I took these pictures at what’s left of Cypress Gardens in Florida with Jeremy and my brother. I had a lot of fun. It actually started to rain on us for a bit, but we didn’t seem to mind. The garden is actually in the back of Legoland now. Seeing what was left of Cypress Gardens reminded me of the visits we would take there when I was a child. I never thought much about it, but I miss those trips.

WHO: Richard Girardin grew up in Orlando, Florida and has only lived in Buffalo for two years. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Psychology at University at Buffalo, but continues to develop his ideas in photography on the side. Richard has been exploring photography in three-dimensions. Recently his work involved a life-size model of a three dimensional chair made completely out of photographs. His newest work will involve a similar technique and concentrate on the elements of a memory. His work is set apart by the realistic representations of everyday objects that he creates.

WHEN: The premiere will begin at 6:00PM and last until 8:00PM on December 13^th, 2011 at Sugar City, 19 Wadsworth St in Buffalo, New York 14201.

RSVP at http://www.facebook.com/events/137133723062063/

The Great Way has no gate;
there are a thousand paths to it.
If you pass through the barrier,
you walk the universe alone.
-Wu-Men

After saying this, it almost seems like common sense. My generation grew up being told that they were special and unique, but this concept is not so obvious to everyone. We go to a guidance counselor to take common paths to reach the degree and career that we want. We seek financial advisers to tell us what paths have already been taken and shown to work well. We buy clothes that are in fashion because many people like the way they look. These are all examples of paths that are laid out before us. We all come to that fork in the road where we have to chose to take the path that most people go down or to travel the road not taken. One of my favorite poems is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost

My photography is an art; it is my art. No one can tell me that it is right or wrong except for myself. The meaning behind a piece of artwork lies with the artist.