mr. credit suisse vp, do you have anything to add to the agenda? "oh, sorry, i was lost in contemplation over this gorgeous photo of a mexican cave!"

last night, a personal milestone. a group exhibition opening at the credit suisse boardroom including three of my hand developed and printed black and white photographs. four years ago i wouldn't have specifically mentioned the fact that i made these images with my hands in a darkroom, but now that we live in the digital world, the process seems special, antiquated and laborious (as if the ridiculous amount of time i spend in photoshop these days isn't labor!).

i lured my two cronies--emre and mieke--to the opening with promises of free booze, which alas, turned out to be a hoax. have you ever heard of an art opening that didn't stock cheap wine? semes the caterer thought 'education alliance' meant we were all kids. so we clinked our flutes of sparkling apple cider in the brightly lit board room and my friends were kind enough to stay by my side anyway since i held the stock of band-aids (tis the season for busting out the blister-producing shoes!).

i internally squealed with delight when i found the year-long home of my photos to be one of the 'skyline' buildings--the metlife at 23rd street. often i am transfixed by it's clock tower and washes of colored lights that sometimes mirror the neighboring empire state building.

i took the opportunity to shamelessly request to be photographed beside each of my photos. self-deprecating i may be. modest, however, i am not. if something good happens, i'm going to brag about it until i'm blue in the face. i also may have had to splurge on an adorable dress from brooklyn industries (otherwise known as that store that i can't afford to shop at). through some fluke of random size charts cooperating with the gods of congratulations, i had to keep descending in size till i settled into a size FOUR. this does not happen. brooklyn industries, i like your size chart.

not to inflate the ego too much, in a moment so ghastly rude that i could only be amused rather than taking the offense i should, the curator of the exhibition introduced herself to me, complimented my work and said she'd like to give me her card as she acquires photography for this and that etc etc. as she fished through her wallet, she backtracked, "um...looks like i don't have as many cards left as i thought i did..." and saved by the bell, the hostess called us into the other room for speeches. curator bolted away. okay. snub complete. puzzling though.

in other snub-related news, i observed the 'artist in residence' who had twice thrown me out of the darkroom without warning during 'open studio' time so she could have it to herself. no apology, no introduction, just a very condescending 'and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out' attitude. i took evil delight in seeing her look long at my photos then compliment me.

so the scorecard evened out. one snub, one victory over former snub. but who's keeping score? and overall, total victory. nice to see my photos in frames.