9 posts tagged “the presidio of san francisco”
There is some nice early night photography in the new exhibit at the Officer's Club in the park....
Treasure Island 1939: And The Pageant of The Pacific
July 22 to October 18, 2009
Wednesday to Sunday
11 am to 5 pm
Presidio Officers’ Club,
50 Moraga Avenue
Treasure Island 1939: And The Pageant of The Pacific
July 22 to October 18, 2009
Wednesday to Sunday
11 am to 5 pm
Presidio Officers’ Club,
50 Moraga Avenue
Dear Friends,
Goldsworthy's The Spire
In October British artist Andy Goldsworthy was here to erect The Spire in the Presidio. The sculpture is composed of 37 felled Monterey Cypress trees. It sits just inside Arquello Gate in a gap between the aging trees it’s made of and a newly planted forest that will replace them.
I was fortunate enough to photograph both the felling of the trees (an image of which you can see on pg. 71 here) and their construction into The Spire. Over a couple of days, I photographed the spire, the crew, the cranes, Andy, all of which was fun but I wanted something quiet, something luminous.
I wanted to get a shot of it at night with the full moon shining on the spire. When I got to the site just before sunrise one morning, the moon was setting brilliantly behind the standing forest. That was the image I wanted. I made a trip back the following day when the moon was perfectly aligned and the result is the photograph above.
The Presidio Book
My book is finally available. I am so excited. Four years in the making and it is now on the shelves. I am very proud of it - it is a beautiful heavy coffee table photography book. The book's companion website is at presidiobook.com where you can preview a full digital version.
Copies are available for purchase directly from presidiobook.com or you can also pick one up at local bookstores including Books Inc, Green Apple Books, The Golden Gate National Park Stores and photo-eye (online and in Santa Fe, MN).
An excerpt from the introduction by Presidio Historian, Randolph Delehanty, Ph.D.
“Ms.Vargas came to live in the Presidio three years ago during this momentary pause in its long life. She started exploring the complex old post looking carefully and lovingly at its gentle sleep and slow but steady revival as a national park with a new civilian community living and working here. She has an eye for what it essential about the Presidio: the very American ordinariness of its military architecture and the strange “wildness” of its man-made forests. Many of her images put the two together in a new way, as a filigree of evocative shadows cast on the “screens” of plain white walls. They almost seem like photographs of photographs with the building walls the film on which the fugitive shadows are cast. Photography - literally writing with light - here becomes writing with shadows with the unseen light source behind us.”
In October British artist Andy Goldsworthy was here to erect The Spire in the Presidio. The sculpture is composed of 37 felled Monterey Cypress trees. It sits just inside Arquello Gate in a gap between the aging trees it’s made of and a newly planted forest that will replace them.
I was fortunate enough to photograph both the felling of the trees (an image of which you can see on pg. 71 here) and their construction into The Spire. Over a couple of days, I photographed the spire, the crew, the cranes, Andy, all of which was fun but I wanted something quiet, something luminous.
I wanted to get a shot of it at night with the full moon shining on the spire. When I got to the site just before sunrise one morning, the moon was setting brilliantly behind the standing forest. That was the image I wanted. I made a trip back the following day when the moon was perfectly aligned and the result is the photograph above.
The Presidio Book
My book is finally available. I am so excited. Four years in the making and it is now on the shelves. I am very proud of it - it is a beautiful heavy coffee table photography book. The book's companion website is at presidiobook.com where you can preview a full digital version.
Copies are available for purchase directly from presidiobook.com or you can also pick one up at local bookstores including Books Inc, Green Apple Books, The Golden Gate National Park Stores and photo-eye (online and in Santa Fe, MN).
The Presidio, Portraits of a Changing Landscape,
2008
Photographs by Charity Vargas
Hardcover, linen bound photography book with 58 black & white illustrations, 12x9½", $50.00
Hardcover, linen bound photography book with 58 black & white illustrations, 12x9½", $50.00
An excerpt from the introduction by Presidio Historian, Randolph Delehanty, Ph.D.
