Me with a friend's son who grew up like a sibling to my kids - my first customer at the Shakerag Festival

A Rainy Shakerag Festival for this Atlanta Photographer

A big, hearty "THANK YOU" to all of you who visited my booth at the Shakerag Festival over the weekend. 

My sister, Jo, and my parents helped me set up the tent for a trial run on Thursday. On Friday mid-morning, my Dad, Jo, and I set the tent up again at my designated spot at the Festival. 

Jo and I were back at the tent almost three hours before the festival started on Saturday morning to set up and arrange my photos. And then...

It started raining. Not just a little rain, mind you. It poured!

Whenever we thought the rain was slowing, it started back up harder. 

I have to hand it to people. There were some intrepid festival goers out in their raincoats taking it all in. But, as you can imagine, there wasn't a lot of foot traffic in my tent. 

I did have the pleasure of helping my first customer on Saturday morning. That's him in the photo.

He's a dear friend's son, and he and his sisters (he's got a 1:4 ratio there!) were like siblings to my kids. It was so fun seeing him with his little boy and wife (who's due with their second child any moment). 

After they left, we had a trickle of people (see what I did there?) come in throughout the day, including my parents, brother-in-law, and niece, and some more friendly faces I hadn't seen in a while. 

We closed up along with everyone else at 6 p.m., and I headed back to my parents' place where I stayed for the weekend. I was hoping and praying Sunday would be better.

The rain on Saturday was disappointing, especially because it's so much work getting everything ready for a festival, beginning months ahead of time, not to mention how much work the physical setup is for the festival itself.  

Sunday at the Festival

Thankfully, Sunday was much better. My sister and I got there a couple of hours early to unzip the tent and set up the photos again.

The sun came out and the weather was perfect, and I had lots of people coming into my tent. 

I didn't sell as many photos as I would have liked but I definitely made some sales and had such a great time. First, I got to spend all weekend with my sister which doesn't happen very often. I also saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in years who still live in Peachtree City, and I hung out with my parents in between. 

I talked so much that my voice was hoarse by the end of the weekend. 

I got some fun requests - like someone who wants me to come take photos of her husband's plane and then print them on metal.

I also spoke with another woman who was looking for something to put up in the lobby of her company's building - the type of work I love doing - helping someone make their space bright and interesting. 

I'm so thankful that Sunday turned out to be such a beautiful day. The Festival was a great experience and I had such a fun time talking to so many different people. Thank you to the organizers of the event - it's a tough job. 

A huge thank you to my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and my niece, and my friend, Lisa, who loaned me her wire display rack. I couldn't have done it without them. 

And, then there's my good friend, Kris. She swung by my parents' house Monday morning and took some of the metal photos that hadn't sold and brought them to the nearby Sarah's Home, an interior design shop. Sarah was interested in my work, so I now have five prints hanging in her store!

Last, but not least, a big thank you to all the people who came out and visited my tent - you made it a great weekend, despite all the rain.

See you between the raindrops!

xoxo,
Susan

If you didn't make it out to the festival, you can look at my art on the site:)