Say Hello to Etsy

Today marks the grand opening of my Etsy store. I'm excited to have a place to sell my photographs that is both affordable and offers more exposure than I would be able to get by creating a web outlet on my own.

josephvavak.etsy.com

I'll be adding more photographs over the next few days, but there's already quite a bit available for sale. All 36 images from the ninety-three exhibition at Hot Shops are listed, the first time many of them have been online in any form. Some images from the On The Road and Details series are also listed, a few in two different sizes.

If you are looking for something you don't see listed on the Etsy site, leave me a comment and I'll see about getting it added.

Out and about

Today I revisited a few places from my ninety-three travels along with some new ones. The day started out miserably enough in Grand Island. The sky dark gray and sad, cold rain steadily falling for hours. Around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun began to make hurried appearances before the clouds finally gave way.

I keep telling myself that I'll let the project be, but I can't seem to let go and call it finished. Every time I am ready to close it out, I decide to go back and improve an image or two (or three). As much as I may want to move on to something else, this state always finds a way to reel me back in. There's a freedom to Nebraska, the vast openness and peaceful solitude of the countryside, that I can never get enough of.

The above photograph is from the village of Alda, a small bump in the road just west of Grand Island on U.S. Highway 30. The rain was practically a downpour at this point.

Also visited: Wood River, Cairo, Howard City, Rockville, Loup City, Sherman Reservoir, Ansley, Mason City, Litchfield, Hazard and Ravenna.

Play Ball

Perhaps the most well known of South Omaha's landmarks, Rosenblatt Stadium has hosted the College World Series since 1950. 2010 marks the last summer for the ol' ballpark. A new park is being built north of downtown to host the Series starting next June.

I love the place, if mostly for sentimental reasons. The stadium itself isn't all that charming. For example, the gray concrete concourses beneath the seating are about as uninviting as a person could make them. But it's a great setting for baseball and I'll miss spending lazy summer evenings in the stands watching the Omaha Royals play.

On this Monday night, all the scoring came early and the game wound up tied 2 to 2 after 9 innings. Former University of Nebraska standout Alex Gordon, recently demoted to Triple A to learn the ins and outs of left field, drove in the winning run with a single in the bottom of the 11th.

The Magic City

A few months ago, I moved to a house on 13th Street right near the South Omaha bridge. In a matter of just a few weeks, I fell in love with this part of town. There's just so much character and revitalization everywhere you look. The people of South Omaha have changed over the years, from the Czech and Irish immigrants of the early 20th century to the Hispanic immigrants of today, but the spirit of the community continues to thrive.

Today begins a new project for myself, an attempt to document the neighborhoods, details and people that make up South Omaha. It'll be a learning experience for me. I've grown used to traveling hundreds of miles to find potential photographs. Now I've confined myself to a space little more than eight miles north to south and even less from east to west. While something like ninety-three was understandably superficial in nature, this subject requires much more depth to be successful. I'm looking forward to the challenge (and the frustration).

The old South Omaha bridge was demolished in February. Last week, the new bridge opened for the first time. While the new bridge doesn't have the charm of the old one, it's bound to be a lot safer. The photograph above shows what little remains of the old bridge alongside the new construction.

Another Joseph Vavak

There haven't been very many Joseph Vavaks in the world. At the moment, there might be a handful of us here in the United States. Not many more. Interestingly, the Smithsonian American Art Museum has six paintings by another Joseph Vavak.

Joseph Vavak was, as far as I know, unrelated to myself. Born in Austria in 1899, raised in Chicago and eventually passing away in Stotebury, Missouri in 1969. Most of the work I have found is from his time as a Works Projects Administration artist in Chicago during the 30's and 40's. Along with the Smithsonian, there are also paintings in the collections of the Illinois State Museum and the University of Kentucky Art Museum.

I plan on researching this Joseph Vavak more. It's fascinating to me that someone with the same (admittedly unusual) name as myself was such a wonderful artist.

All good things must come to an end

It was a great month, but the ninety-three exhibition at the Hot Shops has come to an end. I met so many great people and got so many positive comments on the work that it was all very overwhelming.

Going into the show, I was more than a little apprehensive about showing my photography to a wider audience. It's one thing to take a picture. It's quite another to assume that anyone would really want to look at the picture. In the end, everything went wonderfully and my fears were unfounded. I really wish the month wasn't already over, but look forward to sharing more of my creations in the future. After all, this is only the beginning.

Again, thank you to everyone who came out to see the show. And welcome to any new fans I may have found over the course of the last month.

Just about finished

I'm just about ready to call ninety-three finished for good. Today was spent in two counties that have given me nothing but trouble despite multiple visits: Merrick and Nance. I was a bit more successful this time around and feel like I really improved the photographs for both counties. The weather, in true Nebraska fashion, ranged from bright sunshine to pouring rain and back again several times.

