the complex. Many parts of it are narrated by Steve Buscemi. We got our headsets on and started off.

It was really hot that day and stepping into the first spoke of the wagon wheel shaped set of buildings was at first refreshing. Then your eyes become accustomed to the dimness and focus on the corridor for what it is: cell after cell, door after door, a place in history where the worst offenders where kept.

We learned that in its earlier years, it was a model for prisons around the world. It was the Pennsylvania System and was based on the true concept of “penitence”. Inmates were kept completely solitary, not seeing another human being for months or years at a time. Even while being led into their cells, their heads were covered. It was “confinement in solitude with labor” and worked extremely well for years.



I found the extensive corridors mesmerizing.



I had seen one of the ghost shows do a visit of this place, declaring it haunted. This place, on a catwalk across the second level, was the area of the most paranormal activity. I found that out after we went, but recall feeling, as I stood on the catwalk, that I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I took a few photos and hurried back down.

There are artist installations throughout. One is in homage to the many cats who moved in after the prison was closed in the early 70’s and the man who continued to feed them. There are plaster cats in various poses throughout.



Another artist’s installation had these small models of cell and prison life. I found this one extremely unsettling.

Women were incarcerated in separate wings.

Al Capone spent some time in here. His cell was outfitted in the finest of the time.

Mostly, what struck me, as a photographer, was the age and decay, the texture and ruin, the glimpses of lives lived in this place. Men, women, sleeping, eating, living here in these small rooms, doing penance for their crimes.

The aging provides some beautiful terrible texture to these walls. So pronounced in some places that the layers of paint curled inches away from the surface.

One of my favorite musicians, Sting, used this dimension as a backdrop for an album cover shoot.

Another creepy place in the prison was the hospital, although we could not enter the actual rooms, the implication of disease and death hung heavily in that part of the prison.

This is a scary and fascinating place.

With some unusual and unexpected beauty.

When you are here in Philadelphia, come and check this place out. It’s really worth a few hours of your time to understand the evolution of the prison system in this country and the power of this place.











You can read all about the history and check out the plans for this year’s Halloween.

http://www.easternstate.org/

Travel Photography - Favorites from California

Water Lilies at San Juan Capistrano

In August, we traveled.  Vacation to California early in the month, then a business trip to Philadelphia later on.  Hysterical.  Delicious.  Saturated.  Gluttonous.  Exhilarating.  I could go on, but thankfully you might say, won't.  For now, I will share some of my photography from the road. 

One of my favorite stops - kind of a surprise - was at the Mission at San Juan Capistrano.  Yeah, I had heard all about the swallows and certainly enjoyed the story - But the gardens, and the buildings, and I just fell in love with the feeling of the whole place.

Loved the cacti and the adobe.  They compliment each other.

The flowers, the palm trees, oh my!

 

 

 

 

The blooms and the arches.  So pretty.

Our stop at San Juan Capistrano was on the way between Los Angeles and San Diego.  In San Diego, we planned a trip to the world famous San Diego Zoo.  Here are two of my favorites from that day?

I know you're not supposed to cut off the heads of zoo animals but I just loved the shot of the little guy.  The giraffes are my second favorite animals of the day.

This one - the flamingo - is my favorite.  Just look at how delicate the feathers are.  How soft a place to rest one's head.  Too bad you have to stand on one leg to do it.

Quote For The Day

"Don't be afraid to follow your bliss and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be."

~Joseph Campbell~

Introducing a new product: Glass cutting boards - Functional art for your kitchen

I’m very excited about this new product.  I have been looking, and will continue to do so, for ways to use my photography in ways other than prints for your walls, photo greeting cards, and to jazz up my blog here.  I’ve found a source – www.artibly.com that allows me, or anyone, to create unique glass cutting boards using photographic art.   Here are a few that I’ve currently got for sale on my Etsy and Ebay sites. 

Spice up your kitchen with a custom-imprinted rectangular cutting board! Custom cutting boards are perfect for home chefs and restaurant owners alike. This functional, sanitary, and heat-resistant glass cutting surface is ideal for slicing, dicing, and mincing in the kitchen. This beautiful tempered glass cutting board has a grain texture on the surface. Includes self-adhesive rubber feet.

Any image in this store can be used to create your unique cutting board. I can even include lettering or custom copy. Would make a great housewarming, wedding, or hostess gift. You could invite guests to “Meg’s Kitchen” or inform visitors that they could be the next to be “Chopped”. Just indicate, in the notes, which image and sentiment you’d like. I will confirm and send a proof of the design before creating.

THE DETAILS:

Close up of cutting board top shows grain texture surface.

Image is printed on the bottom of the cutting board. Opaque printing surface allows image to show brightly through glass.

Use as a cutting surface. Tempered glass resists stains, odors and bacteria. Board makes a unique serving platter for hors d’ oeuvres. Artistic additions to any kitchen or wet bar area.

Cutting board is safe in most dishwashers, but we suggest board be washed by hand.

Keep out of direct sunlight. Board left in direct sunlight may fade gradually over time.

