Tripped downtown today to see the Nashville Portraits: Photographs by Jim McGuire exhibit at the Art Museum of Western Virginia. Even though I’m not a huge country music fan, some of my favorite music artists are pure country. There’s Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, and Doc Watson (who btw is playing at the Jefferson Center on March 7th…..got my tickets!). They were all in there. There was even a portrait of Carole King. Most were beautiful silver prints but there were a few digital prints in there as well. It was a small exhibit by most standards but if you’re into photography or country music or both, it is definitely one to see. McGuire’s career as one of Nashville’s premiere album photographers has spanned more than 30 years so it is a fascinating a walk down memory lane and some mighty fine portrait photography.

After the exhibit I checked out the new Mexican restaurant Alejandro’s, which took over the space vacated by the recent closing of the much loved Green Dolphin Grille on Campbell Ave. I gotta say that I have a new fave place for Mexican now. Great food and a total bonus with the Salsa Bar and its wide assortment of gourmet salsas. HOT! MMMmmm.

Of course today was just a little cold with temps in the 20’s and a wind chill dragging that down about 10+ degrees. Tonight is supposed to be the coldest of the year so far with temps dipping in the single digits. So, how appropriate it is to display this shot of a fine item I saw today in the window at Twists & Turns. All that glitters is not gold. Stay warm!

I went to see Juno the other night and was pretty much blown away by actress Ellen Page’s performance here. There’s Oscar talk about this and I can totally see why. The movie itself was A+ material but Page handled the role of Juno in a way few could. There were so many opportunities for that performance to go astray with a lesser actress, but Page kept you right there with Juno the whole time. Loveable, real, everything else. Of course, the rest of the cast here was superb with my hat off to Jennifer Garner for her beautiful performance as well. A definite must see, especially while it’s still at my favorite Roanoke movie theater The Grandin.

Just in case anyone coming by here is an aspiring actor, model, or business person, I don’t have to remind you that you need a really good headshot. A good headshot will help you get noticed and there are some general guidelines to creating a headshot that will get you noticed or keep you from NOT getting noticed.

They’re a lot of fun to do because usually people having them done are doing interesting things with their life. So it’s kind of cool just hanging out and talking shop and pop culture etc etc.

Here’s a couple. I like high key but they don’t really have to be as long as there’s not a lot of distraction.