san francisco
03.17.2012.
Over the last year or so, I’ve been thinking a lot about photography and what I want from it. I’ve largely been doing this instead of actually taking photos.
After lots of self-reflection and experiments with different photographic mediums, I’ve realized the happiest I’ve ever been with my relationship with photography was probably my last year of college, when I would travel, document everything obsessively with my digital camera, and spend hours editing photos before sharing them on this blog.
So I’m going back to how things were – living a life worth documenting, and documenting the sh*t out of it.
I went to Fort Funston this weekend with Ben, Giulia and Mark. Fort Funston has been on my to-do list since I first vacationed here in 2008. For some reason I had always thought it was a tiny fort nestled underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, when in reality, it’s a gigantic ocean-side dog park in the lower-left corner of the city.
I met a wolf dog. I would very much like to own one in the next five years. I regret not getting this guy’s contact info, as I think he’d probably like these.
We eventually found the beach.
After our Funston hike, we headed to Ocean Beach to find Jim Denevan, a well-known sand artist, who we heard was starting just getting started on a piece. I remembered seeing this guy when I was in San Francisco on vacation in 2008, and thinking this was just part of San Francisco’s magic, along with the bakeries and delicious coffee and many hills and ice cream flavors.
He makes these fantastic, mathematically-precise shapes, only to be trampled and washed away at the end of the day.
More adventures soon.
New camera, cookouts, lomowalks, and lots of cats.
I’ve learned a few things about blogging in the past year.
1) Don’t ever write posts about how you’ll “finally start blogging again.”
2) Film shooting and my style of blogging does not mix. Don’t get me wrong, I love film and I will continue shooting with it, but film rolls take weeks to finish and develop, and I like to document every detail of my life as it happens. That and stories just aren’t as fun to tell when they’re written two weeks late. I need to start taking digital photos again for this blog to actually work like I want it to.
3) Just because I’m not traveling around the country doesn’t mean I’m not seeing things worth sharing.
That’s all I’m going to say about that. Here is a blog. With photos.
This week was a good week. For one, our team at 1000memories (did I mention I have a wonderful job now? I can’t remember) finally shipped a rad project we’d been working on for a while. Second, I got a new camera AND lens. I have literally been dreaming about this gear for months.
Everything arrived just in time for me to photograph a little shindig we hosted at our office on Friday night. It was great getting some of my favorite folks together under one roof (or on one porch).
Afterwards, the team (+ a few others) headed to karaoke in Japantown. Aaron and I watched, as we both hate the idea of singing karaoke with a passion we cannot explain.
Tiffany, one of our attendees, mentioned that she was hosting a Lomo double exposure walk through Chinatown the next day. Considering it was just down the street from my house, and I wanted to grab a peek of the Lomo store under construction at Union Square, I was in.
(You can learn more about Lomography here.)
I couldn’t help but snap some photos with my digital. I’d share my film shots, but, you know… they’ll probably be ready in a few weeks.
We ended the hike with a little tour de Lomo store, which will open in Union Square this fall. I can’t wait.
By that point I was completely spent and went home to sleep until Sunday.
Today Aaron and I went to Oakland to hang with Tara and her cat, Dexter.
We stopped by the Temescal street fair for a bit, moreso to eat Bakesale Betty’s fried chicken sandwich and strawberry shortcake.
After one last quick stop by an abandoned building on the UC Berkeley campus (bc we clearly did not have enough adventure for one weekend), we were again spent and headed back to San Francisco to call it a weekend.
On another note, I hung out with two other cats this week.
Malfoy, our temporary office cat…
and Olive, who is temporarily living in my apartment/sitting on my bed staring at me right now.
Ok, that’s all for now.
END!
Film stories, 3/26/11.
I’ve finally developed more film!! I’ve been procrastinating on the developing front (as it’s so expensive) – the only reason I have these photos are because Aaron stole the rolls from my purse and had them developed for me. I cannot complain. Stories below.
This is a double view of the lovely weather we’ve been having here lately. By lovely I mean awful.
This is Pete and Esme. They’re a couple of awesome compadres who I’ve had the pleasure of knowing for the last year or so. They’re getting married soon, so I took a few (mostly digital) photos of them around town.
I’m slowly getting used to the fact that my camera will double-expose when it damn well wants to.
I took very few shots during my week at SXSW, but these pretty much sum up the good times. Lots of sitting on this balcony, spending time with some of my favorite people from around the country (Mark, Corinne, and Jaime included).
More shitty weather + accidental double exposures.
This was from a recent adventure day in the Mission. Aaron and I were walking across 18th + Mission when we heard a THUMP. We turned around to see a man had illegally run across the street into traffic, been hit by a car in the process, rolled over the hood, hit the ground, jumped up, and… continued to run away? So bizarre. I wonder what he was running from.
We chatted with the shaken-up folks who owned the car until police arrived, snapped a few shots, then went on our way.
We continued on our way to our next destination…
Dakota’s birthday brunch at St. Francis.
The rest of the day was full of donuts, balloons, piles of potatoes, and bacon bloody marys, as a birthday should be.
I actually have more photos from this day, but they’re sitting on a roll waiting to be developed. More to come soon!
Finally blogging again?
Hey folks!
Man, it’s been a while. It’s funny how, two years ago, I’d freak out if I missed a day of blogging. Now I’m lucky to have one post per month. That said… I’m alive, I promise. In fact, I’ve made a few life adjustments that allow me get back to my love of adventuring and photo-taking (and thus, more blogging). I’m resolving to provide updates/stories/photos in smaller, more frequent rations from this point forward.
Major life update ration #1: I moved.
Some of you might remember when I first moved into my last SF residence – the Hayes House, a giant purple victorian a block from Alamo Square (you know, where the Full House-house is). There were a lot of pros – high ceilings, gigantic living area, jungle yard, surrounded by three awesome neighborhoods.
