Images I took in 2011 at the Fall retreat. I am moving them from a different blog.

While you might expect that these pictures will be of the pottery at the Clay Festival, they are not so much. These are primarily the people I saw at the pottery show.

I only actually looked at the pottery in two booths. I couldn’t afford either set and I decided to stay away from the other booths because of that disappointment. I have since found out that I missed some amazing photo shoots because of that.

Perhaps next year I can go to the Clay Festival for its own sake (with my camera, nevertheless).

These first two pictures were of shoppers in the very first shop as I entered the festival grounds. I was amazed that I got shots good enough to actually see in the camera and, if their composition was not the best, at least it was a matter of simple cropping to bring them in line with the rule of thirds.

Gruene Clay Festival pots and lady in blue:

Gruene Clay Festival white capped shopper:

These next two are among my favorites, not because of their great composition, but because I love the colors. I think it was both relevant and potentially enlightening that the folks in the brightest colored outfits (me included) all had a tendency to drift towards the colorful pottery.

Gruene Clay Festival colorful ladies:

I love this composition because of the clarity of their accessories and the fact that their bright colors complement/coordinate with the bright pottery plates behind them on the wall.

Gruene Clay Festival colorful ladies with colorful pots:

Though this was actually among the last of the photos I shot at the festival, the coherency of the photo essay format requires that the pictures be grouped in a rational, visually understandable way. That means the two colorful ladies prints went together.

Here is a closer view of what both the colorful ladies and the older couple who are featured immediately afterwards were looking at so carefully.

Gruene Clay Festival frogs:

I loved these frogs. I didn’t even look at the price, though, because I hadn’t been able to afford the plainer, more simple autumnal plates that I admired. I also thought of my mother when I saw them.

I used to collect frogs, you see, and when we had a little bit of money, Mother would purchase a frog or two for me. They were always terribly kitschey and I dumped them at a Goodwill somewhere years ago–all except for the tiny pewter frog with the small crown on his head. I carried that into my married life with me and, though I don’t know where it is anymore, I still treasure it in memories.

I don’t have anywhere for these frogs to look beautiful, but I wished I did. I would have enjoyed owning one of these guys and, perhaps, just having him perch on the edge of the fireplace in the living room–even if that isn’t a typical froggy home.

Gruene Clay Festival couple shopping:

The fact that they are in Christmas-related colors, complementary rather than analogous, was evocative to me, as was the patience the older gentleman portrayed throughout the buying process at the frog-potter’s stand.

Gruene Clay Festival bargain hunting:

Really what tickles my fancy about this essay is that the older gentleman is waiting quite patiently for his lady, while a rather large hound dog hunts with his nose in the background.

Gruene Clay Festival waiting for wives:

Aside from the alliteration of the title, which appeals to my Old English-honed sensibilities, I like:
1. That the older gentleman’s wife is right in front of him, concentrating on her pottery purchase.
2. That the waiting of the older gentleman in the forefront of the picture is mirrored by the man in the background, with a similar cowboy hat, but a less patient arm fold.