I’m honored to have a portfolio of 20 desert night photos on La Lettre de La Photographie. Many thanks to Gilles Decamps for the stimulating conversation, and to Jean-Jacques Naudet for putting together what has quickly become one of the top photography sites online.
What if I told you there was a place in San Francisco to view an amazing collection of modern photography from the 1920′s to present.
And what if it was free to get in. And the space was huge.
And only 20 people were allowed in at a time, so you could stand in front of your favorites as long as you want.
And there were no crowds. And it was quiet.
This amazing place exists. It’s called Pier 24.
A whole room of Bernd and Hilla Becher typologies.
A whole room of Lee Friedlander.
A whole room of Robert Adams.
Arbus. Eggleston. Winogrand. Frank. Evans. Sugimoto. Misrach. Weston. Stieglitz. Strand.
The current exhibit runs through February 28th. Appointments to view the collection are available starting on January 3rd. Get this on your calendar for 2011!
Update: More motivation to visit Pier 24 from B.
Two minutes in the life of a photographer. Well, 2 minutes in time-lapse form anyways. Today I framed some 20″x30″ prints for the Dark Resort show that opens next week. The video above shows a time-lapse of the framing process. The music is from Serge Gainsbourg’s album Histoire De Melody Nelson. At first listen, it’s mellow music with a French guy talking. But there’s a lot going on here. The string arrangements by Jean-Claude Vannier are superb. This album will get under your skin. I also highly recommend Gainsbourg’s hilarious novel Evguenie Sokolov, a bizarre meditation on flatulence and art.
Anyhow, here’s how the video was made:
And a few notes about the framing process:
Hope you enjoy the video — let me know if you have questions about what’s happening. See you at the Dark Resort show next Friday, November 5th!
Studio Nocturne is this weekend at Fort Mason in San Francisco. The event runs Saturday & Sunday, October 23 & 24, from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. in Building D [Fort Mason Directions]. This yearly event is a great chance to see fantastic work by 10 photographers including:
I’ve always framed photographs with a mat, both for the traditional look, and to keep the print separated from the glazing. Over the last year, I’ve noticed the variety of framing methods for photographs at the high-end New York galleries via the art show reviews on DLK Collection. Recently I was printing a panorama for a show with a 36″ size restriction. I wanted to use the full width for the image. If you just put a print into a frame without a mat or spacers, contact with the glass can cause sticking, buckling, newton rings, and a variety of other problems. The trick is to use spacers to create an air gap between the print and glazing (glass or acrylic).
Here’s what I did:
There is another variety of plastic spacer that doesn’t use adhesive called FrameSpace. Here’s a FrameSpace and EconoSpace comparison chart.
My favorite online retailer for mats and frames is framedestination.com. They carry a great selection of mats and frames in the 2:3 aspect ratio, and their customer service is top notch.
If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, I highly recommend The Framer’s Workshop in Berkeley. I brought my print down and they helped me install the spacers and make sure the finished piece looked great. I felt like I was in a parallel universe where everyone is genuinely friendly. Framing a piece at The Framer’s Workshop was one of the best customer service experiences I’ve had in a long time.
If you’re printing photos for an art show or your wall and don’t want to use a mat, I hope these resources are helpful!
Resort — by Joe Reifer
Dark Resort: A nocturnal survey of Lake Berryessa in transition
Photographs by Riki Feldmann, Stephen Walsh, and Joe Reifer
November 5-30th, 2010
Opening Friday, November 5th from 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Pacific Pinball Museum (Lucky Ju Ju)
1510 Webster Street, Alameda, CA [Map]
The art show is free. No host bar and special $10 admission to play pinball on the night of the opening.
The demand for water in Northern California led to the construction of the Monticello Dam and Lake Berryessa in 1957. Photographers Dorothea Lange and Pirkle Jones documented the end of the town of Monticello in their acclaimed 1960 monograph, Death of a Valley.
Lake Berryessa provides flood control protection, municipal and industrial water supply, and hydroelectric power. The lake is a popular spot for recreation, hosting up to 1.5 million visitors per year who enjoy activities such as fishing, boating, waterskiing, and camping.
In a controversial 2006 decision, the Bureau of Reclamation ordered the removal of over 1000 privately owned trailers from the 7 resorts at Lake Berryessa. The 50-year lease between the government and the resort concessionaires expired in 2008, and most of the resorts were closed.
Fifty years after the Death of a Valley, the Berryessa region once again entered a time of transition. Riki Feldmann started photographing the abandoned resorts along the western shore of Lake Berryessa in 2008, and invited photographers Stephen Walsh and Joe Reifer to join him. Under the cover of night, they made numerous trips to the lake over the last 2 years to explore the abandoned resorts under the light of the full moon.
The nocturnal images of abandoned lakeside trailers, concessions, and boating facilities are suffused with a post-apocalyptic feel. Where did everyone go? The melancholy of night is balanced by subtle humor documenting the curious artifacts of recent habitation.
In late 2010, the old trailers are gone, a new concessionaire is in place, the resorts have been renamed, and there are plans for new camping and recreation facilities. These mysterious night images of Lake Berryessa in transition help convey a deeper historical perspective on this brief, but fascinating piece of California history.
View a gallery of Lake Berryessa night photography
For press inquiries about the show, please contact Joe Reifer
