Back to the Markets

Whew--that was better! Back where I know my space and my neighbors. Except now that I was back downtown, Kathy and Jim, my next door neighbors, were off for the weekend. I missed them, not only because Kathy is good enough to watch my booth while I make a bathroom run, but because foremost, I like them. I'd forgotten they were taking a well deserved Sunday off.  Next week we'll catch up!

One thing about the Winter Garden market that was a wee bit challenging was the 8:00 start time. Now, that's not terribly early, however, when you have to make a bit of a drive, plus unload and set up, it's earlier than I'd like. Saturday morning, with Bruce finally home, I had no desire to leave our comfy bed. I did though. Just a little later than was probably prudent for a rule follower like myself. As I pulled up I noticed that the number of vendors had shrunk in my absence. Well, no wonder--the previous week, following the market, Dana held a meeting to go over the rules of loading and unloading. She's quite the stickler--safety sake, if you're wondering. Furthermore, she changed the hours to 9-2. I had more than enough time to get set up, that's for sure.  It will take a bit of time for the patrons to catch on to the new time. I know, after 1:00, I just wanted to go home and watch football. Fortunately I returned in time to watch the Seminoles play a great game against Maryland. For, what I think is the first time all season, they scored on the first possession. Good times. Bruce was very pleased that they put a running game together for a change.

Anyway, back to the market--while there a man came along and looked through the larger prints. I was sitting adjacent to my booth at a picnic table eating some lunch. He asked if it was my stuff. Indeed. He then went on to say that one of the prints reminded him of Peter Lik. You ever heard of him? I hadn't. Astonishingly, the man said some of his photographs sell for more than $10,000. Hmmm....

Then, without any prompting, he showed the print to another person in his party and asked what it reminded her of. Peter Lik. I said, "how about that?" And to think you can get something like his work for only $30.00. He passed. :)

Here's my little set up at Winter Garden. Bruce has been so, so busy he's not had time to make another price tag for the front of one of the baskets. Looking at the picture it really stands out doesn't it? When you photograph a market every week, the challenge is to find the out of the ordinary which truth be told is quite the challenge. So, sometimes I just shoot what I see:

Always, beautiful tomatoes. The day started quite chilly so folks were sporting jackets for a change:

And in her case, a hat. The angelonias are still beautiful:

And, of course, what fall market doesn't have a guess the weight of a humongous pumpkin?

$25 market money for the prize. Good deal!

As you can imagine, Bruce is chronically tired right now. Mostly because he's not sleeping so good. Which means he wakes up crazy early and when he's home, we go to bed crazy early as well. That was us on Saturday night--9:30 and we were sound asleep.

Another chilly start to the day on Sunday evolved into a pleasant afternoon. The market was full of folks wanting to enjoy the weather. We're still using the stripped down version of our booth:

At this point during set up I was a little island. The soap folks took over Jim and Kathy's spot to the left of my booth. Sometimes, they are on the right which really bugs me--I need space for visitors, like Ha and her gang who usually visit weekly after walking around the lake four times for exercise:

 I joked with them that everyone got the wardrobe message--black, gray and white. Ha is pictured on the left holding one of my bags. When Jonathan lived at home, going to Valencia College, he worked at Martini Graphics with Ha. We always expected after graduating from Florida State a few years later that he'd return home to both us, and his old job. Never did we imagine he'd end up living in both Chicago and Austin! Shows you what we knew! These days Ha works for AAA after Martini Graphics closed their doors forever. Sad really, although everyone involved seems to have bounced back just fine.

Amy, the produce vendor, always does a super job with her pumpkin patch:

I took this before the market began with everything just so. Later on I headed over there to see what the rest of the story was:

Darn that little pumpkin on the left is cute isn't it? I should have bought that.

The hay bales on the right are set up for picture ops. While I was taking this I noticed a family doing just that on the other side that's not pictured. It's really nice to be one part of the market family.

It must have been that man's touch or something, because in the morning I sold the print that was the Peter Lik  "lookalike." While checking out his website to include today, I see that my work bears zero resemblance. His are heavily processed, mine are, well you know the drill--"I'm Feeling Lucky." Apparently, they take you in a room, darken the lights and show the photography which according to the gentleman glows. Mind you, Las Vegas is the site where some of this occurs. Use your imagination....

Which leads me to this interesting piece called,  Brandwashed, from NPR. Just this morning after getting dressed I thought to myself that the clothes I was wearing, not to mention the shoes and jewelry are all "brands." How weird that a little later I'd come across this story. Judging from my outfit you'd think I was brandwashed, and certainly to some extent I am, however, one thing I really try to avoid are labels on my clothing or handbags. The new Coach handbag Bruce gave me for our anniversary is blessedly almost logo free. Not entirely, but mostly.

So, what do you think? Are these prices for Peter Lik Photography reasonable?  Or, are people being "brandwashed?" You be the judge.