The Wall at Back to the Grind–I was fortunate enough to grab this picture of my students from Photo Tech with the Riverside Art Museum in June when we popped in after our photo walk downtown. Circled in yellow are the pictures in question. Maria’s on the left, Audree’s on the right.

I was having coffee at my usual hangout the other day.

I overheard two attorneys ask Darren, the owner of Back to the Grind coffeehouse, “What happened to the pictures of the  carousel (at the Santa Monica pier) and the nicely lit bridge at Dos Lagos mall?”

At the end of the Spring semester I had secured the use of one wall for my students to display their work. A carrot-on-a stick, if you will.

It’s a lot of work, but if I find the class worthy of the effort on my part, I’m happy to do so.

What I find most interesting about this carrot-on-a-stick experiment is this: most visitors actually like to see the variety of subjects from each of my students.

I didn’t restrict them to a theme or even stipulate that the work needed to be shot during the semester. This is just extra work for everyone. Can be fun for those who are motivated. Thankfully, not everyone participated. It is optional.

What struck me most was that those pictures were last seen at the end of June.  And yet these 2 attorneys remembered exactly what they liked from among the 20 odd pictures on that wall from 2 months ago.

Audree Garaza and Maria Gutierez, I’m so happy for you. The recognition alone is good.  A plaque or ribbon is better, but hey, can anything beat some cold cash? I may be on to something here. 😉