Debbie and I in front of the art

I had the amazing opportunity and experience to attend the BeU opening at the BeHuman Gallery in Houston, TX this past weekend.  Now that I am home and have had some time to decompress I thought I'd post a bit more about the event and my experience.  

This exhibit came about because two wonderfully talented and motivated photographers brought the idea up to the gallery and then behind the scenes did a huge amount of work to make it happen.  They are Bonnie O'Brien Al-Rifai and Gabriel Al-Rifai of Bonnie and Gave Two Creative Birds.  The call for submissions was initially only for members of the Fine Art Portrait Photography Guild which was founded and is run by Rocio Martinez Gonzalez, talented photographer of Evoke Dreams Photography.  The group submitted enough work of the caliber the gallery was looking for to fill the entire show.

Once the submissions were in and the acceptance received the whirlwind of printing, preparing artist statement, figuring out if I could travel to the event began.  I feel so grateful that I was able to attend the opening as it was beyond amazing to see my work on the wall with so much talent.  To think my photo earned a place on that wall leaves me quite speechless.

This experience has also been such a learning experience.  I've been a part of other shows but either they were more casual with requirements or, if out of town, the gallery printed for me and I was really out of the whole process once my stuff was sent.  This group effort allowed me to learn so much more and build my confidence in approaching and talking to galleries in the future as well as submitting to other shows.

Last, I was thrilled that my long time friend Debbie, pictured to the left with me, was able to come out for the event.  It made the whole evening so much more special as we hadn't seen each other in over 20 years and were such close friends in high school.

That summarizes the event in short form for me.  I'm sure I could go on and on and on.  My image in the photo pictured here is the one second down on the left with the blue tones and the bird.  It is a self portrait I took that was inspired by one of Brooke Shaden's Creative Live courses.  This is the third exhibit it has been in.  I want to end with a thanks to Brook for the inspiration and for teaching and sharing so freely.

Photographers at the Exhibit

Above - Photographers at the exhibit. (I don't know who took this picture but thank you!)

Below - Me pointing at the art. 

With my ArtMe, pointing at my image, upper left.