December Print of the Month

The final print to complete the 2009 Portfolio.
The December Print of the Month "Alice in Wonderland"

2009 Print of the Month Portfolio

Charis Wilson 1914 - 2009

Kim and I had the pleasure to spend many afternoons with Charis Wilson, here at Wildcat Hill and at her home in Santa Cruz. During our visits, we listened to her tell stories of her times with Edward. I was very fond of Charis and even though we didn't spend a lot of time together we shared a common bond. For me a deep connection. She lived in our house with Edward Weston, where they made their life together and he photographed her, making some of his most famous photographs. Now I live here with Kim - Edward Weston's grandson. For the first 15 of our 20 years here together, I was his muse and model. Still his muse, I just don't model anymore :).

Whenever I spent time with Charis, I would become very sentimental and teary eyed. I'm not quite sure why that was, but she was an amazing woman with an inquisitive eye, so smart and witty.

Wildcat Hill is quite a magical place. Kim and I became keepers of this property. We have shared the essence of Wildcat Hill with as many people that have shown the interest. We will miss Charis but she will always be with us in spirit. And I can read her book "Through Another Lens" over and over again. Thank you Rachel for being such a wonderful daughter and caretaker of such a wonderful mother. Love to you and your family.


Take Care,
Happy Thanksgiving!
gina and kim
ps. my son is home from college. it was such a treat to see him. we are so lucky. below are some images that i would like to share with you all. bye for now.......



2004 Charis Wilson 90th B Day Party



2004 Charis Wilson 90th B Day Party (Banner from the Huntington Library Exhibition, LA CA)



Zach Weston and Charis Wilson



Ian McCluskey, Brett Wood, Jason Edwards, and Heidi Sandburg of North West Documentary of Portland, Oregon Charis Wilson Weston, Rachel Harris, Bruce and Wendy Madar at Wildcat after filming an interview with Charis at 90 years young. 3/07/05, Filming the Eloquent Nude with Northwest Documentary

Rachel Harris, Charis, Wendy Madar, reading Edward Weston's guest book.



Charis and Zach



Filming Nudes and Peppers 2004 Parnass Films

Joachim Haupt & Sabine Pollmeier Parnass Films "Nudes and Peppers"

Charis at Wildcat Hill by Edward Weston



Edward Weston and Charis Wilson
"Through another Lens" by Charis Wilson

Charis Wilson, Alfred Starr and Edward Weston
in Nashville 1941"Through another Lens" by Charis Wilson

Charis and Edward at Wildcat Hill



2004 Charis Wilson 90th B Day Party



Charis with family and Seema Weatherwax

Charis Wilson dies at 95; model, muse and last wife of photographer Edward Weston

Moving Forward, Kim Weston Painted Photographs

Technology is getting the best of me. I have been using Front Page for almost 9 years. It has served its purpose well but it's time to move on. Microsoft doesn't use Front Page any longer, it has been changed to Expression Web, so sooner than later my website will run into problems because it uses Front Page Extensions. I took a Dream Weaver class at our local college but after 3 months didn't feel confident to build a complete website. I did learn a lot and rebuilt my website in 2006, but used Front Page. Now its 2009 and things are changing so rapidly. I want to add video and be more interactive. I have researched classes in this area and really can't find anything that works, so up to San Francisco to take a full 3 day - 6 module Dream Weaver class. I am excited yet nervous all at once. I have so many ideas and know this process will take a while but at least I am moving forward, putting one foot in front of the other. Following my intuition.

Painted Photographs

Kim is currently working on his painted photographs. here are a few examples so you can see the amazing work he has been doing.









www.kimweston.com

November Print of the Month

Greetings! The November Print of the Month...


"Nude on the Beach"

Carmel Art and Film Festival

The Carmel Art and Film Festival was this past weekend Oct. 8-11, 2009. Kim juried the photography show with photographer Bruce Haley and we hung it at the Marjorie Evans Gallery at the Sunset Cultural Center last week.









