Photographer’s Home and Studio

Little Washington, VA

Last weekend was the annual Rappahannock Studio Tour. I never have time to visit all the art studios because they are spread out over a wide area, and some are in homes located on winding mountain roads. This time I only went to the main gallery in the town of Washington and two studios. 

Deborah had volunteered to watch Charlie and Frank was not feeling well enough to take a day trip, so I went by myself. It takes over an hour to get there, even longer for me because I stopped to take pictures of the fall foliage. Usually, I don’t visit the photographers’ studios because I am pretty well steeped in photography already, and I don’t like to miss the paintings. 

There were a couple of photographs in the main gallery that stopped me in my tracks, so I decided to see more by that photographer, Charles Tompkins. His education includes classes at the Ansel Adams Yosemite Workshop, and it shows in his work. He has mastered tonality and lighting. Although I have taken a ton of photo classes, I never had the budget for fancy equipment or the motivation to work long hours by myself, although I certainly spent a lot of time making prints with other students in classes. I did work in two portrait studios, but I didn’t earn enough to pay the bills that way.

The other exhibit I chose to visit was north of Flint Hill on a narrow country road that had me wondering if I had accidentally turned onto an old logging road or a cow path! But that’s part of the fun of a studio tour, seeing new places that you would never venture into without a destination.

I would have loved to visit some of the artists that I’ve seen in the past and purchased paintings from, but I wanted to get home before dark, and also pick up Charlie before he wore out his welcome. He loves going to Deborah‘s and playing with her dog, but sometimes he gets anxious and that can be tiresome.