Architecture and the City Opening Night 2008

Went with friends to the Architecture and the City Opening Night Party downtown sponsored by the American Institute of Architects. San Francisco has such a wealth of old and new architecture that is so amazing, spanning many types of cultural designs ~ it's almost like heaven for architects to come here and see the beauty of both dwellings and buildings!

Here are some pictures from last night's event and am hoping to be able to photograph more in the upcoming days! I think I snapped too many floral arrangements ~ last night my sinuses went crazy and I couldn't breathe!!!
I was hoping to be able to photograph more of the events associated and some outstanding interiors BUT the AiA-SF woman I met tonight who promised to call me didn't... so I am again left in the cold and the outside trying to look in. I love architecture but with my measly financial state, I cannot afford to attend these events unless invited. grrrrrr

NO creativity in the Bay Area

... seems I am the only one in the Bay Area now discovering that San Francisco is a desert ~ many people filled with hot air, mainly talking but with no action or follow-up. I am a serious photographer who can't find any creative minds or individuals in this City ~ not a one ~ to work with. Though I've worked with a few who have come as far as an hour or more driving distance from outside the Bay Area, nobody in the City is serious or mature enough to shoot with! It's frustrating and I can probably blame it on my lousy terrible images that I can't even sell to save my life or to give me a decent job when others with less experience and even less creativity and theory of photography are happily working as "photographers".

My disappointment is WHY do people who call themselves models continue what they "do" if they don't model? I've talked with a few "models" in the immediate Bay Area but all those have disappeared ~ lack of seriousness, lack of maturity, lack of intelligence or just plain stupid individuals who think they are models, but disappear faster than a fly upon sh*t. It gets depressing.... most of their emails don't even consist of more than five words... lack of intelligence?

Yes, I forget sometimes that some people sell themselves... yuppy, it's just like being a prostitute - except sex is not involved.... sometimes.

I'm not a whore for that blood money. I create my arte, and I have a strong passion for arte and photography that drives me and my everyday life. Unlike these whores who think of money and how much they can get each and everyday, I think also think of money... the lack of money that keeps me away from doing what I want to do... prevents me form enjoying the pleasure of photography.... and to leave this cruddy place I used to call my hometown.... so beautiful and yet so depressing to be here not because I want to, but because I have to due to my lack of money. I'd love to depart the company of those here who lie to your face, who invent tales of their lovely lie.... who sell their skin not for the passion nor for arte, but because it's an easy job and they haven't the skills nor brains to do anything else decent to earn them a living.

These persons don't see the arte; they think only of money. They don't grasp the opportunities... thinking only of that money. I wish others would see them for what they are in reality, and not work with them, but nooooo, these whores make more money in a day than I have in the past few years combined! sigh

I guess I'm guilty of that stupidity also, because I have decided for more than half my life to devote myself to a profession that doesn't earn me fame, nor money, or satisfaction. I instead am mocked by these money whores and other "photographers" for the fool I am... doing something I love and cannot live without, for pennies if I get that at all. I even have relatives who think I shouldn't be paid, saying "oh, you're an artist ~ you don't do it for the money..." Often I give away my images... (get turned down all the time) and sometimes ~ oftentimes ~ that even backfires on me!

I should kill myself and get it over with... nobody will care and nobody will miss me. People all over the world think of money..... I wish I could be more like them..... but I cannot.

I listened this morning to a perspective on the local public radio about a young man living in an area of SF that isn't too good. I was driving through morning traffic as he described how he just moved to the area when he was mugged one night while walking, and how that same day there were five shootings. Then he painted the scene of how a black man with a flat tire on a bicycle made of pieces of other bikes appeared as he had his garage door open..... he perfectly explained how he distrusted the man, thinking it was a ploy to steal from him, how he regretted assisting.... BUT he did. At one time he says, he had to go upstairs to get something and he didn't want to leave his garage door open, with all his things there. He asked this unknown man to "watch" his stuff while he was gone. Amazingly, that man was still there waiting.... and so were his things inside his garage. Finally, he explained how by helping this man, that black man had helped him too.

It doesn't make a difference what the color of our skin is, or how much money we make in a day or a year.... or the type of clothes we wear... we all need a kind word or a hand sometimes.... it's that personal touch that keeps us whole.... makes us human and different and unique.

I feel I have been cheated... of many things: my life, my photography, and many more things I won't discuss here. Sure I have more than the usual homeless, but I have been homeless before, and I have slept inside my car for days previously. The experience doesn't make me a better person but still..... I feel cheated of what I should be enjoying but cannot. But nobody cares.... and why should anyone care?

As of 29 August, that stupid MYSPACE page has been deleted. I thought that would help me find some serious models, but that was a stupid thought...

As of 1 September, I have started deleting albums and many images at my fototaker.net and by the end of September, that site will be gone too. The domain will just point somewhere else..... who knows ~ or cares ~ where.....

I help many strangers on a daily basis, but few if any ever help me.

And if I kill myself, what will happen to my apartment in Spain.....

Won't I be the lucky one to die finally and end this solitary misery?

Each day rests our individual destiny in simple steps. If we take a short step, it will guide our future and the rest of our life differently than if we were to take a longer stride in another direction.
I wonder which step will take me out of my misery.... if ever.

a walk thru the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts

....was both warm and sunny, shaded and breezy, and crowded. I didn't take my reflex camera as I wanted to actually "enjoy" it... if such a thing is possible without a camera if your photography is your life!

Got there late but amazingly found a parking spot after arriving within minutes. It was breezy enough to keep the flies and heat away and it was quite nice.

Though these street festivals have almost always the same people/vendors as in other festivals, I was surprised to see some work that I hadn't seen previously, as well as the magnificent images I've seen before. There was also an etcher whose numbered etchings were fabulous and I loved a small etching of a valley oak he had displayed, along with a full-moonrise and oak, which he explained was a new piece of work.

I enjoy telling the exhibitors what I enjoy... I don't have money so I cannot buy their work ~ the most sincerest work of appreciation and flattery for someone's art ~ but I feel as a photographer who loves comments and input about his imagery, that I must say something.

I can't afford to ever exhibit at these events though I have often considered it.... but I can admire those who do participate and whose work is so splendid to share it with others.

The following images were captured using my cell phone camera... a RAZR v3 which... in my opinion, takes some very nice pictures in good lighting. The pictures are of the street painting contest and more.....