I lived at Hayes House for a year and a half – it was a good ride, but I was ready to find my own spot. I lived alone in Raleigh and loved it, and was ready to do the same in SF. Perhaps it’s something about being an incredibly busy/social person, or my total aversion to codependence of any kind, but when I’m done with my day, there’s nothing better than coming home to NOTHING.
After a bit of hunting, my friend Brandom suggested I check out a studio opening up across the hall from him. Sure enough, it was a perfect match. It had everything I wanted – hardwood floors, crafty architectural features, plenty of room, a porch (ok, glorified fire escape, whatever), a ridiculous view, rooftop access… (!!!)
Fast forward through the complex and painful application/approval process and we’re at February 1st – I’m all moved into my new, beautiful studio in the sky.
Considering one’s life is essentially their surroundings, I AM LOVING LIFE RIGHT NOW. Once I actually get my hands on some furniture, I might just throw a little housewarming shindig. We’ll see.
Film times + some new apartment photos.
I’m really into film right now. I’m finally getting the hang of my Yashica Mat (which I’ve only had since Christmas), though I’m realizing that horrible eyesight + manual focus = lots of out-of-focus photos. Might be time for me to get hip and invest in some glasses.
Here are some photos from recent adventures (and my new wonderful studio apartment!!! I’ll write more about that later).
This is Brandom, one of my closest bros who now happens to live across the hall from me. He’s petting his firstborn son, Howard Borden.
This is a rather unexpected double-exposure of Aaron’s parents at Baker Beach + my friend Kara at her baby shower.
Dudes at Baker Beach.
Another unexpected double-exposure (Yashica Mats aren’t supposed to take doubles) while adventuring at Land’s End.
A happy Bob at Land’s End.
Scenic Fourloko at Land’s End.
Brandom posing in front of my beeeeeeautiful apartment view.
Moi.
Moi in color.
Books in need of a bookshelf.
A view of my new room!
Me + Howard. (Photo by Brandom)
Sitting on my fire escape. Word cannot describe how much I love this place.
Life is good.
Ok, that’s all for now. More updates soon.
xo,
hp
New family times.
Last weekend was primarily centered around family-related stuff. For one, Aaron’s family was in town for the weekend, and in addition to that, I was planning to meet my sister on Friday night, for the first time ever. (Background story on that here.)
We made plans to meet at Minibar, in my neighborhood. I headed over, ordered a greyhound, found my perch and buried myself deep into my mobile phone while I waited for her to arrive. I was still buried when I heard “Helena? Is that you?”
So right off the bat, my sister is f*cking gorgeous and amazing. She looks so much like my dad. We gave each other a big hug, sat right down and got to catching up. I really had no idea how I’d react, but it wasn’t a teary emotional event at all. We had already gotten through all of that through our online correspondence. At this point, we were just in disbelief and general excitement that we were actually together in real life.
We spent the rest of the night drinking girly drinks (because that’s what sisters do) and talking about EVERYTHING. It’s pretty bizarre how much you can have in common with someone you just met.
So, in summary, my sister is awesome and I actually know her in real life now. 2011 is great so far.
Next up was adventure time with Aaron’s parents, Bob and Roberta (the Bobs, if you will).
I love the Bobs. They are perched up in Portland, but both lived (and actually met) in San Francisco. From time to time they get homesick enough to come down for a visit.
We explored Baker Beach…
ate pork buns on Clement…
wandered through museums…
and climbed around Land’s End, among other things.
That’s all for now. More updates soon!
hp
I’m so hood.
Last night I went to Oakland in a green jumpsuit. That is all.
[^ photo by Mick Frederick]
My thoughts on reflections & adventures.
So today I was featured by the awesome folks at Photoavent – a digital advent calendar of photographers (as the name may imply). Folks were to use a photo that was particularly important to them and provide details on the process of how they got the shot. Here’s my entry.
The Background:
I wouldn’t say my photo taking has much of a process. I’m constantly on the hunt for new and adventurous situations, and I have a tendency to observe interesting details in what may seem mundane to others. Once I find the situation, I just document it.
I have been taking photos as long as I can remember. I was the girl in gradeschool who everyone always counted on to have a camera on her at football games or birthday parties. I took lots and lots of pictures. Fairly bad pictures, but pictures nonetheless. I simply found the process of documenting and sharing exciting moments as exciting, if not more exciting, than the moment itself.
In the years that followed, I quickly learned that I had a taste for adventure and a need to document it. I traveled on a whim whenever possible, toured the country a few times, and tirelessly explored my city, documenting every bit. I started my hobby of photography and storytelling, first via email list, then later via queenofthepavement.com, and continue to do so to this day.
I’m settled into San Francisco now, and not traveling like I used to, but I’ve realized that if you treat everything like an adventure, whether it be a spontaneous road trip or pretending to be a tourist in your own town or just wandering around your neighborhood, you’ll find your life far more exciting and worthy of documenting.
The Shot:
Prep was minimal, other than spontaneously buying a plane ticket from North Carolina to San Francisco, renting a car, driving to Sausalito, jumping in the air, and shooting a self-portrait, mid-air, in a storefront reflection. Reflections fascinate me – they’re a sort of living distortion of reality, and I find myself observing and photographing my environments through them often.
I’ve probably taken (technically) better shots, for sure, but I always come back to this shot when browsing for favorites. I’ve always felt this photo best captured the excitement I associate with my new discoveries and experiences. That’s really what photography’s about for me – being able to revisit a photo or story and feel the excitement and novelty I felt in that moment, and hopefully being able to share a bit of that feeling with others as well.
Tech Specs:
Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Focal Length: 18mm
Aperture: f/3.5
Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec
ISO: 200
Mild level adjustments in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom
Go check out the calendar to find some new photogs around the country. Glad I could be a part!
END!
NC visitor time, pt. 2
Some highlights from the remainder of Erin & JT’s epic visit to San Francisco.
Burrito breaks with Aaron while the visitors slept.
Climbing to the tip-top of San Francisco. (ok, we took a car for most of the way, but still.)
