California (Bay Area, Northern) Nanny Cam

Haw!

I'll probably hit the Berkeley gig as it's just up the street from me.
Anyone else in>?
 
Peter, thanks for the heads-up. I'm going to do the curmudgeonly thing and wait until all the blabbing is over, then visit the Scott Nichols gallery in a quiet moment to see if the photos would like to speak for themselves. :)
 
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I took at look at the Berkeley exhibit this morning (I'm a geologist at Cal and my office is just next door). It's a small but impressive collection of photographs. Definitely worth checking out if you're nearby.
 
So, I've been sick and didn't make the Berkeley.

Anyone going tonight or tomorrow?

Anyone know if the Gallery at Berkeley is still open? or was it just for that night?
 
My plan is to meet Kirk for the reception and film event tonight at SF Camerawork. The film is the BBC documentary, not to be confused with the "Finding Vivian Maier" film currently making the rounds in movie theaters. Inside info (or hype, whatever) says that demand may exceed supply of seats available (gallery seats 100), and seating preference favors those who have prepaid the suggested "donation" (PayPal beckons). Just passing it on, view the work at your own risk.
 
...I'm going to do the curmudgeonly thing and wait until all the blabbing is over, then visit the Scott Nichols gallery in a quiet moment to see if the photos would like to speak for themselves...
Jamie, yes, thinking for yourself resonates with me, for I don't think much of Vivian Maier's work in the context of the great photographers in her time — although the BBC documentary is very good, and her story is interesting in terms of entertainment. Rather than arguing this position, I'll just quote the view of Jörg Colberg, which you can read in his blog article, In Defense of Merit:
I can’t help but feel that in the world of photography the idea of artistic merit has receded quite a bit over the past decade or so…when I see something that’s uplifting or edgy or provocative, or when I see something that I know is just being lauded for the great story, while the pictures are clearly lacking…Then that’s either essentially just entertainment…Think Vivian Maier: Now there’s a great story. But the images don’t even remotely hold up to what so many already well known photographers from the same period were doing. In fact, I stopped looking at any of the Maier coverage, because the majority centers on the story itself or any of the other talking points, about which literally have nothing to do with photography.
—Mitch/Potomac, MD
Paris au rythme de Basquiat and Other Poems
[Download link for PDF file for book project]
 
I attended the Berkeley event. The prints are very nice and well worth seeing. They're still on view. The crowd had an average age of about 85. The lecture was standing-room only. After they corked the bottles of free wine, I left.
 
Heretic that I am, I preferred the inkjet prints (by Dickerman) at UC Berkeley to the gelatin-silver ones at Scott Nichols.

(There's no accounting for taste?)
 
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