Morning blogpickers! It is a gorgeous Saturday morning here in Charlottesville Photo Town at the Look3 festival of the photograph. Thus will be a short posting as I am about to wolf down some breakfast at The Nook before heading off to the Masters Talks at 11am. This morning is Latoya Ruby Frazier, David Liittschwager, and Steve McCurry. I can't wait! Tonight will be Sally Mann interviewing Nan Goldin which should be similarly wonderful....

Yesterdays highlight was undoubtedly the premiere of Mary Ellen Marks latest work, coupled with a video. Called The Prom it was an amazing, sad, funny, heart moving view at the American prom....i urge you all too see the work and the video when it is launched through Getty in January.

Otherwise, the day was filled with laughter, food, and friendship. And also a great discovery. I thought Look3 was every other year...but I was wrong. It is 3 years on and one year off....and last year was the year off. So who's coming with me next year?!

Big love!

DMx

Hello one and all from Charlottesville! Its day two of Look3 and what a great event it is proving to be. Yesterday I was fortunate to see some amazing works by truly great photographers. From the Photograpers of the year awards to the works of Massimo Vitali it has been well worth it. Of course there has also been some wine and good food as well.

Yesterdays highlight was the insight exhibition with Antonin Kratochvil, and the insight conversation where Antonin was interviewed on stage by Scott Thode in the paramount theatre. It was an interesting experience and I learnt quite a bit about how a true master works. The interview and work also raised a number of questions for me, but mobile blogging is a poor place for that much typing so those will have to wait!

The evening was similarly pleasant with some Japanese food, more wine, and a late night pizza. All washed down with great conversation with a bunch of people who I just love to bits. Truly Look3 is all about Peace, Love, and Photography!

Today brings an exciting program. First up are the Masters Talks. Ashley Gilbertson, Christopher Anderson, Martin Bell, and Mary Ellen Mark will be the speakers. I am looking forward to the Mary Ellen Mark work "The Prom" being premiered. Then this evening tonight Insight Conversation is Massimo Vitali being interviewed on stage by Alex Chadwick. Good Stuff! I wish I could write more....and will when I am back on my PC, wonderful as the multi-touch keyboard on my Windows Phone 7 is!

So stay tuned blog friends....more to come later! For now I am off to find the rest of the gang!

Big love to all,

DMx

Good morning dear readers. Thursday is here with another blistering day in Charlottesville. It is going to be 97 today....ouch.

So where was I....last night, right? So after arriving and checking in I headed downtown for a walk around. There is a free trolley bus from the university dorms so after having had my teeth shaken to bits on the ride, I was downtown. The mood here is very festive though it was still quiet. Some band was playing in the arena so there were lots of people heading to the concert. I busied myself with admiring the fabulous aerial photographs from George Steinmetz that were hanging from the trees in the downtown pedestrian mall. It's quite inspiring to see these works just hanging in the air, especially as they were all taken from a microglider. After a while I settled for dinner in a little bar on the main mall called positively 4th street and watched the people go by. I have never been to Charlottesville before and I can say that from what I have seen it seems like a cool and happening place. And so my leisurely evening progressed, a welcome change of pace from my summer work with Cisco. At around 10pm I ran across the ever wonderful Barbara Houghton and Keith Farley. It seemed like a great opportunity for a glass of wine...who was I to refuse! So we sat and chatted for about an hour. Barbara as usual dispensed some sage advice about making art while re-embroiled in the business world which made me feel a lot better about my summer. But before long it was time to return the dorms. We bid our farewells and I headed back to the bone shaking trolley bus. When I had boarded the bus the driver had told me I was at Alderman and stadium. So it seemed reasonable to ask this driver to let me off there. And he did. I stepped off the bus, it sped away, and I realized that I was in a completely different part of the campus. It was 11.30pm on a campus that was closed for the summer. There was not a soul around. Great.

However all was not lost. Thanks to the wonders of windows phone 7 I was able to utilize the walking directions feature of Bing Maps. I was about 1 mile away. So with a sigh and a smartphone I headed home, arriving safely a short while later.

And now, dear readers as you can see, it is time for breakfast at The Nook. Recommended by Barbara it was, as you can see, fabulous. I am all registered for the festival and will be heading to my first exhibit after food and coffee. I'll be heading to see "Natural Habitats" by Massimo Vitali. I can't wait and I'll keep you all posted as the day unwinds.

So have a great day and Big Love to all!

DMx

Greetings BlogPickers! Yes, I have arrived safely in Charlottesville, VA all ready for the fabulous Look3 Festival of the Photograph. If you look carefully at the attached photograph you'll see some of the exciting people who are here and who I will get to see over the next few days!

The drive down was largely uneventful, though long. I did work via conference calls with Cisco for a portion of the way which helped pass the time and after 8 hours I arrived in Charlottesville just as the temperature hit 97 degrees. It is hotter than blazes here, I kid you not. The oh so unhelpful instructions from the University of Virginia told me that there would be signs telling me where to go to check in. There was one sign and fortunately I found it. So having checked in, a map to the dorms was thrust into my hand and off I went. It is a neat idea to contract with the local university to supply rooms and at 40 dollars a night is a real steal. So having settled in to my cut price palace (which looks a little like a prison cell...pictures to follow) I headed off to downtown Charlottesville. And there, dear reader, is where I will leave you. You see I'm quite tired now and need to go to bed. But fear not, my intrepid blog friends, I will return tomorrow morning with stories of the first night in town. There isn't much exciting to tell really but a little grandstanding never hurt anyone, right?

So with that I'll bid you goodnight and wish you all the Biggest Love.....

DMx

Uh oh. So the burger and fries was great.....and then I saw this. I am screwed now for the week. Oh well, I'll just have to keep eating. Cheers!

Big love
DMx

Well blogpickers, I am well on my way. Having just crossed into West Virginia I figured it was time for some lunch. Having been on Weight Watchers for 5 months it is time for sine JUNK FOOD! So here I am at Hardees. Come join me for lunch! It feels weird traveling without James so I'll eat this in his honor as I know he likes Hardees too.

Next I'll be back on the road and heading to the festival for those who are interested you can check out the details at www.look3.org

Catch you later and big love to all!

DMx

Off once more!

Well folks...the blog is back! I'll be heading off to Look3 this morning so thought I should check that all the blog feeds are working okay.
Watch this space for more updates. And don't forget to follow the blog on Facebook network blogs to help with the blog feed being pulled faster. You wouldn't want to miss anything right?
Big love,
DMx