Central City's State Theater is alive and well, currently showcasing Robin Hood and the latest Shrek film.

Also visited: Marquette, Archer, Palmer, Fullerton, Belgrade, Cedar Rapids, Primrose, Albion, Petersburg, Boone and St. Edward.

Hello.

I spent my Sunday afternoon walking around what remains of the State Fair Park in Lincoln. For those not from Nebraska, the State Fair is moving to Grand Island in 2010, leaving its home in Lincoln since 1901 behind. Some of the buildings are already gone, leaving nothing but a concrete foundation and tiled floors behind. Others remain but are slowly falling into disrepair. It's a sad sight for anyone who has childhood memories of the Fair.

The photograph is of what appears to be a fairly friendly electric box somewhere near the livestock building.

In the middle of the night...

While I'm not one to usually photograph at night, something about this once-upon-a-time hotel in the small town of Union, Nebraska made me want to capture it under the street lights. Only one car drove by as I set my tripod up on the side of Highway 34, but a handful of cats came out to see what was going on and knocked over a metal trash can in the process.

I need more night photography practice. It's not as easy as it looks.

Some Like It Hot

From the May 6th issue of Omaha's Shout! Weekly...

Sweet Home Nebraska
"There's not a lot of money in being a quirky photographer from Nebraska," Joseph Vavak admitted with a laugh - but that doesn't seem to have slowed his pursuit.

The quirky photographer from Nebraska recently completed a project entitled "ninety-three," a visual travelogue of the Cornhusker State, a "notebook," Vavak said. "Rather than looking for something specific, I just go. Whatever I run into, I take pictures. It's kind of a documentation of what I saw.. found photographs, you could say."

Vavak began the project in 2007 after researching his genealogy and the history of his family in Nebraska. "There's actually a small graveyard in a field [that] was the original gravesite of the Vavaks who [first] came here," he said. "I took photographs of that to start with, and I didn't know what I was going to do with it."

But, like many artistic developments, "it spiraled out of control." Vavak began a series of two and three-day excursions across the state, documenting as he went. The result was "ninety-three" - one photograph from each of Nebraska's 93 counties.

Capturing Nebraska in postcard-like snippets, the images reflect the mixed small town and rural landscape of signage, storefronts, farm-houses and fields. The display of tight, orderly rows serves to highlight the photographer's eyes for symmetry, and the colors are crisp and clean - wheat, whitewash, asphalt and rust, with overtones of sun and sky. Even farm town dilapidation - peeling paint, broken clapboard, old murals - feels fresh in this light.

"[It's] just taking the little details that maybe people overlook, that are all around us," said Vavak, "and putting them in a context where they are interesting."

The images themselves are, perhaps, what one would expect of a photodocumentary of the Midwest - cows in cornfields, grain, silos, run-down sheds - but in front of Vavak's lens, Nebraska comes across with beautiful, bright simplicity.

"I've learned that I really like it here," Vavak said of his travels. Currently in south Omaha, he has lived in Nebraska since he was a teenager. "I considered it home beforehand, but I really feel like Nebraska has a lot to offer that people don't necessarily see... I know there's a lot more to it than what we see here on the east end."


Shout! Weekly is available for free throughout the Omaha metro area. Thank you to Lisa Martin for the kind words and covering the Hot Shops open house.

If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, ninety-three will be be on display through the end of May.

Thank you

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made it out to the Hot Shops this weekend. It was great to see so many friendly faces and I'm fairly certain I said "thank you" more the last two days than I usually do in an entire year. While putting together your first solo exhibition is daunting, the reward of seeing people enjoying the work and getting involved in conversation about Nebraska definitely makes it all feel worthwhile.

If you've yet to get down to the Hot Shops, the exhibition will remain on display through May 28th. Don't forget to sign the guest(note)book if you do.

The time is now.

Hello May!

The show has been hung and I can't wait for everyone to get a chance to see it. I'm excited for how it turned out. It was a stressful few days getting prepared but everything is ready to go. The open house at the Hot Shops runs 12-7 on Saturday and 12-5 on Sunday. I look forward to seeing some familiar faces.

I have to thank a few key people who helped make this a reality. Kelly Adams from the Hot Shops for her patience, very supportive nature and helpful advice. William Hess for printing and mounting the images for the show. Logan Epps for crafting the shelves that make the whole thing work. And Steven Schmiedeskamp for lending a hand to hang the show on very short notice.

There are many more people who have inspired and accompanied me along the way that I am just as thankful for. I am very lucky to have a life with so many great friends and family around me.

Enjoy the show.