Riding the F car through downtown – and scoring the back seat.
Full of scenic back-window views…
and zombie views…
Being extra-touristy at Pier 39. (the Myrtle Beach of San Francisco, to give you east coasters a proper perspective).
Eating shitty overpriced crab sandwiches at Fisherman’s wharf while listening to a pharaoh sing Weezer covers.
Sitting at a surprisingly empty Crissy Fields.
Walking up the taller hills in the city…
And eventually standing on top of the taller hills in the city.
And finally waiting for a cab to come rescue our tired bodies from the bottom of Lombard.
So who’s gonna visit me next? Any takers?
NC visitor time, pt. 1
I absolutely love having visitors in San Francisco. This is for several reasons:
1) I left a lot of my best friends and family and otherwise wonderful people I’ve met when I up and moved across the country last year. Getting the chance to see them in person is really exciting.
2) It’s easy to grow numb to the majesty and awesomeness of San Francisco when you walk through it on a daily basis. Having visitors makes me, well, remember where I live.
3) I get to create extensive adventure itineraries, full of my favorite places to go and things to eat and coffee to drink and hills to climb, etc etc. That said, I end up eating and drinking and climbing way more things than normal in a weekend, which everyone should do now and then.
2) I’m a perpetual workaholic, and if you let me, I’ll go a month without emerging from work/project land and making real human contact. Having visitors reminds me to take a break and have fun for a minute.
It’s even better when the visitors happen to be some of your favorite people on the planet.
This is Erin and JT, my very very good friends from North Carolina, and my visitors for the weekend.
The weekend was destined to be very busy. I was doubling my duties as adventure guide with two photo assignments for a certain awesome photo company that I’m shooting products for now (will get into that in a later post) that were due at the end of the weekend.
Anyway. First things first for these guys – I had to introduce them to delicious SF food, so I took them to the most delicious place I could think of – Naked Lunch.
We all got the pork & apple sandwich. I watched Erin and JT go through the SF-food related emotional rollercoaster that I found myself experiencing two years ago sitting at Tartine. Total elation and disbelief at how incredible the food is that you are ingesting – as well as depression creeping in with the knowledge that, as a non-resident, your access to food experiences of this quality are limited and thus you are setting yourself up for disappointment for the rest of your non-SF-resident life.
From there we moved on to Chinatown. It was rainy/gross outside, but we managed to keep ourselves entertained.
We had one small goal associated with our trip to Chintown – find animal hats. At the time, we felt that animal hats would be a great Halloween investment because A) they could be the basis of a very cheap half-assed yet qualified Halloween costume, and B) they are cute and perhaps we’ll wear them again.
So we explored and explored…
But we could only find…
small ferret-like animals.
and cable cars.
and cat displays.
and more cat displays.
and piles of… well your guess is as good as mine.
Finally, we found what we were looking for. I bought a bear hat (a tribute to New Bern and Bear Plaza and Barry Barrington, obviously), as well as a panda hat for Aaron. Erin bought a raccoon hat and JT bought a bunny. We were set for the holiday.
Exploring continued southward towards the Financial District.
As usual, the city was full of interesting characters.
Our next stop was Cole Valley and the Upper & Lower Haight, where we ate crepes, drank beer, watched the world series, and saw SF costumery in action.
We celebrated our Halloween as critters with a sushi dinner at Domo in Hayes Valley, then drinks at our neighborhood Minibar on Divis.
A good day of Halloween critter adventuring complete. More to come in pt. 2.
END!
Film stories.
I shoot film now!
I’ve been wanting to do this for a while. I’ve become somewhat bored with digital, or bored with something… I’m not exactly sure what. Regardless, I felt the urge to try something different in photoland.
So, for my birthday, Aaron bought me a Minolta x-370 while we were at the flea market.
Since then, I’ve been taking all kinds of photos with it, and it’s been a pretty epic experience for me. It’s hard to explain, but I sort of explained it on Flickr recently:
I just started shooting film, and it is a totally different ballgame. My brain is processing it completely differently.
You have to relinquish control of your work – “control” being the ability to look at your digital camera and know that your shot is as guaranteed as a successful upload to your hard drive.
For someone who holds the documentation of life experience perhaps higher than the experience itself, this is hard to adjust to. For me, moments not documented are moments lost. It sounds a bit extreme, but that’s just how my brain works. I’m sure there are folks out there who can relate.
Knowing that shots are not guaranteed is seriously an emotional roller coaster for me. But damn, film is fun, and (so far) way more satisfying.
Anyway, here are some film shots I’ve taken over the last couple of months, with some stories to go with them.
This is the first successful shot to come out of the Minolta. Aaron, Dakota and I were at friends Troy & Shilpa’s house for a barbecue (side note: I can’t believe I just wrote “barbecue” instead of “cookout.” Am I officially a west-coaster now?), where we met this great little dog named Boobies. He was a stoic little guy, despite being absolutely frozen and shaking like crazy. I let him sleep inside my jacket for a while, and he managed to warm up a bit.
This came from a roll of film that was in the camera when we got it, so I wasn’t sure if anything would come out. This is the only photo that did.
This is actually from Aaron’s holga – he let me steal it and run around downtown with it for a week. I actually really love shooting medium format, and hope to have a med. format camera by next year.
These were from an adventure day in the Mission. This is also when I realized that ordering “web scans” from the photostore equals “really shitty really small yet still really expensive scans.”
This is Aaron without a beard!!! A rare and elusive creature, beardless Aaron is.
This was a really foggy windy day in Alamo Square. I had to sit down to avoid getting blown over. The photostore told me to use this Tungsten film and cross-process it, and this is what came out. I think this is when I fell in love with film.
Working with manual focus & a really shallow depth-of-field is hard. Usually I just point my camera at something and my camera will focus on whatever’s in the middle of my image, I adjust accordingly. Not with this. I have to guestimate the distance that will be in focus, and just hope that something works out when I get the film back.
