Yesterday was the first day that the Painted Tree Boutiques in Sparks, NV was open. I have taken a big leap and committed to a year’s lease for a booth in this location. After a week of hanging prints and trying to make the best of a 12’ x 7’ space I was as ready as I was going to ever be. A few photo cards sold at first, then a lady I had never met before spent some time looking at a few prints. She had two prints in her hands - Whispers (a black and white print of the fog drifting below the Old Donner Pass Highway) and A Sense of Place (a black and white print of the Redwoods taken at Lady Bird Johnson Grove). After a couple of minutes, she returned both prints to the bins. I thought she was going to leave. Instead she turned and asked how she could purchase the large canvas of A Sense of Place that was hanging on the wall. I removed the canvas from the wall and handed it to her. I am not sure who was smiling more, me or her.

Moments like such as that keep me going. The long hours dissipate are seemingly reduced to seconds when you have an encounter in which a person you have never met likes a print so much, they are willing to spend their hard-earned money to purchase a print for themselves or a loved one.

Thank you. It keeps me pursuing the next potential image to share.