Last month my mom and I went to Charlottesville, Virginia to attend the Festival of the Photograph LOOK3.  Between shopping and dining in the outdoor mall, we attended master talks where I was inspired about what is possible with photography.

The highlight of the program was Sally Mann interviewing Nan Goldin.  Goldin spoke about her new work, where she was given the opportunity to be alone in the Louve to photograph the sculptures and paintings.  The images from the Louve have the same feel as her early work of her friends.  The slideshow was images from the Louve paired with images from Ballad of Sexual Dependency, set to opera music.

In the evenings mom and I would go to Ike’s Underground, Charlottesville’s premier vintage clothing shop.  We would marvel at the hand sown clothing, still in perfect condition after all this time.  My favorite piece I bought there was a little white linen shirt, someone had embroidered.  I also bought a yellow wool sweater with butterfly cutouts, and a skort made out of strawberry print fabric.

I think my favorite show was from a collective of young photographers called Luceo Images.  The show included work from Matt Eich, and his project on a small Babtist town in Mississippi.  The standout image is of a little black girl in a yellow dress on her way to church.  Check him out, you won’t be disappointed!

Charlottesville is home to the University of Virginia.  Though most of the students had already gone home for the summer, some had stayed around for summer classes.

Another standout exhibit was Massimo Vitali.  After a long career of doing “the stupidest jobs”, he finally had the opportunity to make work he enjoyed.  When his two medium format cameras were stolen out of the truck of his car, he was forced to start shooting with the 8 by 10 camera.

My cousin Khristina and her boyfriend, Mike live in Charlottesville.  On our last night in town we met up them for dinner.  Mom and I were early meeting them, so we stopped to take a few pictures on our way to the restaurant.  I raise my lens up get a shot of this graffiti, and I see my Khristina and Mike standing right underneath it!

Thanks for being a great travel companion, Mom!  Looking forward to next years LOOK3….