I still can’t believe this photo actually turned out. It was shot with my film Minolta, with a manual focus lens. After some time awkwardly holding out my left hand in front of my face, using my other hand to hold the camera to my face and adjust the focus to my left hand simultaneously, I finally measured up a distance that I hoped would be about equal to what I’d need for a self-portrait… a total guessing game. Did that make any sense? I also should mention that during this process I was standing on a giant, unstable rock, beside a river underneath an overpass in the middle of some random canyon in California.
In summary, this experience was much more awkward than it looks.
This was sitting on a rock in Niles Canyon. I sometimes go on random adventures with Aaron. He’s a street art & graffiti photographer, so we go on elaborate hunts for awesome pieces, and, in this case, we were sick of shitty weather and hunting for sunlight. This put us under a bridge next to a river somewhere in the middle of nowhere (I was standing on the same rock in the above photo). It was super hot and sunny – a nice contrast for the weeks of cold and fog we’d been having in SF lately.
These are Aaron’s bike and plants.
I also have some shots from my recent North Carolina visit, but I’ll save those for the next blog.
END!
Portland visits San Francisco: Adventures with Yogi and Party Boy
I’ve been going to Portland a lot lately. And by a lot, I mean two times. I’ve had the opportunity to meet a ton of amazing people (I already knew Portland served as home to many amazing folk, but damn, you guys just keep coming). This includes Yogi and Party Boy.
Yogi and Party Boy are both long-time friends of Aaron‘s. They live in Aaron’s former Portland apartment, and we usually crash with them when we visit their town. So, when it came time for them to visit San Francisco, I naturally offered to return the favor and house them for the weekend.
Why my house and not Aaron’s?
1) My house is huge. I can house an 8-piece band in my living room with minimal discomfort. Done it.
2) I am centrally located in San Francisco, nestled ambiguously between Hayes Valley, Lower Haight, and Divisadero. There is delicious coffee, beer, fried chicken, burritos, grocers, diners and shows within walking distance.
3) I live beside Alamo Square. The Full House park. You know what I’m talking about. This one. Token visitor treat.
4) I have a jungle yard. Minimal exaggeration here.
Day 1 Objectives: Eat a burrito, make/consume vat of sangria, have jungle yard bonfire.
Come Friday evening, Yogi and Party Boy arrive. We grab a quick burrito at Little Chihuahua, then head home for treats. I had assembled a giant vat of sangria – my first batch ever. After some research, it seems that the internet really likes this recipe, so I tried it out:
1/2 cup brandy
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate (didn’t use this, but I’m sure it would be tasty)
1/3 cup orange juice
1 bottle dry red wine
1/2 cup triple sec
1 lemon, sliced into rounds
1 orange, sliced into rounds
1 lime, sliced into rounds
1/4 cup white sugar (optional)
2 cups carbonated water or ginger ale
I also added a shitload of blackberries, because I happen to enjoy blackberries.
[photocred: Ramon Bataller] [This is not my sangria, but looks like it.]
Night one was nice. I haven’t really entertained since I moved here (I used to quite often in Raleigh), so it felt good to assemble a few folk in the jungle yard for a bonfire. There were more Portlanders in my yard than San Franciscans, by far.
Day 2 Objectives: Shop, meet a bulldog, eat another burrito, ride the most dangerous taxi in San Francisco, crash a boat party benefit.
Day 2 was an interesting day.
We started our day off with a visit to the Mission. We stopped by Benny Gold, where Yogi made business deals, Party Boy bought a hoodie, and I made friends with a bulldog. We then ate our second burrito in a 24-hour period.
After stopping by a few more stores, we caught a cab toward Pier 33 to meet our friends Dave and Mark, who were doing a trade show.
Our cab driver was somewhat young and reckless. We should have known that this would be a rough ride when the driver was casually speeding down giant residential hills at 50 mph.
We begin to approach an intersection. A car is stopped, trying to turn left. We are behind it, approaching. We don’t appear to be slowing down. The car is getting closer. We are going to hit this car. We are definitely going to hit this fucking car. I’m in the middle seat. Unbuckled. I’m definitely going to die now. Does the driver not see this?
Aaron clues the driver in. The driver looks up to finally notice our cab 4 feet from smashing the back of this other vehicle at 40 mph. He jerks the wheel to the right and we swerve around the stopped car, barely missing it. And I mean barely.
He drops us off, apologizing for “almost killing us” as we step out of the car. It’s cool, dude.
We arrive at Pier 33 to see Dave and Mark. Dave and Mark are touring the country right now for Keen/Clif Bar, and happen to be here for the weekend. Dave tells us that he has an adventure for us if we’d like to participate.
We’re listening.
Two hours later, we’re casually strolling onto a yacht, fully equipped with endless piles of meat, cheese, olives, bread, veggies, SUSHI, and OPEN BAR. Yes, we are semi-crashing a benefit cruise. Only semi-crashing because Dave made donations in our name. Crashing nonetheless because we really have no connection with this thing whatsoever. But yes, I will still drink your alcohol and eat your sushi.
The cruise was a success. It was three hours of scenic touring and gluttony, and we only got a few dirty looks by fellow attendees. I’m hoping that won’t be the last bay cruise I have the opportunity to crash while I’m living here.
We closed out the night with another jungle yard bonfire, then rested up for a big day 3.
Day 3 Obejectives: Use Jeremy Fish’s toilet, ride in a pirate van, go to Trader Joe’s for the first time ever, find Yogi a poncho, sit on grass while Wu-Tang raps for me.
Day 3. It’s Rock The Bells day.
The dudes have been planning this day for a while. I had no intention of going (though I wanted to), but Aaron bought me a ticket last-minute. Thus, I found myself Sunday morning at Cafe Trieste in North Beach with the dudes to meet our friends Kate and Jeremy, and begin our quest.
Next thing I know, we’re all tucked into Jeremy’s pirate van, heading to Rock the Bells.