Board is about 7.9" high and 11.8" wide.

Radius corners are approximately 1.2 inches.

Board is approximately .16 inches thick.

Self-adhesive rubber feet are provided to prevent slipping on countertop.

Sidewalk Arts in the Rain

Fortune's Rocks Beach Biddeford, Maine - the day after

I’m new to the arts and crafts show circuit. That doesn’t mean I’m new to art or craft for that matter, just to the concept of setting up a temporary shop for a day, weekend, or even just a few hours to sell your work. In the past year, I’ve been assigned a space between a gourmet fudge maker and a Christmas wreath crafter, a handcrafted unique bird house designer and a whoopee pie baker, and a marshmallow gun carver and my friend Judy, who makes jewelry, and who is “not in this for the money. It’s just fun . . ” but outsold me by 300%.

I have learned a thing or two from these people, though, and from these events. By making mistakes and finding myself wishing I had brought X, I thought I was totally prepared for the show I did this past weekend in Southern Maine.

My table display

The one thing I needed the most and forgot to pack: my thick skin.

The one thing I wasn’t prepared for: disappointment.

The one thing I hoped wouldn’t happen and did: rain.

The one thing I had, but didn’t get much use out of: inventory.

No, I’m not especially spleeny (a good Maine word for frail, sensitive or easily hurt). And no, I’m not generally a person who looks at life with a glass-half-empty attitude.



But it rained. It poured. The brave ones came out to the show anyway and expected to see some serious art. My first sale of the day was my largest: $100 for one of my bigger, display pieces. The rest of my sales were smaller, but were certainly sales nonetheless. It’s just that there were so few of them. I guess I’m lamenting the fact that there were points in the day that I thought I’d cry from the frustration. Rain poured down the gully on the edge of the sidewalk. It dripped in from the metal poles supporting my just-bought-for-this-occasion beige canopy (without the side walls, because I couldn’t find matching ones, which turned out to be a valuable asset to those around me to keep their work dry when the rain came in sideways). Cars drove by and splashed the back of my table, the tablecloth, the gear I had stowed beneath the skirt.



And not that I can blame them, hardly anyone came. And of those who did, many said “ah, the Saco Sidewalk Art Festival . . it always rains . . “ and they’d shake their heads and give me a small grin, like I should have known or like I did know yet chose to come anyway.

my canopy covered show space

Reality is that you sign up for these events long before the extended forecast comes out. You pay the entry fee. You try to consider everything, every what if, or if not. You – or maybe it’s just me – research display ideas and find something that’ll work for your art. You think about how to pack the car for easy unloading and set up. You consider the phrasing of your signs. You dream about making a bunch of money and being able to call your husband and tell him how great it was and that you’re taking your parents out for dinner on your big earnings and how everyone ranted and raved about your work and you have orders for more work that’ll keep you busy until Christmas and you convince yourself this will be worth having given up your day job.

And then it rains.

And only the brave few come to the show.


And thankfully you make enough to just cover the entry fee and your gas.


And . . . you learn.



And you meet a few people and chat with them and bathe in the compliments.



You listen to their stories of this place or that one and how they shot this amazing sunset and oh here it is in my digital camera do you want to see it?



And your face hurts from smiling because despite all of that, you do like doing this.



And you’re happy about giving up your day job and spending the last four nights gluing mattes together and making signs.

And there’s a certain satisfaction when you back up and take a look at all you’ve created and think about the trail of an image to this point. How it goes from something you see through the viewfinder to your computer to the printer to the table with the glue and mat board to a finished product with your name on it that goes up on someone’s wall that they see every day and it makes them smile.

Ocean Park Beach Path Saco Maine

It takes a lot to put your work out there. Not only do you have to have confidence and pride in what you do or create, you have to have a marketing concept of some sort. You have to know no only what you sell, but how you sell. What kind of image do you intend to project? What psychological nerve do you want to touch in the people who walk by your booth? How are you going to get noticed, in a sea of white canopies and colorful signs? I don’t know the statistics on the amount of money spent by the typical consumer visiting an art or craft show. I understand that for someone to earmark some of their time and energy to going to one of these shows, they have to have an interest of some sort. Sometimes they drive long distances. Sometimes there’s an admission fee. Sometimes it takes the coordination of several friends or family members who enjoy this sort of event to decide to go together and make a day of it. I get it. These people have an investment into this before they even get to the gate. This earns them the right to some sort of expectation. Arts and craft show attendees want to see and buy things that are on a different level from the things on the shelf at Walmart. They want to meet the artists and talk to them about their art. They want a story to tell when someone asks them about the photograph of the sunflower they’ve hung in their living room.



My Dad asked me the next morning if I would do it again. I was sore from moving everything and standing on my wet feet all day. I was struggling to repack the car with items I didn’t sell. My patience was thinning. I had a long drive ahead of me and unpacking at the other end.




I said yes.

Tangled lobster buoy ropes on the beach

Quote for the day:

"Always keep in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other."

~Abraham Lincoln~