You think to yourself, it can’t really be that hard to sit in a booth and sell some photos… come on now? Contrary to popular belief though it really takes a lot out of you, you are not only selling your artwork but also selling yourself. People want to buy something that is beautiful for their homes but also want to by a piece of the artist. That’s why it’s wonderful to hear praise but also extremely difficult to not take things personally when someone critiques your work (mostly to your face and often with a hint of cynicism) . Most of the time it’s all positive and I thank everyone who came out to support me and even bought a print this summer… Thanks! It was a huge learning curve and I really look forward to bringing some new things to the table this winter and even more so at next summer’s show.

I’m also grateful for a number of the friendships that I formed while spending my entire life at the Sawdust this summer…. there are definitely a few characters floating around the grounds.

Here is a picture of Stacey, Jesse and I hanging out at the dust

In the business world there has also been some other exciting happenings. I found out a few days ago that my image was used for the cover shot of this months issue of Laguna Beach magazine. They were doing a special issue on local beaches and my shot of Main Beach was used for the main spread. Below are the images from the magazine along with a wave shot of mine and also another image from a Sunset at Aliso Creek Beach last fall.

In addition to that, I was contacted by the Orange County Tourism Bureau to use some of my shots for their summer ad campaign that ran across the country. Below is is a sample of the rack cards that were on display all over the country… the surfer image on the right and the coast shot on the left are mine.

For the September sunset I decided that it was time to go back to my roots… it has been a couple of months since I put a sunset shot up for the Wallpaper, so here you go. This was taken at Sleepy Hollows in Laguna Beach with my new Canon 5d Mark II that I got a few weeks ago. Still trying to get the hang of it but super excited about it’s video capabilities, so check back here soon for some video work that I have been putting together.

Remember to click on the image below and then right click to save it as your desktop.

Finally, I want to thank all of my family, friends and special friends who came to visit me from far off lands for this summer. It was a wonderful time filled with smiles, music, good times and the occasional glass of spirits to be shared with loves ones. Thank you!!!

That being said… the marine layer returned today and it was thick again. We had one of the worst Junes and starts to July that I can remember… backed into an extreme heat wave and not the cold has returned again. This thing has got to start burning off soon because I am getting sick of these gray days.

Below is a little shot from the Laguna Beach Independent and a photo that I took of the firework show here in Laguna Beach, Enjoy

If anyone is planning a trip to Asia in the near future, I would go out there and say that this is a journey that you are really missing out on if you don’t take. There are not many things out there that anymore that are quite as authentic as this trip. Spear fishing for lunch, island hopping to exotic uninhabited islands and chilling on… in my opinion, the worlds most beautiful beaches. Get over there!

Here is the article

Thoughts? The floor is now open.

*Remember to click on the image first and then save it as your background*

Anyways, thanks so much to my friends and family who came out to the opening, we all had a blast and I am looking forward to my first full summer here at the Sawdust. I have the final booth shots on my other computer, so I am going to post a few shots from the opening night below. Enjoy


My first sale of the summer

For those of you who are wondering what exactly Unearthing Asia is:
“The Unearthing Asia magazine is a beautifully crafted 120 pages of travel tidbits covering all kinds of content – Lifestyle, Culture and Attractions, all over the region of Asia. First launched in December 2009, the quarterly magazine is distributed in major bookstores all over Singapore, Malaysia, and major cities in Indonesia – Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Bandung, and more.”

This was my first adventure down the path of travel writing and I can tell you that it is far more challenging than I first thought. I thought I would simply sit down and drop some Hemingwayesque piece of literature and be off to the races with my new career in writing… I was sadly mistaken. I hope to hear what some of you think about the piece and whether or not I should simply just stick with the photos! ha

Here are the screen shots of the images and you can also read the entire magazine online at this link: Unearthing Asia Online

If any of the images are cut off and you can’t read the article, then just click on the picture and the full size will show…enjoy!

So… this year when you guys come and visit me at the Sawdust festival you will be able to not only experience an annual tradition of Laguna, but also some history of Laguna Beach. I have built the floor of my booth out of old planks from the main beach boardwalk which was torn down and replaced with new wood 2 years ago. Don’t ask how… but I was able to get my hands on a few planks and have been holding onto them with the intention of doing something interesting with them. My roomate Chris who is an architect and helped me tremendously during the building and design process helped in the collaboration of the boardwalk wood idea….

Check out some shots of the construction process from below… and there will also be some other reclaimed wood implemented into the booth as well!

“The Sawdust Art Festival has been held in Laguna Beach , California since 1966. The Sawdust Festival has been featuring Laguna Beach artists work in a quaint story book village style venue. This Laguna Beach festival not only displays works of the local artists, but also offers art demonstrations such as glass blowing, complimentary art workshops, children’s art activities, refreshments and liver entertainment. The Sawdust Festival is great opportunity to meet local artists as they display their work. Over 200 artists demonstrate and sell their original artwork at the Sawdust Festival. “

They don’t inform you though that everyone is responsible to build there own booths. These booths are like small homes, with floors, foundations, walls, electrical wiring, etc…. and for a guy who is used to hanging a couple of photos and that’s about it, this construction business has been an adventure. I am about half way done and with 2 weeks left to have it up and built along with art to fill the walls, time is going to be hard to come by. I am really looking forward to it though and have some high hopes with alot of the new stuff that I am going to be showing.

I will post a few pictures as the construction comes along, and I will tell you about my special floor that I am building that has some special Laguna history to it!

In the meantime, here is the June wallpaper. This image is from a little hike that I took a few weeks ago in North Laguna. It’s an image looking south and if you look closely you can start to pick out some local spots….. roof top bar, wahoos, do you know what beach that is?

The thing that I really like about this image though is the wind lines that the Santa Ana’s are creating on the ocean. They look like little rivers in the ocean!

Enjoy (As always, remember to click on the picture itself and then right click and save as to add it to your desktop)

It’s a site that has tons of different information, mostly surrounding travel but with various insights. Anything from volunteering abroad to how to pack your clothes in the most efficient way. They have ran three photo essays of mine now and the latest one is on China. Here is a screen grab below and please check out the link to see the whole thing. Cheers!

China Photo Essay

Here are the shots front current issue below…. the winning image is a picture that I took in the Philippines at a festival called the Pahiyas festival. The weird thing is that I entered it purely as a wild card, not thinking that it was the kind of shot that really portrayed island life. It’s an image of a guys holding a umbrella, in the middle of a parade where there is almost a pageant atmosphere and people wearing traditional Filipino clothing. Not what I thought would have won, but hey…. no complaints here, so sometime in the next year I will be off to Fiji! Yes.

Enjoy! (remember to click on the image first and then save it as your desktop, do not try and save the small image below as your desktop!) Cheers

On a side note, my apologies for severely slacking on the updates. It has been a hectic few weeks and am about to launch my new SporlederArt website. I will put a post up on here when the site goes live. I only have one question though? What happened to us helping each other on our New Years revolutions? I thought you guys were going to help me out and make sure I was updating the Blog once a week??? It’s only April guys, let’s stick together! Ha

-Scott

Hope you enjoy!

Below is the first series of pictures from the weekend, the second series is in the post below… ( I could only put up 25 pics at a time) So, for the April wallpaper I want you guys to let me know what you want!!! Just leave a comment below on the picture that you would like as an April wallpaper and I will put it up on Thursday. Thanks

Next weekend I am going out to Catalina for a few days and will be returning with a lot of photos, maybe I’ll even do a little photo feature of the trip on here? We’ll see