[photocred: Aaron Durand] [this is Jeremy's sweet van.]
How many of you have seen a hardcore rap superconcert next to Google’s campus? I suggest you try it sometime.
The weekend finally came to a close, and we bid our goodbyes to Yogi and Party Boy. Until next time, dudes.
Birthday times.
Hi! It’s been a while.
It’s my birthday! It’s days like these where you can’t help but to spend your entire workday (other than eating cupcakes) daydreaming about how another year has flown by and how much has changed over that course of time.
Let’s think about it. One year ago, I was touring the country with two boxes of personal belongings, a camera, and about 40 bucks to my name. I was a bit nervous about the fact that I was attempting to move to San Francisco with only those 40 bucks to my name. However, when I am determined to do something, I always somehow pull it off, so I put the worries aside for a night to drink tequila with Tim, Bowerbirds, Megafaun and Huggins in a hot tub in the Arizona desert. It was a good birthday.
I’ll be having a relatively unadventurous birthday this year – I’ve spent the workday in my office, and I’ll spend my night drinking beers on the back porch of a bar in the Mission with friends. No hot tubs (I may be speaking too soon), no tour, no parties in random states. I’m actually kind of okay with that.
I have an incredible job, with a salary, that I enjoy. I have stability. I have a roof over my head and a jungle yard. I have an amazing dude who I go on adventures with. I have awesome friends who I go on adventures with. I live in a rad city with an exhaustive amount of things to do and eat and see. I drink less. I eat better. I sleep better. I’m healthier physically and mentally. Things have changed and, while I miss the ridiculous adventures and stories from the road, I wouldn’t change what I’m building for a minute.
That said, I need to post more!!! And I promise I’ll start posting more soon.
I have so much to write but I won’t get too ranty. For now, I’ll just post some photos from my recent adventuring.
Wondercon.
I hadn’t planned on attending Wondercon. I wasn’t even entirely sure what it was. Then, a few weeks ago, I received a note from my friend Paul telling me he was coming to SF for said festival and had a free pass for me, if I wanted it.
Of course I want it. I’m not sure what I’m in for, but I’ll just go and find out.
It’s funny how I met Paul. Paul’s an artist. In fact, Paul was my favorite illustrator immediately upon discovering his work in 2006. I’d see his work up in galleries around Raleigh, and fantasize about the day I would have it hanging on my walls.
So one day in 2008, I was bartending at Sitti in downtown Raleigh, and a trio of folks come in. They’re my only customers, and one of them is quite talkative, so I engage them, as a bartender (or me, for that matter) does. They introduce themselves as Neil, ____ (who I never saw again and will henceforth refer to as Lou), and Paul.
Over the course of our conversation, I notice that
1) Lou mentions that Paul is an artist.
2) The owner of my restaurant (who is quite a man of status and owns most of Raleigh) approaches paul. Knows Paul. This means Paul may be important to this city or have special skills.
Then it hits me. I may be serving drinks to Paul Friedrich.
So I approach the trio. I ask – “Paul, what is your last name.”
“Friedrich.”
“Heh.”
I mention that I was recently looking at some of his prints to put up in my house. He tells me I can have prints for free (I still refuse to take him up on that offer). I sell them some more drinks. Neil leads most of the conversation for the rest of the night (which I now know is totally normal). Neil leaves me a 3 cent tip (he told me he was going to, I thought he was joking). We’ve all been friends ever since. Seriously.
Anyway, I arrived at Wondercon on the 2nd day. I wasn’t sure what to expect. This is what I found.
Thanks Paul. You rule.
February in April.
So… I realized I forgot to post any photos from February. Oops.
Here are a few that are fun.
MOMA.
Jaguar Love.
Mark Growden.
Meghan & Shalaco.
Laura.
Ernie.
Valentine’s at Dolores Park.
Brandom & Lewis’ roof.
That’s all for now. Hooray for catching up!
A B & The Sea.
Formal shoots are an interesting situation for me. I don’t do them that often. It’s not like they’re that different from the other shooting I do… I shoot in the same style, my photos basically look the same as they always do. I guess it’s just the idea of HAVING to produce adequate photos. Because it’s an assignment and that’s what’s expected of me.
This particular assignment was to shoot the band A B & The Sea. They are a young group of guys who recently up and moved from Wisconsin to San Francisco, played some tunes and quickly got noticed by the right folks. They needed some new promo photos for Noisepop, at which they will be playing the closing party with Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros/The Watson Twins. Can you imagine that being one of the earlier shows in your career?? I would pee my pants and/or have multiple seizures. In that order.
The boys were adorable and super easy to shoot with. We totally winged it on the one day this week that wasn’t supposed to rain, and a quick walk around the Mission got us the photos we needed.
Here are a few shots from the afternoon.
Take a gander at the boys at myspace.com/abandthesea, or catch them w/ Edward Sharpe/Watson Twins. I sure as hell will be there.
END!
Visit from Bowerbirds.
Bowerbirds visit! Hooray!
Phil and Beth are homies from Raleigh, NC (the town from which I moved to come here). They were part of a wonderful friend group who made summer 2009 the best I’ve had yet. They play in a band called Bowerbirds, and they are good. Very, very good.
They were to play The Independent on Thursday, and I happen to live a couple of blocks from it. Perfect grounds for reunion sleepover time.
The show was lovely. Julie Doiran opened, and this photo does a good job of describing her. Her voice is absolutely beautiful and she is hilarious. She apparently got her boots from North Carolina. I am not one bit surprised.
The birds have a new addition – Dan “Yan” Westerlund. I had not met him before tonight, but I traveled around the country with his brother this summer, who is in Megafaun, who was touring with the Bowerbirds at the time. I have also stayed with his best friend in Tuscon, Arizona. Worlds colliding.
Will Hackney from Trekky Records also came along to tour manage and guest on mandolin and vocals. I had never met him before, but we both weren’t sure how this was possible, as we shared many many friends while I lived in NC.