Tom Burns is a very personable guy, we liked him right away.The mood was upbeat and exciting. It felt like a community coming together where all the arts where represented. The Saturday Night Gallery and Wine Tasting was amazing with everyone going from gallery to gallery, the buzz was on! During the weekend, Kim talked about what it was like for him to grow up being a Weston. I saw a great concert by Griffin House, had brunch with local composer Alan Silvestri and watched several movies! It was a great event and even better to be a part of it.

2009 Print of the Month Portfolio

This is our 2009 Print of the Month Portfolio (POM). We have been producing POM portfolios for 9 years. When we first started our website in 2000, we wanted to offer something that would keep bringing people back to our site. Edward Weston used to have a print of the month club too. Back in the 30's you could purchase a print a month from Edward for something like $5. Could you imagine buying a Pepper 30 or Head down Nude for 5 bucks? People did! I remember Charis saying it was hard back then because the only way to reach people was by the mail, and how different things were now that we have the internet. This program has been very successful for us. The current (2009 POM's) selection of photographs are from the 1980's. Kim rarely went outside of his studio to work. He story-boarded all of his series, often having the model represent himself in his photographs. Kim visited many aspects of his life including life, birth, death and friendship.

2009 POM Portfolio


January POM; Ode to Bosch


February POM; Nude and Volcano


March POM; New York #1


April POM; Grave Yard Series #1


May POM; New York #2


June POM; New York #3


July POM; Apartment #1


August POM; Apartment #2


September POM; Apartment #4


October POM; Nude and Lips

If you are a member of the POM Club the price per photograph this year is $175 per image. If you collect all 12 you will receive a portfolio box to house your collection in.
To sign up - SUBSCRIBE!

Special Offer - For our blog followers we are offering single images from the 2009 POM's for $250, normally offered at $400. Just email or call me with your order.

more to come.....

20 Years on Wildcat Hill

Wildcat Hill in the 1930's

Last night we had our first rain (sprinkle) of the season! It was so nice to hear the rain on the old tin roof. This is one of the driest years that we can remember in the past 20 years. Yes, Kim and I are celebrating our 20th year of living on Wildcat Hill. Our anniversary is in December. We both look at each other in amazement wondering where the time has gone and how did it pass so quickly? Now with our son in college, Kim and I can have a “single” married life “without kids” under our feet. We didn’t have much time alone after we were married. Much of our lives have been centered around our son and of course photography.

When I met Kim, I was a massage therapist. While Zach was young, I worked part time on friends and family. I remember I would put Zach down for his nap and go give a massage. That took a lot of energy, but we were creative on how we worked. Kim was a carpenter, really a jack of all trades. He worked for friends and family, but was always his own boss. Back in those early days, he photographed on the weekends, developed his film in the evenings and during the week printed at 3:00am in the morning. He would get up, go print and then be off to work by 8:00am.



Our son Zach at Wildcat Hill (a few years ago)

Whenever I used to complain about something he always used to joke about how he and I could change places. I could make the money and he would watch the kid. And about 10 years ago he came to me and told me he wanted to retire from carpentry. He said we could hire a manager or I could run the business. Well we didn’t have much money to hire a manager, so I set off on the long journey to learn how to operate a computer. My massage days were over.

I come from a family of entrepreneurs. In the early days (1947) of Carmel my grandmother owned a hotel in the heart of Carmel called "The Homestead". I spent many weekends there as a child and in 1969 my family moved in to run the hotel. The hotel had 12 rooms and my first job was being a maid. Not the most fun, but it made me money back then. I remember so well my boyfriend going off and having fun while I had to stay and work! Besides cleaning rooms, I learned how to garden, how to sweep redwood needles off of the walks after big storms, how to book reservations and check people in and most importantly how to interact with people. I learned how to run a business.

So running Weston Photography has been fun and exciting. I would say one of the most important aspects of the business is how you interact with your clients. And just like any home based business you work a lot!