My Photo Exhibit At Starbucks

I was quite surprised a month or so back when William (the bald gentleman in the pictures) asked me if I'd consider getting some photographs together to show at my neighborhood Starbucks. I'd mentioned the idea before and was given the impression that it wasn't Starbucks' policy. Suddenly things had changed. Some other locations had started showing the work of local artists and they decided that it was a good time to start in this area as well. They repainted the interior with plain beige walls instead of the busy pattern of wall paper that had been there since they opened, and new lighting was installed that could be directed at the walls to illuminate any art work. I asked if there was anything particular they wanted me to show. I'm always shooting pictures around the place, as well as bringing boxes of prints and contact sheets over to show people, so they had an idea of what I could show. I finally decided on showing older work. Both the folks my age and the younger ones would enjoy photos of Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin. I also brought some "street" photos from both Boston and Miami and some prints from my series Idid on Miccosukee Indians in the 1970's. There was only one recent shot the "spiderman" self-portrait, a night shot of me driving my truck that a lot of people seem to love.

Starbucks scheduled a "coffee tasting" for last Monday evening and got the word out that my photos would be on display. In turn I spread the word to everyone on my email list and everyone I ran into around town. The joint effort had the place packed! My good friend Claudia Bailey agreed to take the photographs with me in them, using my Leica CL. I shot a bunch of photos with the CL also. I had to assure them that Monkey would be there for the festivities.

Several people I hadn't seen in years showed up when they heard about it. I have orders for a few prints already and picked up an assignment to cover a book signing next month at Books & Books in Coral Gables. A couple of college students aproached me about photographing their rock group. Another man wants to have me shoot some black and white photos of his sons. All in all a successful and fun evening! The photos should be on exhibit through the end of April. The Starbucks is located at 13503 Biscayne Blvd. (U.S. 1) in North Miami.