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!

Off to College; Big Sur Nude, other news

Greetings!
We have returned from San Diego with full hearts! We dropped our son off at San Diego State University and he started class on Aug. 31st. People are wondering how we are going to be affected by "the empty nest syndrome" but we seem to doing okay. One reason is that we have been working towards this event for so many years! I have actually completed a major goal of mine. Getting our son to college. I would say last year was a major learning curve for me, but I did it. I listen for the phone to ring looking at the caller id and hope it's him. I will be listening for his truck to drive up the driveway but it's already here! I am so proud of his accomplishments and am looking forward to watching him progress on his journey.

Two weekends ago we held the "Big Sur Nude Workshop" with Michelle Magdalena. The opening night was held at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur CA. We had a fabulous dinner prepared by Michelle and her family. After the meal we gathered around and watched a slide presentation. We hope to return soon to hang out with Magnus Toren director of the library. He is a charming and warm host. We photographed for 2 consecutive days, one at Wildcat Hill and the other in a private canyon that leads to the ocean. Beautiful location. Photographer Will Giles gave a talk and shared his ideas and photography with the group after a fireside dinner at our house. Michelle invited "The Gallery Girls" from LA to model for us. They were great. Thanks Michelle and thanks to the "Girls". We had a great group of photographers - thanks for joining us!



Kim photographing a nude she behind the ferns - got some great images, coming soon!



Kodiak Greenwood joined us for the weekend



Bixby Bridge Big Sur CA



Will Giles sharing his photography



Will with 2 of the Gallery Girls, Larva and Sara



Will gave a talk about his ideas on photography



Famous Spaghetti dinner at Wildcat Hill





Kim with Katherine & Cody Edison at The Henry Miller Library

Wildcat Studio Nude II Workshop is scheduled for Labor Day Weekend! I am starting to work on Kim's presentation for the Monterey Museum of Art next Wed. Sept.9th at 10:30am at La Mirada Monterey CA

We are patiently waiting for our painted photograph book to come back in the mail. We hope the colors look good.

Its hot today and its time to close, seem like You Tube doesn't like the format of my video so i will have to work on it tomorrow if it doesn't upload.

Kim Weston Tutorial, mounting with Cody

This summer we have an intern working with us here at Wildcat Hill. Each year we get requests for internship, but since Kim does all of his own printing, mounting and spotting he doesn’t really need an intern for those tasks. So he kept thinking about what we needed to have done. One project was very much in Kim’s thoughts – design a book on his painted photographs. So that is what Cody Edison has been doing for us on his summer vacation.
He was a first place winner in our 2008 Weston Scholarship Portfolio Contest and he went on to The California Institute of the Arts in Valencia to study photography. He searched many art colleges and decided this was the best choice for him.

It’s been fun having Cody here in the afternoons. He has spent many hours going through Kim’s painted photographs and designing the book. He spent time looking at other books and then presenting us with his ideas. I must say it is coming together so beautifully… he’s taken photos of Kim’s images and learned some new Photoshop techniques. He’s learned about fonts, text and what you should do before you start putting your book together. It’s been a fun process. So while all of this is happening and we are hanging out working on the computer together, I am sure he is wishing he was in the darkroom printing. Well he didn’t get to the darkroom yet but Kim did give him a mounting tutorial. Hope you enjoy it and we will keep you all posted on the upcoming book!