Williams AZ kinda nice!

So we roll into Williams Arizona to get gas, the tritches are 90min behind our schedule, so we decide to check it out...
As I write this we are in an awesome coffee shop with wifi to aid in the iPad updates. Thus far Gretta has been doing them on the iphone as we drive, the coordinates are live and accurate so dig them in google earth!!!!
Last night we slept in the Mohave desert preserve for free and were almost blinded by the moon's glow, the moon shadows were crazy bright! The wind kept whipping as we laid down...magical...really. We got up and took a hike, visited the visitor center, got patches for our backpacks, a sticker for grettas bottle, and a pin for my hat. Then we headed off to kelso dunes for another hike. Super crazy to see so far and then hear Pepper's tags behind us in the desert bushes!
Tonigh it is flagstaff and tomorrow the grand canyon.
Yes- it is a charmed life!
But if we didn't live it then who would?
See the easterners soon!!!!!!
Now for coffee...
E


Pictures coming soon!!!
Coordinates: 35°14′58″N 112°11′24″W
-g

A fine farewell

Goodbye California... Thank you, Mojave Desert.

Coordinates: N 34•52.701' W 114•45.708'
Elevation: 1237'

almost out of gas, but here comes Needles. Whew!

High in the desert

Just hit Boron... No really... That's the name.
Coordinates: 34°59′58″N 117°38′59″W

turning the colonial gaze back east!!!

Sorry- some schooling just won't quit! That being said- I graduated from SFAI yesterday!!! I have earned my Masters of Fine Art in photography. The school has a rich history of churning our game changers and visual innovators...the class is full of great artists ready to take on the world.  Now- if you know me, I love to do as many things as I can at a time- so not only did I graduate yesterday but is was Gretta and my one year wedding anniversary!!! Each day is another adventure...the last two years of SF have proven that.

SFAI has one of the nicest Diego Rivera frescoes.  This one is the story of the building of SF...if you look the socialist undertones are not so subtle. I spent many hours reflecting on this 3 story masterpiece.  Really one of the finest works I have ever seen.

Marching down the stairs for our ceremony overlooking the city and bay- as much as I have been frustrated at times, the campus was inspirational...how on earth a small art school can occupy this type of view in a city so expensive.

Watch it live, or in the video...awkward as always...why would you expect anything else?

"the Erics" as we were known...

two eastern photographers always talking about how great the east was...we took advantage of each other's eastern-ness quite often...visit his site his work really is great to spend time with

free food and booze...oh...and you can hang out with new graduates...and free food and booze...

the Parrots of Coit Tower  dropped fruit on many of us over the years from those trees.

There is a fountain in the middle of there somewhere...another amazing place to relax- when the school isn't crazy

OK...in order from left to right:

Me, Linda Conor, Eric Zeigler, and Kheng Li Wee

the three of us worked with Linda extensively over our two years...

she is one of the biggest reasons we chose SFAI...and made it what it was- thanks Linda!!! I will miss that look you give us even after we graduated!!!

My install at the final show...note the bike trailer..the only one of 97 graduating grad students to not burn fuel for the install and exhibition...nice...

Pepper couldn't make the final show...after the way she critiqued my work I'm not sure I would have wanted her there anyway.

So what do you do the day after such an important day? Start the moving packing. So far we have taken everything off the walls and started patching the hundreds of holes from me tacking up prints.

bare walls from the stripping of our walls and the flowers that Gretta's office presented her on the last day of work

Clock is ticking...

Busted!

SoMa: E's image

 

And yesterday began the countdown... Officially, one-day-less-than-one-month: we are outta here!!

I have started packing books, and I have a feeling that as the weeks wear on, this little apartment is going to look slimmer and slimmer. The excitement of returning to SC crops into almost every conversation now. We have a little place already lined up for the summer, and we are doing everything we can to stay in place here until May 23. My notice is in at work...E is planning his MFA show...the notice is in for this apartment...and Pepper already has her bags packed and is waiting by the door. Yep, we are ready to bust on out of SF and leave it to those who deserve a beautiful climate and gorgeous views the least.

That being said, the day that marked our one-month remainder was something of a bittersweet victory. There was no shortage of joy the minute we realized that we were exactly a month away from leaving. But, the realization hit us as we were enjoying one of the first (I'm sure of countless to come) beautiful (weather-wise) weekends here in the city. We had walked up to FedEx in the Castro to mail a print that E had sold. (goooooooooooo E! congrats!) As we were walking back to our neighborhood, we stopped in Tap Plastics (a small piece of heaven for anyone with any sort of hankering to organize and store things- fyi- this has nothing to do with cleanliness...only a desire to store things!). Tap Plastics is a veritable wonderland of plastic storage containers...every size and for whatever you can imagine. If you love office supply stores, you might also love this place...not that it is office supplies, but I would say that the affinities are akin to one another. Coming in around $13 we scored 2 small flip-top containers, three travel containers, three different kinds of lids for them, 100 zip top bags for E's film holders, two beakers, and a screw-top cup. Dang! As we continued to stroll, we came across the fabric warehouse... Yes, literally, a warehouse of fabric and any sort of fabric-like supplement you can imagine. Ahhhh, yes...E had planned to change out a strap on his view camera. So, we stopped in, grabbed some 1" webbing and we were out the door. Then, just as we wandered over to the Indian restaurant (just a block down the street from our apartment), the flipside of the joy sunk in. There are some things we will miss about SF and most especially about our neighborhood. Little things like a cheap day at Tap Plastics or lunch overlooking Folsom Street and all the bizarreness that meanders along it. Faces and places... we will leave it all here to move on.  And, more unexpectedly than the realization that we are only a month out from heading east... I was standing in the middle of familiarity. I never thought that would happen here.

bam!

so- the end is looming and I felt like revisiting images from maine...16x20...
big negatives=big prints that look like you are right there...not the challenging landscapes I have invested so much effort in lately...just images that I enjoyed making and looking at...

This image is a tunnel at historic Fort Knox in Maine...the fort was built as defense during the Spanish American war...a shot was never fired under distress...it is amazing just as so many other things in Maine are! A cold wet summer...just like when I was a kid

The barn at the Olson House- Cushing Maine. Andrew Wyeth made Christina Olson and her family estate famous with the painting of Christina's World. This image is in the boat house/barn across the road from the actual house. The carriage is for boats- they would cart the boats down to the St George River (a tributary/outlet into the Penobscot Bay)

For some reason, the estate has decided to have a boat in the shed room attached to the main house...I just sat my camera on the single seat in the dingy and focused. I'm super happy with the space opening up in the print...it feels like the photo disappears and you are in the seat.

I miss Maine, the coast, and visiting the seemingly endless grave sites that our family occupies (I have become the family documentarian).

Next up? Final Graduate Review on Friday and then the final show!!!

Later-
e