I'd guess that about 30 people showed up, but I'm the worst at guessing the amount of people in an area.
About an hour before the start of the show, I ran to the store and picked up some treats to eat. Including: Cheese cubes, Squeeze Cheese, Tiny Cheeseburgers, crackers, soft batch chocolate chip cookies, a veggie tray and Three Blind Moose red wine. (the label looked really cool).
People started to show up around 6.
After about an hour of hanging out and chatting with everybody, I played the DVD I made. A few people told me after the video that they were fighting back tears. I took that as a good thing.
Here are a few shots taken by Valerie Parkhill (friend of Misty's). I gave her my point and shoot camera for the night and let her document everything. Misty also took some shots and they can be seen here. So thanks to Val and Misty for taking photos of the evening.
Here's a shot of the outside of the Museum. It's also a museum about Terrebonne Parish. They have stuff about everything that goes on in Terrebonne Parish. Alligators, Oil, Shrimping, Crabbing, Oysters, Hurricanes... etc. But they have a section of the building open to Art Galleries. That's where my stuff was.
Left to Right: Chris Forrest, Keith Magill, Me, Miles Forest.
Miles is the Publisher of the Courier and Comet. (My bosses bosses boss) and that's his wife talking with Keith, the Executive Editor of The Courier and Comet. (My bosses boss).
A highlight of the evening is when Miles said to me "Wow Matt, I really liked how they set everything up. The frames look good, they're hung very nicely. The video looked good and the food... The Museum did a good job."
"I did all that Miles. I did everything. They just gave me the space to do it"
Then a few minutes later Keith asked "Hey Matt, who did your writing for the video? Because what you said was very well written."
"I did all that Keith, I just talked into the camera about what I did during the storm."
"Did you have a giant poster behind the camera and you read what was on the poster?"
"Nope, I just talked."
I can do more than just take pictures.
Here's the setup of the Gallery. The table of food was right in the middle. The TV that shows the DVD is in the back and the prints are on the walls. There were 21 prints of the Faces, and 18 prints of other photos from Katrina. (I have 21 prints of other stuff... but I bought Hobby Lobby out of 8x10 frames)
I couldn't have hoped for anything better. It was a great night. Misty's dad took some video, and maybe someday I'll get around to posting that.
The ladies who gave me the opportunity to display my work asked if my video could become a permanent piece in the museum. And they want to help this show travel to other museums in the Region.
It's always been a dream of mine to have my own show where people show up, drink wine, eat cheese and talk about whatever. And that's exactly what happened. Soon after shooting these photos in 2005, I was told "these photos are gallery quality." I guess Susan Kille in New York was right.
