The Ballerina at the Baths, 2 February 2013

Good Evening:

The cold and fog kept even the San Franciscans away from Sutro Baths on that weekend morning. Well, almost everyone. A professional photographer joined me in taking pictures of Sutro Sam, but a third photographer had different business. An aspiring ballet dancer had hired him to take pictures of her plying her art in an unusual environment. From a photographer’s point of view, the even grey light suited his needs perfectly:

The Photograher & The Ballerina at the Sutro Baths, 2 February 2013

If I were a gambler, I would bet anyone a burrito that he took some amazing pictures.

Vonn Scott Bair

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Forward – Into the Great Blue Open

Good Afternoon:

Another 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday Morning, another expedition to the Sutro Baths. Perhaps not my best day with a camera (252 photos taken, only 80 kept), but some turned out acceptably well, and of these, three accidentally qualified for this week’s Challenge.

I don’t know what this walkway used to lead to, but today it seems to lead “Forward” to Seal Rocks, and beyond them, to lead into the Great Blue Open. Of course, there exist easier means of travel into the Great Blue Open than attempting to walk upon the waters:

Look at the horizon between the two rocks; you’ll see what I think was a trawler.

If you sail across the Pacific, you’ll need to bring something with you:

Container vessel shipping, first developed in 1956, probably ranks among the greatest and least appreciated inventions of the 20th Century, greatly reducing the cost and time consumed shipping goods from one continent to another. Amazingly, the crew of the container ship in the above picture will not transfer those containers on deck down into the hull’s storage spaces–they’re already filled with even more containers. They will sail into the Great Blue Open, across the world’s largest ocean, with those containers stacked aboveboard, no matter what weather they encounter.

Perhaps we still live in an Age of Wonder after all.

Vonn Scott Bair

Weekly Photo Challenge: Forward – Moving Forward

Good Evening:

I wasn’t even looking for pictures for this week’s challenge. I only wanted to photograph one of my favorite neighborhoods, the South of Market (Soma), during the Magic Hour. But these durned critters, human and otherwise, got in the way whilst they moved forward to their destinations.

First, I had spotted an exterior wall suitable for my “Someone Notices the Contrast of White on White” collection and had started to add pictures when this chap got in the way (pictures taken with an iPhone 4 and edited in iPhoto):

Pigeon Walking in Front of Picture, 11th Street, San Francisco, 23 February 2013

Couldn’t be bothered to fly, could only rouse itself to walk. Then I wandered off to Folsom Street to photograph some of the light industrial buildings that fill in the gaps between the restaurants, bars, night clubs and sex clubs.

Now this one I wanted to capture. I got very lucky and timed the shot for the exact fraction of a second when the bicyclist passed in front of the word “Auto.”

When I returned home at sunset, I saw one more object moving forward through the sky:

Jet Trail Against the Sunset, San Francisco, California, 23 February 2013

I chose my Nikon Coolpix S9100 point-and-shoot because I wanted to use the Dusk setting. It intensifies all of the colors of a sunset, and accentuated the blue and pink, making it easier to spot the plane.

Wasn’t even trying; got very lucky; I must be a photographer.

Vonn Scott Bair

Weekly Photo Challenge: Mine – The Black-Eyed Susan Redux

Good Morning:

Several months ago, the good folks at WP gave us “Mine” as a Weekly Photo Challenge. I wrote about the Black-Eyed Susan in my cubicle; how it had managed to survive and thrive despite the fact that I don’t have a green thumb, I have ten black ones. Here’s the picture from way back when:

But I had to give it up to a good home. I had somehow kept it alive to the point where the tiny two-leafed critter had literally grown too big for its pot.

Fortunately, one of my co-workers is an avid and expert gardener, and she happily took in my little Black-Eyed Susan. I took this photo yesterday. My plant is on the right.

Methinks I found a good home for it.

Vonn Scott Bair

Grey Series #139, 140, 141

Good Evening:

Today, I collected a few dozen photographs based upon the color grey, of which three were worth preserving. All shots taken with a Nikon CoolPix S9100 in full color.

I took the first two during my lunch break.

The upper one is a closeup of one of the elevators. The lower one is a curious combination of reflections. Light from our windows reflects off the walls of the building opposite the alley, and then reflects off the glass ledge over our window. Meanwhile , you can see the lights in our office reflected in our window.

Of course, humans cannot compete easily with grey done nature’s way.

Vonn Scott Bair

Just One More Game Opens March 1st!

Good Evening:

My next big acting job is only one week away! Just One More Game has been a great experience, I have worked with a great bunch of people, and we have a really good, funny and touching show. I hope you can attend!

Vonn Scott Bair

If love is a game… is it worth one more quarter?

First publicity still from the new play Just One More Game. I’m the overacting chap in the bottom right. http://tripleshotproductions.org/

Just One More Game

A New Romantic Comedy by Dan Wilson

Triple Shot invites you to the world premiere of Just One More Game.

Geeks of a feather, every gamer brings their play-history with them.  But is love a game?  Marjorie and Kent bet more than their virtual lives in this rom-com by San Francisco playwright Dan Wilson.

Having grown up in the Atari Age, they’ve pursued careers on opposite sides video game industry: programmer and critic.  With heart meters running from full to almost empty, will the game end in defeat, or will they put it all on the line for Just One More Game?

San Francisco playwright Dan Wilson has been called a “local theatre maverick” by the San Francisco Weekly, and “ambitious and savvy” by SF Bay Times. His previous work has been dubbed “viciously funny,” (Sweetie Tanya) and “caustic and incisive” (Vagina Dentata).  You won’t want to miss the world premiere of this hilarious comedy.  Featuring Vonn Scott Bair, Candace Brown, Linda-Ruth Cardozo, and Christopher DeJong.

Just One More Game

By Dan Wilson

Directed by Bahati Bonner

At The Exit Theatre

156 Eddy St., San Francisco, CA

Opens Friday, March 1^st, 2013

Performs Thursdays thru Saturdays until March 30^th, 8PM performances

Sundays:  March 10^th & 17^th, 2pm performances

Tickets:  $25

Reservations:  (877) 556-7396  / or online at www.tripleshotproductions.org

Weekly Photo Challenge: Kiss – Kisses Near Misses

Good Morning:

By a funny coincidence, I have recently tried to capture couples kissing, perhaps a Valentine’s Day inspiration, perhaps another attempt to pay a second-rate (third-rate?) homage to Henri Cartier-Bresson.

It ain’t easy.

Lovers Behind the Orpheum Theater

The kissing couple is a wily, elusive creature, normally seen for only a second before it disappears/transforms into just another two individuals. So I kept missing the shot, every single time. Sigh.

Lovers Among the Recycling – Edited 8×10 Version

Here are three of my “kisses near misses.” I hope you like them, even though technically, I messed up on all of them.

Lovers at the 2013 Giants Fan Fest

Vonn Scott Bair