All
these photographs are from my mother's garden and were
taken between March 4 and March 10, 2008 over what may
be my last trip there, since my parents are retiring
to San Antonio.
I'll miss that house
and those gardens, and I was intent on capturing the
nearly wild Birds of Paradise that grow among her Banana
trees between the pool and the house.
More of my photographs are on almost any page
in DallasArtsRevue, my Amateur
Birder's Journal, about
which Dallas Morning News metro columnist Steve Blow
recently (that word again) published a fine story
about online;
my personal site, JRCompton.com;
and my
annual
documentation of solstice events, among about
a zillion others.
I'd actually prefer to show my images
online than print, frame and hassle them onto walls, although
I am very pleased with my show, J R Compton's
Amateur Birder's Journal that is at the White
Rock Lake Museum inside the Bath House Cultural Center
vitae
I publish DallasArtsRevue, which
I've been making in this medium or publishing on paper
since December 1979. I've been a photographer
the last 44 years, had photographs in Life,
Jet, Texas Monthly, Texas Observer, Dallas Observer and a bunch of
other rags and in more than 80
exhibitions, a couple museums and even had a photograph
of Mel Farner in a floppy black hat and polka-dotted
shirt sandwiched between two other photos collaged
on the
cover of Grand Funk, Grand Funk Railroad's best-looking
LP cover.
I've been publishing stories about art
longer than anyone in Dallas.
In the 1970s, I published
underground newspapers, including Dallas NOTES from the Underground and HOOKA (I
was Editor and Publisher of both of those) and later
worked at Fort Worth's Trinity
River Messenger, Austin's The
Rag, The Austin Sun as well as San Antonio's River
City News. In 1974 I published a newsprint magazine
called armadilla about
the nine-banded armadillos (which begat,
eventually, DallasArtsRevue). I also photographed for, designed,
then co-published Texas
Jazz. All those publications have had
to do with creating a sense of community.
Since graduating from
the University of Dallas, I've spent most of my life
in Dallas, Texas, USA. I know where things are, and I can
usually find my way — and
back. D-Magazine called me "Dallas'
best local arts promoter."
To support my media
habits I've done a variety of things, including
- Night Watchman at a Massage Parlor,
- Secret Film Courier in Viet Nam,
- websites
for artists and galleries,
- photographs that are art and
- digitally photograph other artists'
work.
Check out my prices,
which I'll probably raise soon, because working for other
people is such a drag.
Sample photographs are all over this and my personal site.
I have also been on several boards of directors, which
is why I do not have one of those and do not wish to have
one. I have been a:
- The P R Guy and Founding
Board Member of Dallas Artists Research & Exhibition (DARE, which
became The MAC, kinda, a little, maybe, but usually not
much anymore, although they think it did.)
- I was
also on the board of the trailing edge of Allen Street
Gallery, which disappeared off the face of the earth
shortly after they fired me. I was their Program
Committee Chair, and they did not find anyone else
to do that job, and their benefactor took their building
away when they didn't plan any more exhibitions.
Those idiots fired me because I warned them about
nepotism, a lot of which was going on at the time. It
got worse.
- Before that, I was a board-member of Electronic
Graphic Artists of Dallas (EGAD!), a Macintosh Users
Group, for which I had previously been the Disk of
the Month (DOM Guy) — a
much more interesting and fun job — distributing fonts, utilities
and other programs on floppy disks I either gave
away or sold for one dollar.
JRCompton.com has
many more photographs — and ideas, including some you
might not expect from whom you may think I am. There's
my words about
philosophy, psychiatry and romance — as if I knew anything
about any of those. My
resume, list
of exhibitions and exhibitions
produced and lots else, too.
That's also where you'll
find my Amateur
Birder's Journal usually about White Rock
Lake. I'll have a show of the best of those photographs — I been
writing nearly week daily entries in it for more than
a year now — at
the Bath House Cultural Center from January 5 through
April 20 2008.
See also How
to Photograph Art, How
to Start Showing Your Art and How
to Design
& Produce An Invitational Postcard in the Resource section
of this website.
