Overnight Walk San Francisco
I have been thinking about this post for weeks, and I have wanted to write something organized and transformative about suicide, but sometimes life and stories don’t work that way. Earlier this month I attended the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk in San Francisco. I volunteered to photograph the […]
Make Epilepsy Great Again
Show me a hero, and I’ll write you a tragedy – F. Scott Fitzgerald The Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California held their annual gala at San Francisco’s Four Seasons Hotel on Saturday, November 10, 2018. It was a 1920’s themed event with dinner, dancing, auction and speakers. The fundraiser was pretty good, but it left […]
Lucy Spraggan Concert – San Francisco
Last month I photographed English musician Lucy Spraggan. Lucy performed at San Francisco’s Bottom of the Hill; Tawnee Kendall and Amina Shareef Ali were also on the September 26, 2018 lineup. Here are my photos of Lucy from the evening. Lisa is much more popular in England than she is in the United States. After […]
Roller Derby – Palace of Fine Arts
The 2018 Bay Area Derby roller derby season started this Spring with two bouts at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts. I photographed a bout in March and another in April. This is the first season that Bay Area Derby has skated at the Palace of Fine Arts. BAD changed their teams, uniforms, and regular […]
Skinny Lister – San Francisco
Last month, I photographed Skinny Lister during their current United States tour. Will Varley opened at The Independent in San Francisco. Photo Gallery Here. This was my third time seeing Skinny Lister. Before the show, I asked people at The Independent how they had become fans. Many people had similar experiences to my own. We […]
Four Seasons of Epilepsy Awareness
Winter, spring, summer or fall… but mostly fall. The 2017 Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California’s annual Candlelight Gala was last weekend. This year, EFNC held the event at the Four Seasons in San Francisco. I have had epilepsy for more than thirty years. I have been photographing epilepsy events for almost ten years. Those of us […]
Rock and Roll and Barb Wire Dolls
I haven’t posted in a while, especially about music. I keep waiting for the right day, and since I pretend that I am not superstitious, today seems perfect. It’s Friday the 13th. (and it’s October) For the last several months I have been receiving press emails about the female-led band Barb Wire Dolls. I went […]
Chinese American Exclusion
Last month, Melrose Leadership Academy’s fifth graders traveled to San Francisco’s Chinese Historical Society of America. We walked to a nearby playground in Chinatown before we visited the new permanent exhibit “Chinese Americans: Exclusion/Inclusion.” We took a bus across the Bay Bridge from Oakland. I took some pictures. I included the photo gallery here. (The […]
Pop Television and Epilepsy Heroes
“People sometimes say that the way things happen in the movies is unreal, but actually it’s the way things happen to you in life that’s unreal.” From the Philosophy of Andy Warhol On Saturday November 19, I photographed the 2016 Candlelight Gala for the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California. (I have included the entire photo gallery from […]
A Suicide Memorial Day
Sometimes I participate in magical thinking, even when I participate in fundraisers. On Saturday May 21, 2016, I participated in the Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk organized by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Originally, I had also planned to participate in the Stroll for Epilepsy earlier on May 21st. When the dates for both events […]
Emotional Photography Mind Tricks
“Photographers mistake the emotion they feel while taking the photo as a judgment that the photograph is good.” – Garry Winogrand I regularly ask my students to choose their favorite photographs and their best photographs. These are separate activities; however, for the reason that Winogrand mentions above, beginning photographers often confuse the difference. Students can mistake their positive memories for […]
Giving Tuesday – Women Who Code
Two weeks ago I photographed the Women Who Code Executive Council celebration. Women Who Code is a global non-profit that increases women’s participation in technology fields. As of last month, WWCode has connected more than 50,000 women. For Giving Tuesday, Google featured Women Who Code on Google’s “One Today” page. This is another indication that WWCode has led more than 2,000 […]
A New Dawn for Nina Diaz
On Wednesday, I drove into San Francisco to see Nina Diaz perform at the DNA Lounge. I photographed Nina Diaz and her band Girl in a Coma two years ago in Oakland. (You can revisit my earlier review and photos.) When I saw her in Oakland, I wondered if Nina might become a superstar. Now I am wondering if […]
Carnaval 2015 San Francisco
I attended the 37th annual San Francisco Carnaval Parade on Sunday May 24, 2015. This was the third consecutive year that I have attended as part of the Fogo Na Roupa contingent. I am allowed to walk the parade route with my camera, because my eleven year old daughter dances. I took some photos again […]
Train Concert Photos Revisited – and the Photo Not Revealed
The Bay Area band Train is touring California again for their new album Bulletproof Picasso. I photographed two shows during their previous Mermaids of Alcatraz Tour for the California 37 album. The Script and Gavin DeGraw played both shows. Ashley Monroe joined Train during their set in August of 2013. Can’t believe how time flies […]
In Search of Treasure Island
“The beauty that shimmers in the yellow afternoons of October, who could ever clutch it?” Ralph Waldo Emerson I found the Emerson quote in the new National Geographic book Life in Color. I bought the book a few days before this year’s Treasure Island Musical Festival. I photographed the two previous festivals and I was looking for inspiration. TIMF is a colorful festival […]
The Evolution Will Not Be Instagrammed
So, today is the 10 year anniversary of the day my father committed suicide. I was going to write a very dramatic blog post about how tragedy has visited my life too often and my life was unfair, but a funny thing happened on the way to this ten year anniversary. I started to see my […]
BADG Double Header Bout 1 – Oakland v Berkeley at The Armory
The B.ay A.rea D.erby G.irls held their second Double Header of the 2014 home season in San Francisco at The Armory on Saturday, April 26, 2014. I posted a few photos on my Facebook page already, but the images look better on my derby photography website. I almost always upload galleries at www.AFlatTrackMind.com after a bout. […]
Peace, Love, Happiness and Nashville
Suicide. When I started writing A Letter to Fathers Considering Suicide in the Digital Age, I knew that there were no good days for a father to commit suicide. I quickly realized that there were not any good days to discuss suicide. I eventually published on my mother and step-father’s 25th wedding anniversary. I could […]
Peace Love Poetry Understanding Frosting
(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding – Nick Lowe I had already decided to write about poetry for this blog post when I heard the Elvis Costello version of Peace, Love and Understanding and decided to change direction again. (There is a Nick Lowe version too.) I have finally filled in the third blank but I do […]
JEA NSPA Spring 2013 Leave Your Heart Everywhere
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” John Lennon As one of the local committee members who planned the 2013 Spring JEA National Convention, I was busy creating expectations. After the last convention in San Antonio, I even thought that I would influence the story. Wrong. I did not even control my […]
Getting Closer to the JEA Digital Photography Workshop
“If your photographs are not good enough, you are not close enough.” – Robert Capa (1913-1954) Getting closer is a useful skill, and as we “get closer” to the 2013 Spring National High School Journalism Convention, I have been contemplating Capa’s quote and the meaning of “getting closer.” On the first day of the convention, […]
The Writing Center at 826 Valencia
On Wednesday March 6, 2013, third graders from Oakland’s Melrose Leadership Academy traveled to 826 Valencia in San Francisco. MLA students attended 826 Valencia’s interactive Screenplay program, which is similar to the popular Storytelling and Bookmaking program the students attended last year. Photography Gallery of the Melrose Leadership Academy Field Trip to 826 Valencia Writing […]
Epilepsy Foundation Northern California 2012 Candlelight Gala
Last week I attended the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California Candlelight Gala. In previous year, I have missed the gala, because I had already committed to a journalism education conference in a different part of the country. This year, the Journalism Education Association has their Fall conference two weeks later, I can attend both events. I am not […]