We spent the rest of the night having a slumber party, drinking white russians and catching up on life. Come morning, we were up and ready for adventure.
All of us except Phil and Beth, that is. After a couple of hours of waiting for them to rise, we decided to greet them at the bedroom door with a morning song about breakfast. They finally got up.
We grabbed a tasty breakfast at Kate’s Kitchen, passing by Beth’s new favorite store – Silky Touch. Then we headed to Alamo Square, a block away from my house, to run around and reminisce about Full House.
We tumbled down the hill for a while.
As we all got back home, Beth and I went out into my jungle yard and I photographed her new dress and bonnet, compliments of artist Monica Canilao, while the boys packed.
With that, I reluctantly sent them off to continue their trek across the US. It was difficult not to jump in the van with them.
Seriously, go listen to them right now. bowerbirds.org. That is all.
END!
Performance week.
This has been the most interesting of weeks.
Some of you may know that one of my (many) life dreams is to tour the country teaching workshops about the new music industry and building your web presence to take best advantage of evolving technologies.
Some of you may also know that I’m a pretty hardcore believer of building preferences through experience, then focusing on what you want and things inevitably manifest themselves in some form or fashion to be exactly that.
Anyway, such thought processes worked again. I found myself teaching at the SF Musician & Promoter Workshop on Monday night.
Never did I expect that to happen so quickly… not because I don’t know my shit, but rather because I just moved here six months ago and didn’t expect to meet people with similar mindsets and creative intentions in such a quick time frame. That said, I also didn’t know I’d be working at a record label and flying around attending conferences + festivals and working with artists and creatives for a living so quickly either.
The workshop was led by industry expert Corey Denis, and taught by Corey, Dustin Mitchell, Ali Watkins, Jessica Zollman and myself. The turnout was great, and it was nice to see some faces in the SF music and tech industries, both new and familiar. I’m stoked to begin working on the next round of workshops and seeing how this develops.
The rest of the week’s excursions consisted mostly of shows. It was SO NICE to get out and actually see live music for a change! Sometimes I get so busy working on the business side that I forget to relax and go actually enjoy music. It’s nice to sit back and listen again.
It all started with a wonderful little solo act accompanying my dinner at Gracias Madre in the Mission.
Then progressed to Hemlock Tavern a few days later…
Boomsnake (I love everything about what this band is doing – go to their website. Now.)
I just noticed that every single subject that night was wearing red. I knew something seemed more repetitive than normal…
Next – Family Folk Opry w/ Kyle Field (Little Wings), Matt Adams (The Blank Tapes), Kacey Johansing, Moomaw, and Mark Matos (Mark Matos & Os Beaches).
There are plenty of photos from Thursday’s Bowerbirds show as well, but that’ll wait until the next post. To tide you over, here are some typical orphan photos from the week:
That’s enough photos for one post. END!
What’s (sort of) new with me.
Wow, ok. I’m finally getting caught up on blogs after my longest dry spell yet.
One month and three days. That’s fairly large fraction of the blog’s entire lifespan. I used to freak out if I hadn’t posted in 36 hours. I also used to have slightly more free time.
Anyway, enough about that. I’m blogging again! Hooray!
A few highlights from the past month in Cali:
I officially began work for Porto Franco Records, full time. I still am having a hard time believing that I’m getting a steady salary to do what I love.
I’m particularly happy to be working with this label for a number of reasons. For one, I have a good bit of creative responsibility in my job, which means I have a good bit of creative freedom. Second, the label has a good taste in music. The owners are Russian, and you can hear their tastes translated in their decision to host an eclectic catalog of artists, ranging from indie, folk, americana, blues, jazz, balkan… all with the common characteristic of artistic integrity and stellar musicianship. Third, the label is open minded to not only adapting to the changing industry, but adopting innovative business and marketing models in the interest of finding a long-term solution to the issues in traditional record industry. I spend every waking moment studying the industry and evolving technology, and they want to work with me to find ways to use these new innovations to our advantage. DREAMY!
I’m working on a number of projects for them, but my main focus for the next few months is in the realm of branding, online presence and content overhaul, among developing some really neat projects both online and within the Bay Area. We’re aiming to have the new website up by February, which is exciting. In the meantime, you can check out the existing one here.
Follow us on Twitter, too! We just redid our account: twitter.com/PFRecords.
Also – I’m not going back to grad school (I’ve been in school for an MFA in photography). It was pretty difficult balancing full-time grad work + full-time job + all of my own projects (hence the blog hiatus), and I ended up half-assing pretty much all of my endeavors in the effort to keep all of them in my life. That said, I need to simplify things a bit and hone-in my concentration toward the most relevant projects – work, blog, photos.
Note that I still include photos as a relevant project, as I am still obsessed with photography and I have a blog that runs off of photos. I just can’t afford to build up my debt going through a grad program that I can’t put 100% into, because that would defeat the purpose of going to grad school. And… I have a job that I love. Also a purpose of going to grad school. Achieved.
Anyway. More fun stuff – I attended SF Music Tech in early December. It was, as the name implies, a conference where those involved in the tech and music industries can get together to discuss current issues and ideally brainstorm innovative ideas and solutions. I will say that the discussion of (and/or griping about) current issues largely outweighed the brainstorming of solutions, but it is certainly hard to steer a conversation toward resolution in panels that have a 30-minutes cap, so it’s understandable. There were a number of great startups present that shared new apps that answer to the evolving needs of the industry, including a new facebook music app by my friends at Involver. I met a number of great people both during and after the conference, and am looking forward to attending again. Ideally I’d like to soon get involved with the planning of the conference… with just a little more structure and direction in the panel sessions, there is a huge amount of potential for this to become an extremely productive, content-rich event with a huge amount of utility.
Also in recent news:
- My friend Brandom moved to California, and has been living with me while he’s looking for a place to live. He was a friend of mine from Raleigh days, and I frequently come home to find him and other-Raleigh-now-in-SF-friend Dakota in my room, usually playing cards on my bed. It’s really great. I hope they continue doing this after Brandom finally finds a place.
