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photo by Donald Kinney
On Thrsday it was hotter than hell around here, and believe me, it wasn't any cooler at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in San Rafael.
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photo by Donald Kinney
X marks the spot...
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photo by Donald Kinney
And if you've got to be dead, this isn't such a bad place to do it.
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photo by Donald Kinney
Now, where did I leave my head?
SPECIAL EDITION -- TangoBaby's reception at Tedda Hughes
One of my favorite bloggers, Julie Michelle of San Francisco, writes three rather exceptional blogs:
TangoBaby
I Live Here; S.F.
Femmefotographie
Saturday evening Michelle invited me, along with a boatload of her other friends and blogging buddies, to a reception that kicked-off an exhibit of her fine-art photography at Tedda Hughes, a very interesting boutique/art gallery at 1623 Polk Street.
Now, I'm no social-butterfly, and definitely no gad-about-town -- in fact I'm a bit of a hermit (crippling shyness, really) and only come out of my hole-on-the-hill when necessity calls, but I am SO glad I made it over to see Julie's photos -- but the biggest treat was meeting her in person! She is a gorgeous creature and gives good hugs -- I got two of them... She also seemed genuinely happy to see me. She's also fun to talk to -- I started yacking my head off and managed to almost completely lose my voice for a while there.
Across the room I spotted an interesting looking bearded man with a camera model I used to own -- turned out that it was S.F. Mike of "SF Civic Center" who I actually had met before -- it was at a protest rally at the Civic Center about a year ago. Mike mostly covers events unfolding in the Civic Center area of San Francisco, including the symphony and opera -- hey, the way I see it, better him than me (I am such a cultural slob), but I DO really enjoy reading about the events he covers and he has a "to the point" approach when it comes to his expert critical analysis. Right now on his blog he has a really interesting piece on the Samurai exhibit at the Asian Art Museum.
Julie also introduced me to Greg Dewar who writes "N Judah Chronicles". Greg is not only interesting to talk to (I think that's when my voice really started to go), but in checking his blog this morning I can see that he has one of the more intelligent blogs in Cyberspace.
One person who I really wanted to meet "in the flesh" was my most wonderful friend Tomate Farcie. Every time someone walked in the door I had look and see if it might be her, but no... Oh well, but we're definitely going to get together one of these days. If anybody can bring me out of my shell, it would be her. She's French -- sounds interesting doesn't it, Gomez?
But the highlight of the evening was meeting a wonderful young couple, madly in love, who I consider the very essence of San Francisco -- Plug1 and Plug2, who write "What I'm Seeing".
Plug1 works right in downtown San Francisco, so he has a pulse on all sorts of interesting goings-on, from Critical Mass reporting, to encounters with Frank Chu, to breathtaking views from tall vantage points -- but what he is most famous for is his city-wide search for meaningful urban art, sometimes referred to as graffiti. Oh, I'm sure you have your own opinions abut graffiti, but you may temper your feelings after seeing his photographic trophies that document the work of the artist behind Girafa.
Had I stuck around a while longer I may have gotten to meet Brad Evans who writes CitySnaps. Plug1 and Brad had been Twittering earlier so I learned that Brad was still over at the ballpark. Brad is a very talented street photographer doing black-and-whites with rich blacks and delicate whites. I'll have to catch up with him sometime and see if he can teach me something about shooting on the street -- lesson #1 is probably going to be how not to get knocked over the head and have my camera stolen in some of the seedier parts of town.
So there you have it -- what I did last night. I had a great time. Wish you too had been there.
And a big thank-you and virtual-hugs to Julie Michelle for making it all possible!
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6 comments:
Doesn't sound like you're not a social butterfly to me! Thinking past my own severe introversion, I can see that it was a splendid time, but made that way because the people were so stimulating. (Sometimes I think my lack of interest in social activities has to do with the choices presented me.) I'm glad you had such a terrific time, and I'll check out some of those blogs!
wow, im so delighted that we were finally able to meet last night.
youve been and remain one of my favorite San Francisco photographers and a constant source of technical inspiration.
i hope one of these coming weekends we can go out shooting toghether early morning.
my 50 mm F1/4, however, did not have such a good night. i guess ill have to send her in, as the auto-focus just plain quit.
Thank you for coming to my little soiree and writing such a wonderful recap. I'm so glad you joined us! It wouldn't have been the same without you.
Come back to SF anytime!
;-)
Well, I just spent the last 45 minutes exploring the showing and your friends. There are some terrific posts. Thanks for sharing and I'm glad you aren't a hermit all the time.
Aww, sorry I missed it! I wasn't aware there was a reception until too late, so I just stayed home and chilled instead ;)
Don't worry, I know we'll run into each other in the near future.
People who meet me in person say I'm pretty much exactly like my online persona (?) so don't worry.
I missed it too - had guests from North Carolina w/dinner in Palo Alto I couldn't work around.
I'm glad the show was super and had a great turn-out. Julie deserves the good chi coming her way. No doubt more shows will be coming soon!
Have a feeling I'll run into some here sooner or later...
Ha, on shooting - I just do it to mess around and have fun - and meet/snap interesting people on the street. Haven't had a really bad experience yet - I think being direct helps on that. So when you want to hook up and shoot, send me an email - I'm pretty flexible.
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