One Shoe Diaries

Category: News and Updates

  • Hand and Foot Show: Rome, Georgia, Thank you Tommy.

    The Hand and Foot Show @ Moon Gallery, Berry College in Rome, Georgia
    The Hand and Foot Show @ Moon Gallery, Berry College in Rome, Georgia

    Well despite low turnout, which i attribute to me slacking on the PR end of things, I feel it was a success. It was hung at a beautiful location in a great looking gallery. Hopefully it can be a springboard to getting more venues interested in hosting our show. I do regret not getting the word out better, there were just so many things going on, the holidays, nanny’s illness and all that travel.

    I would like to thank Tommy Mew for letting us exhibit and helping us make it look very good. I was VERY happy with the way it looked, all we needed was people 🙂 So now I need to start looking for another venue for us, this time I need it to be closer to home. 6 hours is just a little too far. If anyone has any ideas or leads for us, PLEASE email me.

    The Hand and Foot Show @ Moon Gallery, Berry College in Rome, Georgia
    The Hand and Foot Show @ Moon Gallery, Berry College in Rome, Georgia

  • Hand and Foot Show at Berry College

    We are proud to announce the first Hand and Foot installation to open on Jan. 19th at Berry College’s Moon Gallery. Berry College is located next to Rome on U.S. 27 in northwest Georgia, 65 miles northwest of Atlanta and 65 miles south of Chattanooga.

    The Hand and Foot installation is a collaboration between Randall Louis Hamilton (The One Shoe Diaries) and Linda Bill Shirley (FOUND GLOVES). Both artists are from Pensacola. You can find out more at the official Hand and Foot Show Website [go>>]

  • The Uncanny Collaboration with Julie Shapiro

    I believe the press release Julie released sums it all up the best…

    One Shoe Diaries™ – The Twilight Zone Connection
    When life is stranger than fictio    n

    February 3, 2007 – Encinitas, California – Award winning fiction author, Julie Ann Shapiro (click here to learn more about Julie) shares a Twilight Zone moment on a phone call that’s a story worthy of being on the Oprah show. “I answered the phone and felt a deja vu twinge when Randall Louis Hamilton (click here to learn more about Randy), the famed photographer said, “I have the One Shoe Diaries – Photo Collection.” I stopped breathing for a second. “You what… no it can’t be, that’s the same name as my novel, One Shoe Diaries? In it Brad [the main character]? obsesses with photographing singular shoes, the ones he’s see everywhere. He calls it Shoe-osophy.”
    ***
    Shoe-osophy embodies the wisdom, the dogma of the lost and abandoned shoe. The singular shoe is becoming a post millennium archon, an inanimate totem for unstable times; like new age wisdom decrees; things show up for a reason.
     
    Lost shoes are everywhere, littering the side of the highway, floating in the tide, going upstream with the Salmon, or occupying a field like a dead body, discarded and left to rot.
     
    Never staged or studio altered the lost shoes are photographed as they appear. A throw back to pre-computer generated images, before reality and conjured up realities vied for attention.
    ***
    Photographer, Randall Louis Hamilton responded, “That’s me…I also photograph the solo shoes I find in my journeys where they lie.” A mutual pause…”It’s both of us.” From two separate coasts, both Randall Louis Hamilton and Julie Ann Shapiro shared an artistic vision, albeit independently. Neither artist knew about the other’s work or the many parallels that existed between them. Simultaneously in Florida where Randy lives and in Southern California where Julie lives, a fascination with the “one shoe sightings” emerged. Both artists wondered about the untold story of the singular shoes. Julie imagined a table top book of the shoe photos to go along with her novel; the very photographic collection Randy is amassing. The One Shoe Diaries™ – Photo Collection will be in its first gallery showing in March 10th in Pensacola, Florida. Not so different than the photographer in Julie’s novel, who also wound up touring the galleries. Randy also imagined people sharing stories about where and when they noticed a singular shoe sighting. When it all materialized in real life, both Julie and Randy felt like they’d stumbled into the Twilight Zone.
     
    Randy states, “When I came upon Julie’s online announcement of releasing a book named The One Shoe Diaries™ I was both excited and disconcerted. After speaking for a bit on the phone we just knew there had to be a way we could collaborate on this shared vision. We decided I would change the name of my novel to Jen-Zen and the One Shoe Diaries and he would continue to create his One Shoe Diaries Coffee Table Book but we would cross promote each other.”

  • Gulf Coast Snowbirds Article: March 2008 Issue

    Here is the article I was asked to write for Gulf Coast Snowbirds.

    “In the fall of 2004 my wife Sharon and I lost our residence on Pensacola Beach to Hurricane Ivan. Instead of treating this as a disaster we took it as an opportunity to pursue our dream of living full-time in a motor home and exploring the U.S. We started out just touring around the Southeast at first just to get accustomed to life on the road. We learned a lot very quickly through flat tires, lost electric cords, sewer mishaps, brakes overheating and more. Stuff they never tell you about at RV dealerships.

    The largest obstacle we had to overcome was getting connected to the Internet. I am a freelance graphic designer so connectivity was our lifeline. We spoke to many people and decided the best route for us was to use Verizon’s aircard. It has served us well. We hit a few dead spots here and there but with a booster antenna it gave us dependable internet access and phone service.

    The RV experience has been a positive one and we would not trade our experiences for anything. One of the greatest advantages of the lifestyle is that you can live anywhere. You can escape winters by snowbirding where it is warm and we have chosen Florida for the last 4 winters.

    Since my wife and I are under 40 it was quite interesting being snowbirders, as we’re considered quite young. It was tough because we felt like outsiders at first. We now blame that on ourselves. We just needed to start going to the functions and activities where we were greeted warmly and readily accepted. Sometimes even becoming the center of attention because of our fulltime status at such a young age.

    It was great to feel surrounded by a bunch of surrogate parents, who helped us out many times by giving us life advice or home-cooked meals. Snowbirds really are a community where everyone helps each other out like neighbors.

    We are now leaving our RV lifestyle in exchange for a house in Pensacola because we have been blessed with a baby on the way. The motor home will sit for a bit but will see more action when we go on a tour to see family up north, but not in winter of course. We invite you to view the RV lifestyle through our eyes via our online blog at DogParksandBrewPubs.com. Safe Travels!”

  • CNN News To Me Interview

    This video originally clip aired on March 1 &2, 2008 on CNN Headline News Channel for the news show “News to Me” with host Eric Langford. It highlighted the One Shoe Diaries and Sharon and Randy’s cross-country journey in a motorhome.