- My roommates Hoa and Cyndie both had birthdays recently, but Cyndie was kind enough to have her birthday party before I left for NC for the holidays. It was a bacon-and-bourbon themed party, and, in typical Helena fashion, I ate so much bacon that I ended up in bed sick after only drinking half a glass of bourbon. Priorities.
- Brandom and I went out to eat my last meal in California before flying back to NC. We walked to a Japanese restaurant down the street, where I ordered a big bowl of rice with an eel filet on top. Next thing you know, I have swallowed an eel bone. It is stuck in my throat. I can feel it. It is piercing my tongue every time I swallow. I panic. Run to bathroom. Attempt to find bone. No luck. I sit on floor and prepare to faint. Also no luck. I finally reach down my throat and find the bone sticking out of my tonsil. In my attempt to get it out, I accidentally push it all. the way. into my tonsil. GROSSEST INJURY EVER. PS – It never came out and remains inside my tonsil, where it will eventually dissolve. Also gross.
Ok. Now time for pictures! Some randoms from my last weeks in Cali.
Ok. That’s all for now. More updates to come!
END!
Deja Vu + Third-Wheel Adventures.
I have spent the last two weekends tagging along with some ridiculously cute and happy couples… makes me want to barf sunshine just thinking about it.
I really couldn’t ask for better people to be honorary third wheel with. First round was with Kelly and Jim. I spent last Sunday with them shooting some engagement photos. I still feel like a total novice when it comes to shooting people… with a purpose or objective… the pressure is intimidating. But they were fun and cooperative and took lots of breaks to eat diner food and dumplings (in two separate meals). My kind of folks.
This weekend I found myself with my mother and her boyfriend, Barry Barrington (who I will always refer to by his full name because it is incredible), visiting from NC. It’s much easier photographing cute couples outside of any assignment whatsoever, as it was free and pretty much comes with the territory of hanging out with me and my camera, and they can’t get mad at me if they suck.
We adventured through the city on Saturday, then rented a car and ventured northward on Sunday. Lots of good food and good views. I was pleased.
Day1:
Somewhat relevant story (that I still need to tell Andrew):
After hanging out on the top of that epic hill above, we all walked down the path that takes us back down and around the other side, towards the Castro. I suddenly found myself quite overwhelmed with deja vu. I then realized I was in fact on a museum property that I had trespassed on just a year previous while vacationing in SF (having no idea I’d be living here a year later). It was the site of one of the photos I used for my grad school portfolio (that contains the Andrew of note). I actually wrote about this experience in my old mass-travel-email-list that I used to maintain before I started this whole blog thing in May.
An excerpt from July 2008:
Once home, I got a message from Dakota to meet her in the Mission. We had a date. Our friend Zack, who we met at the cookout my first weekend in town, had offered to take us out to dinner at an eclectic little spot called Delfina, on 18th and Guerrero. Italian/American/French-inspired cuisine, big emphasis on fresh ingredients and innovative food combinations. Sounds like my cup of tea.
On the way to dinner, I pass Delores Park, and see a phenomenon I could have never fathomed – bike polo. Really. Like… polo. On bicycles. How awkward and amazing!
We all meet up at Delfina at 9:30. We split a bottle of sauvignon, a sheep ricotta w/ zucchini, bitter greens with pancetta and walnuts, strawberry farm short ribs with gouda polenta, rabbit something or another, salmon something or another, and some sort of puff pastries filled with espresso gelato. Jesus Christ it was awesome.
As we were finishing up, we were discussing things I must do before I leave, and Zack brought up the fact that Twin Peaks is one of, if not the, best view of the city. So I say, “well, we should go.” Zack says, “right now?” I say, “Why not?”
So Zack bikes home to grab his car, while me and Dakota head to Amnesia to grab a drink and wait. Oh how I love this bar. Yet again playing eastern-european-inspired-americana-bluegrass as I walk in the door. We order a couple of their cocktails, all made with koju, a Korean vodka that seems pretty popular in the city. Before we know it, Zack has arrived with his chariot. We head out, but have one extra stop before we head to Twin Peaks – we have to go pick up his friend Andrew, who is visiting from Santa Cruz, and who has apparently been drinking alone at Zeitgeist for four hours after his friends left town. Andrew is tall (6’8″ to be exact), drunk, and hilarious. Oh my god. He is one of the funniest people I have met in a long time. And I don’t think it was because he was drunk. He made it to my favorites list quickly.
So we are driving straight up windy roads that should eventually lead us to Twin Peaks. We quickly become enshrouded in fog. We get to the top. We can’t see five feet in front of us. So… you can imagine the view. Just fog. We could vaguely see the few lone cars in the parking lot with couples in the backseats. Not much later, a police car came by with a spotlight and said cars were eliminated pretty quickly. So we hung out on the edge of the highest point in the city, but saw nothing. We decided to drive somewhere of a slightly lower altitude and maybe catch a view underneath the fog.
We arrive at some museum, whose name will remain unsaid (simply because I don’t recall what it was). The property was sitting on the edge of a cliff and seemed to have a pretty good view. Unfortunately, the gate to the property was locked. Good for us, we are traveling with primate-like men who can scale fences and unlock doors from the inside. So began our scenic trespassing tour.
I wish I had some sort of scandalous story for you, but no cops came, the dogs were not sent for us. We just wandered around forbidden museum property and enjoyed a fairly good view. We eventually tired of being bad asses and headed back on our way.
Day2:
(PC: Barry Barrington)
In other news: I leave for tour today. BTW… I’m going on tour? I’m pumped. I’ve been having tour withdrawals for a couple of months now. I’m supporting Mark Growden w/ Alex Kelly, and representing Porto Franco Records. Best job ever? It might be. If you live in CA, OR, or WA, you should come see us. It would be neat. Just sayin’.
More on that as we hit the road. Until then…. END!