“Ms.Vargas came to live in the Presidio three years ago during this momentary pause in its long life. She started exploring the complex old post looking carefully and lovingly at its gentle sleep and slow but steady revival as a national park with a new civilian community living and working here. She has an eye for what it essential about the Presidio: the very American ordinariness of its military architecture and the strange “wildness” of its man-made forests. Many of her images put the two together in a new way, as a filigree of evocative shadows cast on the “screens” of plain white walls. They almost seem like photographs of photographs with the building walls the film on which the fugitive shadows are cast. Photography - literally writing with light - here becomes writing with shadows with the unseen light source behind us.”
Whole Earth Library Presentation by Charity Vargas
Thursday, December 11
12:30 to 1:30p
Pacific Room at Tides
www.presidiobook.com
Whole Earth Library at Thoreau is pleased to kick off its first literary event with a presentation by Photographer Charity Vargas. Charity will present images from her new photography book The Presidio: Portraits of a Changing Landscape and discuss the evolving nature of the park throughout it's 200 plus year history.
Thursday, December 11
12:30 to 1:30p
Pacific Room at Tides
www.presidiobook.com
Whole Earth Library at Thoreau is pleased to kick off its first literary event with a presentation by Photographer Charity Vargas. Charity will present images from her new photography book The Presidio: Portraits of a Changing Landscape and discuss the evolving nature of the park throughout it's 200 plus year history.
War and Dissent: U.S. in the Philippines 1898-1915
October 22, 2008 to February 22, 2009
Opening
Wednesday, October 22, at 7 pm
Wednesday to Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm
Presidio Officers’ Club, 50 Moraga Avenue
I am pleased as punch about this!
Just now, while I was waiting for the milk to steam to 154 degrees for my latte. I had this thought - that making a picture, is like falling for one small thing, coercing everything else to work around it, and refusing to give it up.
The last couple of weeks I have spent a lot of time reading about and researching the Presidio. An army post for 218
years before becoming a national park in 1994, it has a some history.
Much of what is written about is it's greatest hits: The Bridge, Fort
Point, The Cemetery, Crissy Field, the Civil War Era Brick Barracks.
They are duly appreciated and I am glad to learn so much about them. I
just wonder though, does anyone love T3?
So far the things I know about T3 are basic. It was built in 1942 as a temporary structure (hence the T) to house soldiers, cost $10,200 and "exhibits one of the highly standardized designs developed for rapid and economical construction nationwide as the United States became involved in World War II". That doesn't elicit great emotion.
Still, I love T3. I love the way everything functional is on the outside - it seems like some early ancestor of the the Pompidou Center. I love the way the chimney is strapped and leaning outward, holding on. And when the grass isn't cut, tiny weedy white flowers pop up in the lawn. The stairs, the siding, the 8 over 8's and mortar make and all those lovely lines. I wouldn't want to live in it but it's nice to look at at night.
So far the things I know about T3 are basic. It was built in 1942 as a temporary structure (hence the T) to house soldiers, cost $10,200 and "exhibits one of the highly standardized designs developed for rapid and economical construction nationwide as the United States became involved in World War II". That doesn't elicit great emotion.
Still, I love T3. I love the way everything functional is on the outside - it seems like some early ancestor of the the Pompidou Center. I love the way the chimney is strapped and leaning outward, holding on. And when the grass isn't cut, tiny weedy white flowers pop up in the lawn. The stairs, the siding, the 8 over 8's and mortar make and all those lovely lines. I wouldn't want to live in it but it's nice to look at at night.
When I worked in film I would spend days and days in the dark room printing just one image - refining and refining it to match the picture in my head. I always had more negatives than I could ever get too. Since I switched to digital not much has changed, except maybe I smell less like a chemical factory, no longer have to microwave my test prints and spend my days in daylight staring at a computer screen instead. So, as I sit here printing for my presidio book project. I am happy enough to be sipping a hot latte and printing away with my itunes favorites list playing in the background keeping me bright and nostalgic. So here is one from this evening...