Releasing of the CDs + sort of major career updates.
It finally happened.
The event I’ve been working my tail off for, along with producer Will Chase, Porto Franco Records, among others.
Mark Growden‘s CD Release was Friday. The sponsorships were secured, the programs were designed & printed, the last promotional waves were complete. I could relax… sort of.
Relax enough to go receive my mother and her boyfriend, Barry Barrington (yes that is really his name) into town, as they were flying in from NC to visit for the weekend. I figured I could grab a quick fabulous German dinner with them at Suppenkuche, then head to the venue with time to spare before showtime.
(PC: Barry Barrington. Yes, I am aware that she looks like she should be my sister, not my mother. Let’s hope those genes translate.)
Well, I knew something ironic was bound to happen before the night was over. It just came sooner than I expected.
Long story short:
Head toward bus stop
Receive text message requesting that I find metallic sharpie pens for show
Ponder where the hell to find metallic sharpie pens
Run to Walgreens, find metallic sharpie pens
Return to house with pens to meet mother and Barry Barrington
Head to bus stop
Wait for 15 minutes at the wrong bus stop
Wait 15 minutes at the correct bus stop
Decide to call a cab, walk away from bus stop
Watch correct bus pass us as we walk away
Wait for cab in front of house for 20 minutes
Call to check in, as said cab is nowhere to be found
Receive information that cab has forgotten about us
Finally get cab 15 minutes later.
I arrive at the venue at 7:56. The show starts at 8. I still need to find my sponsors and give provide them with their well-deserved treats. This should be interesting.
Fortunately, I managed to find my sponsors prior to the set starting, and I settled down in time to catch the whole show.
The set was beautiful. The 350-person crowd knew every word. John Law (oh, you know, just the founder of Burning Man & renowned pioneer the SF arts scene as we know it) hopped on stage and gave a kind speech about Mark’s talent and quality as a musician and human being. It was definitely a notable night in the San Francisco arts community.
I happened to snap some photos from my seat.
Oh, and as for the sort-of-major career updates – I have been offered a position by Porto Franco Records. For those of you who already thought I was working for them, I wasn’t. I happened to be working on the same team as them for this event, which was a contracted freelance gig that I am EXTREMELY fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on. But Porto Franco seemed to dig the work I did, and want me to join their production team.
I don’t think I can begin to explain to you how perfect this job is for me. I will still be doing freelance stuff here and there, but this is a project I know I’ll be putting 200% into, because I absolutely love what they’re doing. My brain is on fire. I can’t wait to get this rolling.
So yeah, things are good. Really freaking good.
I’ll have more photos from this weekend coming up later.
For now… END!
Almost there.
This is the last night I stay up til 4am working! The project I have been working on non-stop for weeks now, Mark Growden’s CD Release, is tonight. The theatre is almost sold out already, the CDs are packaged, the programs are designed and printed… everything is falling into place. It’s a great feeling. Everyone has worked so hard. I’m proud of our team.
Here are some photos from the week… the first few being from Kelly & Jim’s engagement shoot (more of those to come when I find the time to finish editing), the latter being from me frantically running around my neighborhood doing a color assignment for homework that I put off until the morning it was due (being busy has its downfalls).
I have some great news and updates coming for you, but I’ll wait until next week to announce them. Things are good in mi life though, as crazy and hectic as it is at the moment.
Also – My mum flies into town today! I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am. So begins a weekend of adventuring with my soul-twin who happened to birth me.
END!
Mammoth Men & Midterms.
I really can’t believe it’s November.
I feel like it was just summertime. Perhaps because it was 80 degrees yesterday.
I haven’t been running around quite as much in the last few days, so I don’t have a plethora of photos from different events and locations in San Francisco. This is probably good for me. I need to chill out.
However, I have been stumbling upon some pretty neat stuff lately while nerding out online.
For one – Mammoth Men.
I stumbled upon this website a couple of days ago and almost had a seizure. Seriously, how on earth have I not found this sooner. This is EXACTLY what I want to do with my life. Well. Maybe with a few tweaks. Bro-ing down with 12 guys in a tour bus for the rest of my life may be a little overwhelming. But it’s whatever. I’ve handled traveling around the country with bros. I can handle being homeless. I can handle the 12-hour drives and lack of showers. I’d redevelop my taste for terrible fast food combos and cheap beer. I’d deal.
Photo by Jeff Newsom | Mammoth Men
Anyway, more about Mammoth Men. These guys are photographers, and they tour the country. Not with bands, not with clients, not with any specific presentation or showcase… they just sniff out adventure, they pursue it, they document it, and they share it with the world via their well-crafted web presence and social media campaign. Fuck. If you know me personally, you know that THIS is what I want to do. This is it.
I did it to a degree this summer with Well Done Tour, my six-week national phototour with bands Bowerbirds & Megafaun, and photographer Tim Lytvinenko. But six weeks is not enough. I want to work constantly from the road, take photos, and be a liaison between relevant brands and my overwhelmingly large and devoted (this is also in the works) online public through sponsorships and targeted advertising and promotion. Sweet baby jesus. I get excited just thinking about it.
This will all take shape eventually. For now, I will continue living vicariously through them via their social media platforms and website. You should do the same.
I am actually getting a small dose of road back in my life in a few weeks – I’ll be joining Mark Growden and Alex Kelly on a short northwest mini-tour for the week before Thanksgiving. I am having serious tour withdrawals, so this will be good for me. The full schedule is on my Posterous blog.
Listen to Mark here.
Check out Mark’s CD Release concert on November 13th here.
Anyway. Here are some photos from a midterm assignment I procrastinated on and mostly finished last night. I wanted to shoot some night photos using existing lighting in San Francisco architecture. I rarely shoot portraiture in low lighting, so I figured this would be a good challenge for me.
So I kidnapped my roommates Cyndie & Hoa and we began our walk around the block.
Look how much they are enjoying themselves! Hooray for good sports.
That’s all for now. END!
